Up Skamokawa Creek

George's brother Dick is finishing up his last canoe paddle today, before he flies back home to California. During the past six days we've explored estuaries on Puget Sound, creeks down in Oregon, inlets and snug harbors - with all kinds of weather and water. Temperatures were close to 98 degrees with our first paddle on Dyes Inlet, yet our excursion up to Mount Rainier required sweaters and jackets. We had long, luxurious paddles and one so abbreviated, due to roiling currents, that we had to drag the canoe along the shoreline with a long nylon rope. In any case, all of the paddle routes gave us a chance to explore and appreciate water.

We stayed at the Twin Gables Bed and Breakfast in Skamokawa, Washington, which is in a most delightful little town. A church/museum, a cafe/post office, a kayaking center/community hall, and an elder hostel comprise the four civic buildings of the town - in other words, it is a very tiny town: One main street a block long, and a huddle of little homes nestled on Skamokawa Creek.
It was not hard to find Twin Gables - it was the largest home on the creek, not far from the winding road through the community. We parked our van, walked up to the front porch, and found the front door wide open. Nobody was home, but a ceiling fan was busy sending the air into currents along the long open parlor. We called Kathleen Morgain, the owner, and within moments I saw her walk over a little bridge on the creek and over to her home. In addition to running her bed and breakfast, she is the Wahkiakum County Fair Manager, organizing all of the events, projects, and booths of the fair in August. In spite of this busy time, she opened her home to us, her first guests.
She said that Twin Gables is still 'a work in progress', that it will officially open in about a year.
She showed us our rooms, and encouraged us to make ourselves at home.
While Dick and George unloaded our canoe, I walked around the main parlor/living room, appreciating all the little touches Kathleen had made to make her home welcoming - the collections of books, music, family photographs, embroidered curtains, glassware, and delicate dishes nesting in the cabinets.
This is Kathleen in her kitchen, preparing breakfast for us: Smoked salmon omelets, fried potatoes and bacon, toast with home-made jam, a fresh fruit compote of cherries, oranges, apples, and kiwi...and generous cups of coffee.
I loved the kitchen - clean, practical and unpretentious. Everything had a purpose, a usefulness.
After we settled in, we took a canoe paddle up Skamokawa Creek, putting in at the dock on the property. Then, the guys took another paddle around an island, down toward the Columbia River.
This is the Skamokawa Community Center - where you can get a meal with your right foot, turn, and get your mail with the left foot. Out back are kayaks for excursions out on the water, in every direction, up a creek, around an island or out to the Columbia River.
In the evening we were invited to attend a concert sponsored by the Elder Hostel. Andrew and Jeffrey performed music that was played during the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition - classical works by Hayden, Bach and Correlli. This was the music played on the violin by Thomas Jefferson. Andrew and jeffrey also performed dance songs, boat songs, the popular jigs of the day. The music was exceptionally good, with Andrew giving a presentation on the history of the music and of that era. (The next day we toured Fort Clatsop, where the Lewis and Clark expedition wintered over.)
This is the porch leading out of the little community center. The sun was just beginning to set over the water. As the music was playing, I walked out onto the porch, and took this last parting shot of a most delightful rural community.