Our New Best Friend at the Tokeland Hotel

 For some reason, we have become middle-aged in recent years.  I distinctly vaguely remember that we used to be, well, younger.  Hmmph.  Well, no matter.  We are who we are, even if we aren't who we were.  Though we're who we were still on the inside.  If you know what I mean.  (Did I mention I've been a bit stressed again?)

Dave & I had a grand small adventure the other day.  We've recently purchased a camper van for the express reason of making life on the road easier for me.



I basically suffer from agoraphobia/panic
disorder and find travel to be difficult and
a self-contained home-away-from-home
to drive relieves a bit of stress for me.

Anyhow, I digress.  This 'new' to us camper van has not been without its...shall we say 'kinks' to be worked out?  (The kids have threatened to ground us if we call for help again!)

We did pretty well this trip and managed to get home without too much difficulty....

We drove to the beach via Grayland, Tokeland and on to our destination...Westport Washington and the home of Bennett's Fish Shack where they serve THE MOST DELICIOUS fish and chips in the world.  (My world, at least!)  Oh. Man. It. Was. SO GOOD!  I mean, just look at it!
(Be sure to click on the picture and make it bigger so you can really smell see it!)
I could eat it again right now, even though it's 8:30pm and I had dinner at 6, not to mention they're only open on weekends.... We're talking fresh halibut and beer-battered cod here. Tartar sauce, french fries.  (Great.  I just talked myself into a snack before bedtime!)

 We stopped at Wash-Away Beach (where the State Highway and many acres of land & homes have been devoured by the ocean) and sat on the rocks to enjoy the evening sun for a bit.

Then we thought of coffee and dessert!  (Yes, food rules our lives.)   On our way toward home, we remembered the historic Tokeland Hotel.  Alas, it was CLOSED when we arrived, but the proprietress was outside and when we explained that we were looking for coffee & dessert, she invited us in anyhow!

Katherine served us warm Marionberry Cobbler with ice cream for Dave and whipped cream for me.

She had hot coffee out in a minute and I asked if she wouldn't consider sitting down and having dessert with us!  "Don't mind if I do!", said she.
We chatted like old friends over our tasty repast, discussed my daughter's upcoming wedding and Katherine's recent loss of her husband and how hard it was to keep up the old hotel alone.

She enjoyed hearing about the wedding plans and suggested that since she was our new best friend, we should invite her...which we did!

As we left her vintage establishment and stopped to pay our bill, she refused our payment, saying it was her 'random act of kindness' for the day!

What a wonderful finale to our day out!  There are still lovely people out there, for sure.

In case you wonder if our camper van gave us any struggles on this trip....yes it did!  When we were about 10 or 12 miles still from home, it sputtered and died (it's done this before, I'm afraid).  Now, we live OUT.  I'm talking, rural and lonely two lane road with no shoulders and very sharp corners!  We panicked, calmed ourselves, called home to warn them that we might need assistance.  PRAYED it would start again...and it did!  We limped into our big town (pop. 775) and made it to the gas station to add more gas.  You see, it sat with old gas in it too long and when it got low (quarter tank) it started sputtering.  We have now fixed that, but I'm afraid we'll have to sneak out next time we plan an adventure!  Wonder if Bennett's Fish Shack is open nights.........