Wild West day 22

On the ferry from Port Townsend to Whidbey Is.  It was about a 35 minute trip for $41.00!  Well, it would have cost at least that had we driven all the way around through Tacoma, Seattle, Mount Vernon and then around to Whidbey Is.

On the way from the ferry up to Oak Harbor and Deception Pass we stopped by the Crockett blockhouse where we have been before...back in 1963.

Built in 1855, two such forts were built by and named after Colonel Walter Crockett on the Crockett farm during the Yakima Indian War.  This fort is the only one remaining at the original location.  Most of the original farm structures still exist behind this fort to and the left.

Love nests

The first was Triangle Apartments which was an old motel converted to single room apartments.  But, we didn't need much room then.  Here's a couple of photos taken Christmas of '62 in front of the Triangle Apartments.  My Navy buddy, Dennis Ashby, was visiting in his '55 Pontiac.  Our car was that old '55 white Nash in the background.

The second home was in Victory Housing, Navy housing. It was BIG!  Three rooms - living room, kitchen and bedroom. Oh yes, and bath. 

But, when I added a stripe the Navy said I was too high a rank to remain there. So, we moved to the home below.

Two things here. First, it's a beautiful house, but it was owned by an old widow woman back then and did not look so pretty as now. Second, we only lived upstairs.  In fact, we only had one room and shared a bath with some guy we seldom saw. The guy lived in a room (maybe two) in the upstairs area behind the right side gable. We had the room behind the shorter rounded gable. The kitchen area was in a corner and the bed rolled into a hole in the wall directly behind the small half-round window. If you pulled the bed out, you could see out the little window. In the photo below, the double window seen upstairs next to the chimney was our apartment. The eating table sat next to the window. A stairway lead up to the second floor from the back porch so we didn't have to parade through the old woman's living quarters. We parked our 1958 Volkswagen Beetle in the back.

We toured Ault Field, the Naval Air Station I was assigned to.  Much of it looked the same as it did over 50 years ago.  But, obviously, there were changes.  It sure brought back memories, good and bad.

Actually, there are two Navy bases there on Whidbey. Besides Ault Field, the is the seaplane base. Funny, I didn't know and still know the official name. We just referred to it as the "seaplane base".  Today, however, it is no longer a sea plane base. It now is mainly services for the sailors stationed at Ault Field, such as the Navy Exchange and Commissary, gas station and other stuff. It used to have the military hospital, but the hospital building is now part of a community college. On the peninsula just beyond the base is where the control tower and weather station was located along with the commissioned officers' housing. Today it is the main housing area for all married sailors stationed there. Sure looked nicer than our old Victory housing we lived in over 50 years ago.