Building a Tower

I completed a trip to Tatoosh Island. It is a little island off the coast of Washington between Washington and Canada. It started on September 24th by flying via helicopter to the island from Warrenton, Or. It took us about an hour or so to fly there. It was pretty foggy most of the way up but cleared up upon arrival to the island.

We decided that because of the bad weather present to set up camp inside the lighthouse itself. It was pretty cool to spend the week in the lighthouse which was built in the 1800's. There is some interesting craftmanship put into the building like the bird head gargoyle things on the roof. really.

We didn't rough it too bad. Even though we had to bring all the water needed to drink, there was a fridge which we plugged a generator to. We also slept on cots, had a propane heater and a nice barbeque for all the burgers and hotdogs we can eat. Kind of like a camp out.

It wasn't all fun though. there was that tower that needed to be erected and the weather wasn't all that good.

We started the first day there. We didn't get far but it was a long day anyways.

As the days progressed, the tower made shape and it turned out excellent. I got to try out some new gear to hang on the tower and enjoyed the work being done. We had a great crew that worked well with each other and it was done safely. Here are some pictures that show the progression of our work.

This is me and my friend Omar pulling up a 15 foot section. Pretty heavy.

20 feet up connecting sections together.

That's me hanging around.

The completed tower. It replaces the light in the light house.

On Sunday, we had a little time to explore. I did pay attention to the tides and took a walk at low tide.

Another entertaining picture at low tide.

For some reason, this picture reminded me of Raiders of the Lost Ark when they were digging for the Ark.

These pictures of the lighthouse with the light working is the last pictures of the light in the lighthouse. I took them at about 2 a.m.
Lighthouse in the distance.

Panaramic view of the area. I used a program called photo-stitch I got from Canon.

Well, the trip ended on Monday when I flew off to a nearby Coast Guard station and drove pretty much all day to get home. It was a good trip and we were very satisfied with the end result.

Mike

My Motorcycle Ride

Well, I went on that motorcycle ride. It started on a cool, foggy morning. By the time it started, the fog had lifted which revealed a lovely, nearly cloudless day. It started at 10:00am and was advertised with a 100 mile ride. Well, it was actually about 60 miles but was fun anyways.
It is called a poker run and it was to raise money for scholorships for the local schools by the local rotary club.
There are 5 different stops in which you draw a card from a deck. You try to get a good hand which is hard because it is 5 full decks. I ended up with a pair of aces in which I thought I may have a chance to win. I didn't of course. I was bested by a three of a kind. Talk about luck.
Well, my luck was about to change. Upon registering, we were given a ticket for a drawing at the end of the ride. I won a prize of some body lotion. I thought it was a funny present due to the demographic of the crowd. Anyways, I got a good laugh of the gift. The people in charge held up a bowl and inquired if anyone wants to puchase different tickets for a seperate raffle. I decided to buy 10.00 dolars worth. I won three different items which the other motorcycle riders were not too happy about. I heard things like.."Him again?" and the like. I won some good stuff so I didn't mind.
All in all, I had a great time and I would do it again next year if I am in the area.
Mike