We Are Moving!

You read that right, we are moving! We are excited to announce our move into the Kimmco Building across from Snapdragon. We have loved our time in Vashon Village and want to thank them for years of wonderful business. In addition, we want to thank everybody who visited us in our old location and helped our business grow. 

      Looking into the future we are elated about the opportunity to become close business partners with Camp Colvos, who are close friends of ours. Furthermore, we are very eager to share with you some of the new experiences this year will bring. Including, but not limited to, more personalized biking and kayaking tours, glamping, and a renewed sense of the importance of being outside. We hope that you can visit us soon and Play on Vashon! 

Our Neighbor to the North

Interesting Fact:

President Bill Clinton held the first official Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting on Blake Island.

Now a beautiful state park, Blake Island originally was home to a campsite for the Suquamish Tribe. Furthermore, it is believed to be the birthplace of Chief Sealth, for whom the city of Seattle is named. The island was not recorded by European settlers until 1792, and it was not officially named until 1841 after an officer in the United States Exploring Expedition. Eventually, it was renamed Trimble Island after a millionaire who bought the island in 1917. That millionaire, William Trimble, built his estate there and lived with his family until 1929 when the family moved back to Seattle following the death of his wife. Interestingly, the Trimble family allowed a campfire girls camp to use the island starting in 1920. The name of that camp was Camp Sealth, which now resides on Vashon! The island was eventually purchased by Washington State in 1959 and was turned into the state park that we know today.

For more information about the island visit: https://www.historylink.org/File/5491

A Musht Know Fact

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Artist Conk (ganoderma applanatum) is a tree-growing mushroom present year round on Vashon. Several cultures, most famously the Japanese, have used this mushroom as canvas for drawing for centuries. It is not poisonous, but its woody texture keeps it from being a commonly foraged mushroom for eating. However, due to its intense mushroom flavor, it is often boiled in water to extract the flavor for cooking and it is a common ingredient in traditional Chinese medicinal products.

An artists work done on a large slice of an Artist Conk mushroom.

A Whale of a Time

There are two types of orcas in the waters around Vashon Island; Puget Sound Resident Orcas, who stay within the Puget Sound/Salish Sea region year-round eating salmon and Transient Orcas that migrate along the west coast of North America eating sea mammals. As of July 2019, the population of Puget Sound Resident Killer Whales was 73 individuals among three groups (called pods): J Pod=22, K Pod=17, L Pod=34. Superpods – When the resident pods encounter each other, they are known to greet each other with celebratory behaviors such as tail slaps, breaches, spyhops and pec slaps.  More on behaviors:  https://www.whaleresearch.com/orca-behaviors Keep up on the pods by following https://www.facebook.com/OrcaNetwork/

Ice Ice Baby…

“Beautiful and fleeting, these formations are often gone within a few hours after sunset”

Hair ice, also known as ice wool, is a unique and delicate phenomenon requiring specific conditions to be created. First, it forms only in the presence of a specific fungus (Exidiopsis effuse) which grows on the rotting wood of leafy trees. Here on Vashon, Alder trees are the most common host. In addition, since the strands are highly susceptible to sublimation in low humidity environments, it requires high humidity and air temperatures only slightly under 32 degrees. Strands as long as 20cm (roughly 4 inches) have been documented. Beautiful and fleeting these formations are often gone within a few hours of sunrise. Enjoy! If you want to geek out a little more, see this article: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/a-fungus-is-the-founder-of-the-hair-club-for-trees/