Privacy RV-Style and a Trip to Ship Harbor

Laura enjoying the grass near site #118.

Privacy RV-Style

Laura doesn't like the openness of most pull-thru sites, so we usually select pull-in, or back-in sites.  One exception was a pull-thru site we had at Fort Worden State Park, Port Townsend.  The site created a lot of privacy.

The concept of privacy in the context of RVing is interesting.  Consider for a moment that different cultures construe privacy in different ways.  Even within the same culture, your experience of living in a city versus living in the suburbs may affect your expectations around privacy.  Privacy is often concerned with the appearance and functions of the body, property, thoughts, and emotions that an individual wishes to keep to themselves.  When we become more tightly compacted, we rely on the rules of politeness and good conduct to make the situation tolerable and to give us the illusion of privacy even when none physically exists.

The picture of Laura and her umbrella is a study of RVing privacy.  While Laura's piece of lawn is part of her site's slice of the pie, it is also next to her neighbor's and all of their outdoor furniture.  If we were all out there at the same time we'd be either speaking in hushed tones or trying not to eavesdrop on each other's conversations.  Unlike a crowded restaurant, there isn't enough white-noise to mask your conversation.  The experience I got a kick out of was when I lifted the mini-blinds one day and caught the attention of the five-year-old in the motorhome next to us twelve feet away.  He instantly says "hi" and starts chatting with me.  His grandmother, seated next to him, looked like she wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.  The five-year-old had broken through the invisible privacy wall we had constructed where we pretend like the other one isn't there.

Privacy RV-style.

Ship Harbor

Ship Habor is a strip of beach that faces Guemes Channel, and it is the home to the Anacortes Ferry Terminal that services the San Juan Islands.  In addition to having a wonderful nature preserve with boardwalks to explore, its beach is a great place to set a chair and watch the ebb and flow of the day.

The remains of the fish processing history of Ship Harbor.

The top of a piling shaped by sand and water.

The bits of sand, rocks, and shells move over the surface as the tide changes, and slowly sculpts the piling.

Remains of a salmon cannery.

Washington State Ferry.

A nice way to spend an afternoon after work.

Dale Mack at Ship Harbor, Anacortes.

After Dinner Walk

The two-mile walk out toward the oil refinery and back has become a favorite of Laura's and mine.  We enjoy all the wildlife we encounter, especially the seals.

Sunset on the train trestle.

Dusk calm.

It's funny how returning from a walk feels like returning home.  "Home" not something I thought about when we purchased the Safari motorhome, buy home it is.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much

RV Resort and Concert

Site #118, Fidalgo Bay RV Resort, Anacortes.

When we originally booked our stay, we were supposed to be in site #120 (we stayed there in July 2016).  A couple of weeks after our booking the RV park's office contacted me to say that they had made a mistake, and would we be OK in site #118.  A quick check with Google Earth showed that #118 was equivalent to #120, so we said OK.  I mention this because it reminds me of how useful Google Earth has become for RVing.  I now visit destinations virtually and travel the routines long before I actually drive them in the motorhome.

The "West Park" side of Fidalgo Bay RV Resort

Gravel and Lawn Practices

RV park reviews of Fidalgo Bay RV Resort run kind of hot and cold.  Most folks love the location, the cleanliness of the facilities, the helpfulness of the staff, and the generally high level of maintenance.  The reviews I laugh at are the ones that complain about the gravel, the dormant grass in the summer, and the width of some sites, all things the RVer can know about before they show up.  In fact, the Samish Indian Nation that operates the park even has a webpage that talks about why they don't use water and chemicals on the grass.

I hope folks pay attention to the negative reviews so I don't have to compete with them for reservations.  Life is too short to be complaining about things you were warned about.  The other complaint is the gravel.  Serious?  It's not like they don't show the access roads and sites in the photos and videos of the place.

The roads and sites are gravel at Fidalgo Bay RV Resort.

The Width of Sites

I've stayed in a variety of sites at Fidalgo Bay, and I've never had a problem putting my awning out when others have their slideouts deployed.  Here's another scenario where Google Earth can help answer questions before reserving a site.  An important thing to remember is that slideouts didn't even start showing up in the market until the 90's, so the age of an RV park can have a big influence on whether they planned in room for slideouts.

Laura enjoying some relief from the summer sun.

The grass in mid-July.

The space between our awning and our neighbor's slideout.

Summer Concerts

Anacortes has a summer concert series that presents different bands on Wednesday and Friday evenings.  The concerts take place on the lawn at Seafarers' Memorial Park near Cap Sante Marina. 

Listening to some great music.

Cap Sante in the background overlooking Seafarers' Memorial Park.

Laura Mack enjoying the tunes.

The concert was a wonderful way to end the day.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much

RV Office and After Work

RV office.

For most of my career, the nature of my assignments required I sit with my engineering team and the groups we collaborated with when developing products.  Even if the technology had supported working remotely, I would have chosen to be in the office.  Today I'm in a different role at my company and it has me supporting worldwide teams.  I can start a day with a team in Isreal and finish with a team in India.  Since my work is no longer tied to a specific site, I can work from anywhere as long as I have an Internet connection.

When I moved into my current role I had an onsite office, but I quickly found that I was in conference calls all the time.  Between the confidential nature of information I was discussing in the calls, and the noise in the office, I was finding the office was negatively impacting my productivity, and my ability to collaborate with others.  Despite claims that open concept offices promote collaboration, any introvert can tell you, and lots of studies show they don't.  They might look cool, and cost less, but they don't create the levels of productivity, collaboration, and a sense of belonging that the "cubicle generation" demonstrated with the Silicon Valley offices and cubicles that began in the 80's and created incredible levels of innovation and wealth for the next thirty years.

My answer to the onsite problems was to work from home, something I've been doing full-time since 2009.  While the nature of my work assignments made working from home an option, it was only possible because HP's IT organization had deployed the infrastructure to allow HP's employees to have secure access to everything inside the company's network.

Many people think that folks will just goof off if given the option to work from home.  The truth is folks can, but eventually, they are going to fail to deliver on whatever metric their manager uses to measure productivity.  In my experience, my productivity shot up once I got away from the distractions of noise in the office, or folks just dropping by to casually chat.

One of the downsides of going on vacation was coming back to a huge backlog of email.  Buried within the emails were typically lots of questions for me to answer and lots of homework assignments.  Shortly after starting to work from home I decided to try working while on vacation.  The challenge would be, would I actually feel like I'd had a vacation.  The results were awesome.  Not only did I feel like I had returned from a refreshing vacation, but I was current on all my email, and most project requests had also been satisfied.  My work-vacations started with my Coleman tent trailer, expanded to both my Catalina 30 sailboat and my Bayliner 38 motor yacht, and have continued with my Safari Sahara motorhome.  Today, Laura and I have graduated beyond vacations.  We will relocate the motorhome to some favorite destination, I will work full-time, and then we'll play after work or on the weekends.

As I explained in my WiFi Signal Booster and Celluar Signal Booster projects, getting a good Internet connection is a must for me to be able to work away from home.  Since most WiFi in RV parks is notoriously unreliable, I mostly rely on my Verizon mobile data plan.

The view out my office window in site #118, Fidalgo Bay RV Resort.

After Work

Our practice after work or dinner, when staying in the motorhome, is to go for a thirty-minute walk.  When in Anacortes, we often choose the Tommy Thompson Trail heading out over the old train trestle because it's flat, and it makes for a nice two-mile round trip.

Laura multi-tasking.

Laura talks to her niece who is housesitting for us.

The view north from the trestle.

Sunset over Anacortes as we head back to the motorhome.

Today had been a regular workday on a Tuesday.  It had been a gorgeous day in paradise, and I wasn't on vacation.  Something about working in paradise, and getting to go for a walk with my sweetheart after work made everything feel right.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much

Evening Walks

The Tommy Thompson Trail near Fidalgo Bay RV Resort.

At home, Laura and I aren't very consistent about getting out for walks.  The purpose of the walks isn't to exercise because we both have outlets for that in which we are boringly consistent.  Instead, the walks are another way of sharing time together and discussing world events, our son, our friends and family, and our hopes for the future.  It's funny how being in the motorhome reminds us to walk.  We need to bring that home with us.

When we are in the motorhome, I  substitute a brisk morning walk of 30+ minutes in place of my typical 50-minute swim back home in the athletic club's pool.  After work, I hope to join Laura on a walk where she sets the pace.

Laura Mack taking a break on the Tommy Thompson Trail.

Part of the landscape that makes up Fidalgo Bay RV Resort.

Heading back to our motorhome.

Because the Tommy Thompson Trailer cuts through the RV park, one can walk to Anacortes, two miles in one direction, or out over the railroad trestle in the other.  Either direction provides lots of visual interest, and it's all relatively flat as it follows the old railroad right-away.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much

La Conner

La Conner

Located on the Swinomish Channel that separates Fidalgo Island from the mainland, La Conner is fourteen miles from Anacortes.  Aside from the shops and restaurants that are fun to visit, the town is worth just walking about.

Laura and I aren't strangers to La Conner, so you'd think after so many visits we would have seen it all, but strolling along the "Channel Passage" elevated promenade, or following the sidewalks of downtown, there is always something new to see if only you take the time to pause and see it.

Laura Mack on the Channel Passage promenade, La Conner.

Across the channel from La Conner is the Swinomish Indian Reservation.  The docks are littered with reminders that many locals still make a living from the sea.

Crab Pots.

La Conner

We stopped and had lunch outside at the La Conner Seafood & Prime Rib House.  The service and the food were great, and the view awesome.  What would have been the back of buildings facing the water has been brought to life with the "Channel Passage" promenade project.  Visitors now get a sense of the town's connection with the water.

Channel Passage elevated promenade.

Swimming anyone?

Life happens.

Cute home in La Conner embedded in the business district.

This place was fun because of all the vintage items they carried.

This is literally a business that sprang up in a vacate lot.

Laura and Dale can never just walk past a plant shop.

More of downtown La Conner.

A future dining opportunity.

Our son Sean, was an animator for the Disney movie Moana.  One of the characters he animated is the Kokamora.  This metal artwork reminded me of Sean, Moana, and the Kokamora.

Beware of the Kokamora.

A team out practicing in one of the Swinomish Nation's canoes.

The advantage of carrying kayaks is that you can always find the car in a parking lot.

Considering all the times Laura and I have visited La Conner, there are still many attractions we haven't visited or restaurants we haven't dined at.  I look forward to our ongoing journey of discovery.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much

Summer RV Living in Anacortes, WA

Site #118, Fidalgo Bay RV Resort, Anacortes, WA

Plans to escape the summer heat started more than a year before departure.  Because Fidalgo Bay RV Resort, in Anacortes, won't accept reservations more than 183 days prior to your arrival date, we put a reminder on the calendar.  When the reminder day popped up in early January, we successfully got booked for nine weeks starting July 7 and ending September 7.

In the weeks leading up to the start of our trip, projects around the house and the yard got completed, the toys (kayaks and bicycles) got prepped, I serviced the motorhome and verified all systems were operational, and we arranged for my niece to be our housesitter while we were gone.  The combination of our niece, security system and a collection of IP cameras that we could remotely access to check on the house and the yard left us feeling prepared to be away for an extended period.

Our SilverLeaf Electronics software monitoring the Caterpiller 3126 and the Allison transmission.

We got underway at 9:30 am and headed north on I-5, encountering the typical delays passing through Tacoma and Seattle.  This was the first trip since resolving the alternator charging issue, so it was great to see the SilverLeaf software reporting 13.8-14.3 volts most of the time.

Heading into Seattle.

After getting settled into site #118 at Fidalgo Bay RV Resort, we hopped into the car and drove over to Ship Harbor near the Anacortes Ferry Terminal.  The paved Guemes Channel Trail is near Ship Harbor, and it's a great place to walk and unwind after being cooped up in the motorhome for so many hours.

Laura enjoying the views from the Guemes Channel Trail near Ship Harbor, Anacortes.

Part of the Guemes Channel Trail.

We were both excited to be back in Anacortes with a summer of adventures ahead.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much