Special Sections - Living on the Peninsula Spring 2020 by Sound Publishing

SPRING 2020

LIVING on the peninsula

EMERGENCY RESPONDERS At the ocean’s edge

US Coast Guard ‘always ready’ to help

Ready to fly — when your life depends on it Emergency response takes to the air

Canine crimefighters

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An advertising supplement produced by Peninsula Daily News & Sequim Gazette

 Five-Star Quality Rating Medicare.gov/HospitalCompare “Thank You!” to Our Dedicated Employees and Medical Staff The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recognized Olympic Medical Center with an overall five-star rating in quality, the highest rating awarded in the agency’s latest hospital performance report at Medicare.gov/HospitalCompare. Of the more than 4,000 Medicare-certified hospitals evaluated, only 407 received five-star ratings. This honor would not be possible without our 1,500+ employees and medical staff. Their ongoing commitment to continuous improvement means you can expect quality, patient-centered health care at Olympic Medical Center.

To learn more about our services and providers, visit the new and improved OlympicMedical.org. 2 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

LIVING ON THE PENINSULA

on the cover

Vol. 16, No. 1 Produced and published by PENINSULA DAILY NEWS and SEQUIM GAZETTE Advertising Department

COAST GUARD CREWMEMBERS ABOARD A 47-FOOT MOTOR LIFE BOAT FROM STATION QUILLAYUTE RIVER, LOCATED IN LA PUSH, PREPARE TO RESCUE A SWIMMER SITTING ON ROCKS NEAR JAMES ISLAND, AUG. 16, 2018.

THE COAST GUARD BOAT CREW RESCUED ONE SWIMMER AND OFFICERS FROM THE LA PUSH POLICE DEPARTMENT RESCUED ANOTHER SWIMMER.

Terry R. Ward, publisher Eran Kennedy, advertising director Shawna Dixson, special sections editor Michelle Lynn, circulation director

U.S COAST GUARD PHOTO BY PETTY OFFICER 1ST CLASS LOUIS KEATING

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MARCH

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

FORKS/WEST END • March 21-22: 2020 Quillayute Valley Scholarship Auction, Forks High School, times vary. • March 28: Seventh annual River & Ocean Film Festival, Rainforest Arts Center, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., wsg. washington.edu/film-festival. • March 28-29: Nate Crippen Memorial Basketball Tournament, Forks High School Gym, all day, $300. PORT ANGELES • March 20, 50th anniversary Ballet Gala featuring Ballet Workshop dancers, guest artists and the Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, 7:30 p.m., Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave. PortAngelesSymphony.org, 360-457-5579. • March 21-22: Salt Creek 24, Salt Creek Recreation Area, 10 a.m. to 10 a.m., $85, visitportangeles. com. • March 28, Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra with guest soloist Ko-Ichiro Yamamoto, music of Brahms and more, 7:30 p.m., Port Angeles High School Performing Arts Center, 304 E. Park Ave., PortAngelesSymphony.org, 360-457-5579. SEQUIM • March 27-29: OTA’s Shakespearean Renaissance Faire!, Olympic Theatre Arts, times vary, olympictheatrearts.org. • March 28-29: Olympic Driftwood Sculptors Art Show, Sequim Prairie Grange on McCleay Road, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., donations welcome, olympicdriftwoodsculptors.org. PORT TOWNSEND/ JEFFERSON COUNTY • March 21: JeffCo Community Garage Sale & Flea Market, Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., jeffcofarigrounds. com. • March 20-22: Port Townsend Victorian Heritage Festival, downtown, $12-$60, vicfest.org.

APRIL

FORKS/WEST END • April 3: Welcoming the Whales Ceremony, Quileute Nation: First Beach, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. • April 11: Easter Egg Hunt, Tillicum Park Baseball Fields, Forks, 1 p.m.

4 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

• April 12: Easter Breakfast, Forks Elks Lodge, 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., free to $8. • April 17-19: Fabric of the Forest Quilt Show, Forks High School Gym, times vary, piecemakersquiltclub.org. • April 17-19: Rainfest: Celebration of the Arts, Rainforest Arts Center, times vary, forkswa.com/events. • April 18: Free Entrance Day, Olympic National Park, all day. • April 18: Washington Coast Cleanup 2020, coastsavers.org.

PORT ANGELES • April 4-May 31: Earth: An Abstract, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, pafac.org. • April 10-12: NW Cup Downhill Mountain Bike Series: Round 1, Dry Hill Mountain Bike Trails, nwcup.com. • April 11: LED Dance Co., “Jabberwock,” a night of contemporary dance, music and cinema, 7 p.m., Performing Arts Center at Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave., JFFA.org and, 360-457-5411. • April 11: Second Weekend Artwalk, downtown, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., visitportangeles.com. • April 18: OAT Run, Harbinger Winery, prices and times vary, oatrun.org. • April 24: ArtBites: Art & the Environment, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., $20, pafac.org. • April 24: Port Angeles Community Players, “More Fun Than Bowling,” directed by Kristen Ulsund, written by Steven Dietz, times and prices vary, pacommunityplayers.org. • April 25: Wine Cider and Cheese Tour, multiple locations on the Peninsula, $40-$45, olympicpeninsulawineries.org. SEQUIM • April 3: First Friday Art Walk, downtown, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., sequimartwalk.com. • April 17-19: Olympic Peninsula BirdFest, locations, times and prices vary, olympicbirdfest.org. • April 25: Run the Peninsula at Railroad Bridge, 9:30 a.m., prices vary, runthepeninsula.com. PORT TOWNSEND/ JEFFERSON COUNTY • April 3-May 2: Key City Public Theatre, “Always, Patsy Cline,” starring local singer Aka Kiser, Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St., Port Townsend, times and

prices vary, keycitypublictheatre. org, 360-385-5278. • April 4: Gallery Walk, downtown, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., ptguide.com. • April 24-26: Port Townsend Film Festival Women & Film, locations vary, ptfilmfest.com. • April 25: Wine Cider and Cheese Tour, multiple locations on the Peninsula, $40-$45, olympicpeninsulawineries.org. • April 18: Earth Day Spring Cleanup, downtown Port Townsend, time TBA, ptmainstreet.org/earth-dayspring-clean-up.

MAY

FORKS/WEST END • May 7: Forks Stand Down, Forks Elks Lodge, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Contact Olivia Reiber, 206-6641015, Olivia.Reiber@va.gov • May 2: Forks Lions Club White Cane Days Live Auction, Blakeslee’s Bar & Grill, 1 p.m., donations welcome, forkswa.com/ events. • May 3: Annual Fishing Day for Kids, Bogachiel Rearing Pond, Forks, 6 a.m. to noon, forkswa. com/events. PORT ANGELES • May 1-3: NW Cup Downhill Mountain Bike Series Round 2, Dry Hill Mountain Bike Trails, nwcup. com. • May 2: Port Angeles Symphony Orchestra, Fauré’s Requiem plus music of Prokofiev and Boulanger, piano soloist Anna Petrova and vocalists Kristin K. Vogel and David Meyer, 7:30 p.m., the Performing Arts Center at Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave., PortAngelesSymphony.org, 360-457-5579. • May 8: Juan de Fuca Foundation for the Arts, Blues Is a Woman, vocalist Pamela Rose’s theatrical concert celebrating women from Ma Rainey to Bonnie Raitt, 7 p.m., the Performing Arts Center at Port Angeles High School, 304 E. Park Ave., JFFA.org, 360-457-5411. • May 9: Second Weekend Artwalk, downtown, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., visitportangeles.com. • May 9: Mother’s Day High Tea, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., ticket prices TBA, pafac.org. • May 9-10: Art in Bloom, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., pafac.org. • May 22: Port Angeles Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Copland’s

“Appalachian Spring” and two Samuel Barber pieces, Adagio for Strings and “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” 7 p.m., Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, 301 Lopez Ave., Port Angeles, PortAngelesSymphony.org, 360-457-5579. • May 22-25: Juan de Fuca Arts Festival, Vern Burton Community Center, prices and times vary, jffa. org.

SEQUIM • May 1: First Friday Art Walk, downtown, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., sequimartwalk.com. • May 1-9: Sequim Irrigation Festival, times and locations vary, irrigationfestival.com. • May 1-17: Olympic Theatre Arts presents “A Facility for Living,” times vary, olympictheatrearts.org. • May 2: Plant sale sponsored by Master Gardeners of Clallam County, Woodcock Demonstration Gardens in Sequim, 2711 Woodcock Rd. Full-price plants from 9 a.m. to noon. Half-price plants from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. Proceeds help maintain the Woodcock Demonstration Gardens in Sequim and community services such as the Youth Enrichment Program and free education outreach classes in Port Angeles and Sequim. • May 23: Port Angeles Symphony Chamber Orchestra, Copland’s “Appalachian Spring” and two Samuel Barber pieces, Adagio for Strings and “Knoxville: Summer of 1915,” 7 p.m., Trinity United Methodist Church, 100 S. Blake Ave., Sequim, PortAngelesSymphony.org, 360-457-5579. PORT TOWNSEND/ JEFFERSON COUNTY • May 2: Gallery Walk, downtown, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., ptguide.com. • May 2: Port Townsend Rock Club Gemboree, Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., ptguide.com. • May 2: Open Day Boat Parade & Blessing of the Fleet, Northwest Maritime Center Pier, noon to 2 p.m., ptyc.net.

• May 9: Port Townsend Wearable Art Show, McCurdy Pavilion, Fort Worden State Park, 200 Battery Way, 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., $35, $55, $75, ptwearableart.com. Proceeds benefit the Jefferson County Fund for Women and Girls. • May 13-17: Rhododendron Festival 2020, locations vary, rhodyfestival.org. • May 17: Rhody Run, Fort Worden State Park, 11 a.m., rhodyfestival. org. • May 23-24: Brinnon Shrimpfest, between Yelvik General Store and Cove RV Park, times vary, brinnonshrimpfest.com.

JUNE

PORT ANGELES • June-September: Concerts on the Piers, City Pier, 6 p.m., bands TBA, portangeles.org. • June 7: North Olympic Discovery Marathon, downtown, times and prices vary, nodm.com. • June 13: Second Weekend Artwalk, downtown, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., visitportangeles.com. • June 20-21: Summer Solstice Art Festival, Port Angeles Fine Arts Center, times vary, pafac.org.

SEQUIM • June 5: First Friday Art Walk, downtown, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m., sequimartwalk.com. PORT TOWNSEND/ JEFFERSON COUNTY • June 6: Gallery Walk, downtown, 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., ptguide.com. • June 4: Taste of Port Townsend, details TBA, ptmainstreet.org. • June 5-20: Key City Public Theatre, “Around the World in 80 Days,” Jules Verne’s classic adventure, Key City Playhouse, 419 Washington St., Port Townsend, prices and times vary, keycitypublictheatre.org, 360-385-5278. • June 7: Annual Port Townsend Chili Cook-Off and Horseshoe Contest, Jefferson County Fairgrounds, 12:30 p.m., ptguide. com. • All event information listed here is up to date as of press time. For future event submissions, email Shawna Dixson at sdixson@ peninsuladailynews.com. Please note that publication of submitted events is not guaranteed. All event information listed here was up to date at the time of printing. For future event submissions, email Shawna Dixson at sdixson@peninsuladailynews.com.

2020 FARMERS MARKETS

PORT ANGELES FARMERS MARKET Saturdays at the corner of Front and Lincoln streets, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., year-round, farmersmarketportangeles.com. SEQUIM FARMERS MARKET Saturdays at City Hall Plaza, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., May 16-Oct. 31, sequimmarket.com. FORKS OPEN AIRE MARKET Saturdays at Umpqua Bank Parking Lot, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., May-October, 360-374-6918. PORT TOWNSEND SATURDAY FARMERS MARKET Saturdays on Tyler and Laurence streets, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., April 4-Dec. 19, jcfmarkets.org/saturday.

Table of contents 04 | PENINSULA EVENTS CALENDAR Check out what’s happening on the Peninsula in March, April, May & June

06 | READY TO FLY — WHEN YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT Emergency response takes to the air

10 | THE DAYTRIPPER Big waves & bold weather bring excitement of discovery

14 | ARTS, CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT Emergency responders recharge via early music and dance

18 | AT THE OCEAN’S EDGE US Coast Guard ‘always ready’ to help

22 | PINCH OF PENINSULA Firehouse Grill updates venue and menu to better serve customers

24 | OUTDOOR RECREATION Clallam County Search and Rescue teams prepared to navigate Peninsula’s challenging environment

PORT TOWNSEND WEDNESDAY FARMERS MARKET Wednesdays at the Jefferson Transit Haines Place Park and Ride, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., June-September, jcfmarkets.org/ port-townsend-wednesdays.

30 | CANINE CRIMEFIGHTERS

CHIMACUM FARMERS MARKET Sundays at 9122 Rhody Drive, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., JuneOctober, jcfmarkets.org/sunday.

34 | THE LIVING END

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READY TO FLY — when your life depends on it EMERGENCY RESPONSE TAKES TO THE AIR Story by Sandra Frykholm

Life Flight’s helicopter on the Olympic Medical Center (OMC) landing pad in Port Angeles. Photo by Jacob Dalstra

he phone in Gabe Whetsel’s pocket looks like a simple cellphone, but when it rings, the helicopter pilot goes on high alert. The call is from a Life Flight dispatcher who directs Whetsel and the medical team to an emergency transport need. Whetsel quickly confirms suitable weather. Then the team grabs helmets, equipment bags and a supply of blood and drugs, and heads for the chopper. Purpose and efficiency mark every step. Flight nurse Andrew Clemens joins the pilot and paramedic on the tarmac. All three pull on compact lifejackets and circle the helicopter for a safety check. With helmets on but not yet plugged in for sound, the crew communicates using hand signals to confirm the readiness of the chopper. Clemens and Whetsel climb into the cockpit for the outbound flight. Paramedic Jim Riley stands in front of the nose, ready to signal any problem as the blades begin to spin. If all is well, Riley gives a thumbs up and hops in the

6 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

back seat, ready to fly. The goal is to be off the ground in eight minutes — in their life-saving work, every minute counts. This is why they practice together as a team, until every step of the routine is second nature. Life flight teams also participate in joint training exercises with other emergency personnel across the Peninsula, including fire departments, ambulance crews and hospital staff. The ultimate goal for all these people: getting medical help for the patient as quickly as possible. Clemens grew up on the Peninsula and followed his mother into the nursing field after a stint in the military. “Having worked at OMC,” he said, “I can say there was definitely a need” for a local service like Life Flight. Clemens felt like he “won the lottery” when he was hired for the flight crew in mid-2019. Clemens got a private pilot’s license when he was younger, which made him very comfortable working as a flight nurse.

COUNTING THE COST Whichever aircraft is needed, the price of transport can be high, with billing starting at about $20,000. Some insurance plans may cover part or all of the cost, but Life Flight offers a membership program that covers the transport expense in full for a member, spouse or domestic partner and dependents for $69 per year, according to the website, lifeflight.org. Lifetime membership is available for a onetime $1,200 payment. To generate more public awareness of their presence on the Olympic Peninsula, and their membership program, Life Flight operates booths at public events such as health fairs and home shows.

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Training is a constant, Clemens said. “It’s never ending. I’m studying now for more certifications.” He already had a critical care (CCRN) certification when he was hired, as well as a neonatal resuscitation (NRP) qualification. Next up, he is working toward a CFRN designation, certified flight registered nurse. Then an advanced trauma course will provide training to pick up patients at an emergency scene, which is training he couldn’t get in a hospital setting, Clemens said. He compares the intensity of ongoing training to “trying to drink out of a fire hose.” The medical team never knows what kind of need they will face next, so they need skills in a wide range of treatments. They may encounter burns, trauma, neonatal needs, or any kind of critical medical problem. Working in a hospital, a nurse can call on many other people, but in the air, there’s a medical crew of two. “You don’t have the large team to do things for you,” Clemens said. If someone needs to be intubated, for instance, nurse and paramedic have to do it. In addition to the range of skills needed by the medical team, there are logistical challenges on the ground. Aviation mechanics perform essential services at every Life Flight base. “Aviation is a maintenance-heavy industry,” said Uldis Jaunarajs, a fixed-wing pilot from Life Flight’s headquarters in Aurora, Oregon. Jaunarajs fills in at Port Angeles occasionally. In Aurora, he flies the company’s one long-range jet, which has coast-to-coast capability. “We always know how to get ahold of these guys,” he said, nodding toward Charles Daines. Aviation mechanic Daines moved his family from Savannah, Georgia to work for Life Flight in Port Angeles, his wife’s home town. Attention to

detail is essential in his work, as every tool has to be accounted for, and every part restocked immediately when used. In addition to daily mechanical work and scheduled maintenance, Daines is on call for any mechanical need. When every minute counts, being prepared can save lives. Local hospitals have Life Flight paperwork on hand so when a patient needs to be transferred to Seattle, documentation can be prepared before the helicopter arrives. Another time-saving practice is keeping the helicopter blades turning while a patient is picked up. Training in this maneuver is critical for safety, but it can shave life-saving minutes off the transport time. Life Flight Network opened its base in Port Angeles in early 2019 to serve the Olympic Peninsula. Their emergency medical transport helicopter has a 175-mile range and can whisk a patient from Port Angeles to the nearest Level II trauma center, Providence Everett, in 18 minutes. Harborview in Seattle is 21 minutes away. Before Life Flight opened their Port Angeles base, emergency transport helicopters had to come from Bremerton or Arlington, adding significantly to the wait time for critical care patients. Ground transportation is inherently slower, and can face further delays with bridge closures, ferry schedules and heavy traffic. An ambulance ride from Olympic Medical Center to Harborview takes about two hours, even for top-priority patients and in a best-case scenario with priority space on the ferry, according to Joey Rodrigues, regional director for Olympic Ambulance in Sequim. Rodrigues made it clear, though, that ground ambulance service to Seattle normally deals with a different patient population, who don’t have critical care needs.

The Port Angeles base also has a fixed-wing aircraft that can travel anywhere in the state, and potentially, anywhere in the country. Their longer range has enabled the local base to provide service as far away as Anchorage and Fairbanks, Alaska. “The level of care we provide is different than what is found in a ground ambulance,“ said Jacob Dalstra, regional vice president over the Port Angeles base. With technological advances, Dalstra said, “Everything is getting smaller, lighter and more compact, which allows us to take this equipment on our aircraft. We carry blood, drugs and the equipment you would find in a modern ICU or emergency room.” The equipment and specialized training, as well as the speed of travel, all contribute. While they do transport trauma patients, Dalstra said, “We also have a lot of critical care patients, who need a higher level of care. If traffic is bad, driving can take a long time.” At William R. Fairchild Airport in Port Angeles, a nurse, paramedic, helicopter pilot and fixed-wing pilot are ready all day, every day for an emergency call. Pilots serve 12-hour shifts, while the nurse and paramedic work 24-hour shifts. To provide the 24/7 coverage, four nurses and four paramedics rotate shifts. Support staff includes mechanics, a customer service manager and a director of clinical operations. The nurses are all specialists in critical care, with emergency room or intensive care unit experience — the aircraft is essentially a flying ICU. Most of the calls are inter-facility transport, taking patients from a smaller hospital to a larger or more specialized hospital. They also handle “scene calls,” landing a helicopter at the scene of an accident or other emergency. Less often, they help with

“search and assist” when someone is missing, but rescue work is done by the Coast Guard, Dalstra said. Unlike many medical flight services that subcontract their staff, Life Flight employs their own pilots, mechanics and medical staff. With its 24-hour staffing, the Port Angeles base adds a payroll of about $1 million to the peninsula economy, according to Dalstra. More important than the economic boost is the availability of a life-saving service for residents throughout the Olympic Peninsula. Any time emergency air transport is needed, Life Flight is ready for the call. 

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Medical, aviation and communication equipment fill the Life Flight helicopter. Paramedic Jim Riley buckles in during a demonstration. With a patient onboard, the flight nurse would sit opposite Riley, but on outbound flights the nurse sits by the pilot. Photo by Sandra Frykholm

THE POWER OF A NETWORK The Life Flight network includes 24 bases in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Nine of those bases host fixed-wing aircraft, in addition to a helicopter. “What’s nice about our network is that our planes back each other up a lot,” said Regional Vice President Jacob Dalstra, who oversees the Port Angeles base. If the local helicopter is in use when a call comes in, for instance, the base in Coupeville can be called on for backup. When using fixed-wing aircraft, Life Flight partners with local emergency services for ground transportation to bring patients to the airport. These local services form another essential part of the network getting help for people with critical medical needs. Systemwide, Life Flight averages about one call a day for every base. Helicopter use picks up in the summer, when people are more active. The helicopters are more limited in harsh winter weather, so fi xed-wing aircraft with instrument flight capability are used more often. Life Flight is owned by another network of sorts, a consortium of four hospitals: Oregon Health Sciences University and Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, Providence Health headquartered in Renton, and St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise. When St. Alphonsus joined the consortium, Dalstra said, the dispatch services were transferred there because their technical and communications capabilities were the best option. From Boise, dispatchers communicate using push-to-talk service with a nearly instant connection to any base in the network.

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DAYTRIPPER

WILD, WILD west coast BIG WAVES & BOLD WEATHER BRING EXCITEMENT OF DISCOVERY Story and photos by Laura A. Foster

hile we wait for the weather to change from winter to that “it’s sort-of spring!” here on the Peninsula, it’s easy to stay inside our homes and while away the hours as rain inconsistently pours — or sprinkles — from above. But any hardy Pacific Northwesterner worth her salt knows that staying indoors will only inspire cabin fever and a growing dislike for reheated pizza and Netflix bingeing. So what do we do to fight the grays here on the Peninsula? A day trip to the coast sounds about right! On a recent gloomy Friday, my husband and I decided to venture off to the West End for big coastal waves and a cozy lunch at the Kalaloch Lodge. Starting around 10 a.m., we left Port Angeles, figuring we would have enough time to get out to the coast, go for a few beach walks, enjoy some food and make it back just after dark. The day began with a few showers here and there and some gusts of wind around Lake Crescent, but nothing too terrible that would make us turn back. After recently reading “How to Hygge: The Nordic Secrets to a Happy Life” by Signe Johansen, we as a couple

10 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

continue to live by her words: “There is no such thing as bad weather — only bad clothing.” And while this can be said for a lot of outdoor activities, they are not words to be taken lightly, particularly in the event of extreme weather. Obviously, if there were high winds warnings and trees were crashing down, we would have stayed home. We frequent the West End, so driving past Granny’s Cafe (grannyscafe.net, 360928-3266) and Shadow Mountain Grocery & RV Park (360-928-3043) has become part of the scenery. But if you are hungry for a full meal or need to stop for gas or snacks, these are great places to do so. If you can wait a bit longer to stop, there are a few places closer to Forks and in Forks itself. On the other side of Forks is the visitor center and Forks Timber Museum. We didn’t stop this time, but the timber museum (forkstimbermuseum.org, 360374-9663) offers a look into the history of homesteading, farming and logging in the Pacific Northwest. The museum is in a log cabin structure, built by volunteers and the Forks High School carpentry class of 1989, according to the museum’s website. From here, we wound our way along

Highway 101, entering Jefferson County and cruising past overflowing rivers and greenscapes that make anyone not from here jealous. We did run into a bit of construction on our drive. The Washington State Department of Transportation is working on removing fish barriers at multiple locations between mileposts 146.7 and 162.6. According to WSDOT, they will replace three outdated, damaged culverts that run under 101 at Steamboat Creek, Harlow Creek and Fisher Creek between Queets and Kalaloch. This means a 25 mph speed limit reduction, as well as one-way alternating traffic with a traffic signal at each culvert site. Because of our plans, we ran into only one stop light. Most of the work will be completed by this fall. Once past the impressive roadwork — we crossed a one-lane bridge high above Steamboat Creek — Beach 4 awaited. At this point, the weather couldn’t make up its mind, and the wind randomly kicked up as we made our way out to a viewing deck. The overlook provided a panoramic view of the Pacific Ocean, with sea stacks in the distance and a completely empty beach below.

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The descent down to Beach 4 includes informational posts on the surrounding area.

We backtracked to the trail that easily took us down to the beach — complete with stairs — knowing the hike back up would be a bit of a leg-burner. Before crossing a sturdy bridge to the sands below, we passed a raging creek that gave us pause one last time before ours became the first set of footprints on the beach that day. With wind whipping, the ocean waves were all but white with foam. They must not have been too rough, though, as seagulls and cormorants rode the swells like any other day. We padded down the beach toward Kalaloch, as that raging creek from earlier continued through the beach, making the other direction impassable. The soft, wet sand gave way to our footprints, and it felt like we were the first people ever to discover this beach. After about a half hour, we turned back to spend some time next to the creek. We sat on the pockmarked stones built up around the bridge and watched as the tidal and creek waters clashed every few minutes. Once satisfied with one last crash, we made our way back up the trail, met by two other travelers who lamented we left our footprints on the beach.

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As the only people on the beach, the writer’s footprints, along with her husband’s, were the sole evidence of humans during their day trip.

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Hundreds of logs have piled up on Kalaloch Beach after numerous tides have washed them ashore over the years.

12 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

Pro tip: Get to your beach destination early if you want that pristine sand. We huffed our way back to the parking area, where our stomachs were starting to rumble. It was time for lunch at the Creekside Restaurant at Kalaloch Lodge (866-662-9928, thekalalochlodge.com). The restaurant and lodge, as well as a smattering of rental cabins, sit on a bluff overlooking Kalaloch Creek. It was a slow day, as our server, Beckie, said we were her only customers at that time. We chose a seat right at the window so we could watch the tide come in and hope, along with Beckie, that a few of the trees clogging the creek would be swept out to sea. The Creekside Restaurant offers breakfast from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m., lunch from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. during the winter season. As with other Olympic National Park lodges on the Peninsula, Creekside offers local fare with an upscale feel. Partners include Red Dog and Dharma Ridge farms in Chimacum and Key City Fish in Port Townsend. Be ready to get a little spendy here, as main lunch dishes range from $17 to $23. My husband and I went with the

Southwest elk burger with bacon and upgraded to seasoned curly fries ($24), because why not? We wanted to treat ourselves. I was really in the spirit of our outing and ordered a Dark & Stormy ($10, ginger beer and rum), while my husband ordered the Coastal Manhattan ($12, a specialty drink with a twist). As we ate, we enjoyed conversations with Beckie, who clued us into a beach in La Push we “have to check out,” as well as pointed us in the direction of Kalaloch Beach’s famous Tree of Life, our next stop. It wouldn’t have been a real “treat yourself” day without dessert, and the chocolate chip skillet cookie with Snoqualmie Danish ice cream ($9) was calling to me. Now overly full, we stepped out into the wind to admire the view one last time, made tentative plans to spend the night at the lodge “one night” in the future and made our way to the small Beach 3 parking area to walk off lunch. With skies still gray, and rain still starting and stopping randomly, we headed into the wind to find the Tree of Life, aka the Runaway Tree, aka the Kalaloch Tree.

Located just north of Kalaloch Lodge near the Kalaloch Campground, this “Tree Root Cave” features a living Sitka spruce tree with exposed roots that travel down and out of the beach cliffside. Many have described it as “hanging on for dear life” or “a freak of nature.” With the recent rains, we were able to view a small waterfall spewing from behind the tree’s roots in the cave that has been carved out by erosion. It is this stream that washes out the soil underneath the roots every year, exposing more of the seemingly unstable foundation. Viewing this marvel is not to be missed, especially in the winter, as the creek creates a wide divide in the beach, emptying into the sea. Because the drive back to Port Angeles is about two hours, we decided to head back to the car, climbing on old logs and rocks as we went. One point I make with each day trip is to pick up trash where I can. Sadly, this portion of Kalaloch Beach was filled with rubbish. My husband and I picked up what we could — a lone flip-flop, soda and beer cans and a few bottles from foreign lands. Since I had to use the restroom

The “Tree of Life,” aka Tree Root Cave, is a still-alive tree with an exposed roots system just north of Kalaloch Lodge near the Kalaloch Campground.

anyway, we took the stairs up to the Kalaloch Campground to deposit the trash and get a peek at the sites while they were all mostly empty. After snapping a few more photos, we took in one last view from the bluff of the roiling ocean before heading back onto the windy beach. The rain had started again just as we got back into our truck, and we made our way back up 101 for home in Port Angeles, calling it a successful day out on the far West End, on the wild West Coast. Of note: We ended up running onto some harrowing rainfall as we passed through Forks, which had lost power in some places, and around Lake Crescent. We drove cautiously and made it safely home, though a bit later than we would have liked. 

If you would like to extend your stay, you can continue past Kalaloch Lodge to the Quinault Lodge for the night or even to Moclips or Ocean Shores for some nighttime razor clamming. Be sure to check tide times and clamming dates before heading out on such an adventure.

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Students wear a variety of outfits to salsa classes in Port Angeles.

SOURCES of energy EMERGENCY RESPONDERS RECHARGE THROUGH MUSIC AND DANCE Photos and story by Diane Urbani de la Paz

ou might wonder how emergency responders recuperate in their spare time. Do they crash on the sofa? Remain there until Monday? It would be understandable. Not these two. Paul Kelly, a 34-yearold Clallam Search and Rescue (SAR) volunteer, and Dahti Blanchard, a 68-yearold emergency medical technician with East Jefferson Fire-Rescue, soak up big energy while steeped in music and dance. A little over two years ago Kelly joined the Clallam County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue team: an unpaid job he finds

14 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

highly rewarding. “It’s outdoorsy. You get to help people,” is how he sums it up. Kelly and the SAR team rescue hikers, mushroom pickers and hunters; they lift dogs off the sides of bluffs and bring cats out of trees. Those felines would probably be able to find their own ways down, said Kelly, who has a degree in zoology from Michigan State University in East Lansing. But SAR volunteers help them out, he added, in order to prevent untrained humans from getting hurt in well-intentioned rescue attempts.

When he first moved to Port Angeles, Kelly worked at NatureBridge, the environmental school at Lake Crescent. It was there he gained his wilderness search and rescue training, along with colleagues and friends who share his deep love of the great outdoors. Kelly’s official profession is education. In 2008, he joined Teach for America, a domestic Peace Corpslike program that sends schoolteachers to impoverished communities across the country. For two years he taught math and science at a high school in Durham, North Carolina. He now works at Port Angeles High School in the College Success Foundation program (collegesuccessfoundation.org), which provides support to teenagers as they make their way on the path to the lives they want. Along with his part-time commitment to search and rescue and his job at the college, Kelly stumbled on yet another interest: Latin dance. One hot summer night in 2010, Kelly went out with a friend to a Cuban restaurant to learn how to dance salsa. Since Kelly grew up in Grand Ledge, Michigan — not a place known for Latin music — there might have been some who doubted his ability to enjoy the ensuing lesson. But that evening changed everything. Kelly has loved Latin dance ever since, and has become a low-key advocate for it. While Kelly could certainly have gone to the salsa nights at The Upstage, a now-closed nightclub in Port Townsend, or to the Century Ballroom in Seattle, he wanted to do less driving and more dancing. By 2012 he was teaching salsa at a downtown Port Angeles art studio, drawing students of various ages and abilities. He was in his element — or in one of his several elements. Kelly now teaches salsa at the Sons of Norway Hall, 131 W. Fifth St. in Port Angeles, most Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. For participants and newcomers, he maintains the “Salsa in PA” page on Facebook. Meanwhile, Blanchard, who happens to be twice Kelly’s age, is finding her new job as an EMT suits her like custom-made boots. “With all of my jobs, there were things I loved about them,” she said recently during a break at the fire station. “But this is the first job where I’ve never thought, ‘I wish my shift was over.’ ” Those shifts are lengthy: 48 hours at a stretch, with cooking of group dinners included. Blanchard is a vegetarian, and she has a “live and let live” mentality.

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Dahti Blanchard is a musician, retired teacher — and a resident EMT with East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.

She lived all over Western Washington, studied the Ojibwe language while at the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, Minnesota, and worked at the state Department of Social and Health Services as a financial aid specialist. She also was a doula, providing emotional support to women during pregnancy and childbirth. After moving to Port Townsend, she worked as a senior library associate: a librarian without the Master of Library Science degree. Many on the Peninsula, however, know Blanchard as a music teacher. She taught at the private Swan School and at Blue Heron Middle School in Port Townsend in 1977 and gave private lessons on various instruments. A pianist since girlhood, she has long been passionate about early music, the kind made on hurdy-gurdies, harpsichords, recorders and the curved reed instrument known as a crumhorn. About these old-fashioned things, “There are a lot of jokes in my family,” she said. Those don’t dent her love for the instruments in the least. Music is the constant in Blanchard’s life and heart. She grew up in the country outside Natural Bridge, New York, where the Adirondack Mountains and Saint Lawrence Seaway were nearer than any big city. She may not have gone to grand concert halls, but she did have piano lessons; she performed as the accompanist for choruses all the way through school. At just 17, she discovered early music, compositions created six centuries or longer ago. “That pure sound” of instruments such as the recorder — “I love that,” she said. At 21, she joined her boyfriend, Steve, for a motorcycle ride out West. They arrived in Los Angeles to fi nd they despised the metropolis. With about $25 between them, the couple

Paul Knowles, foreground, listens as salsa instructor Paul Kelly discusses basic moves.

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headed north, only to have the bike break down in Port Angeles, where they ended up staying. Blanchard enrolled in piano classes at Peninsula College — and spent a year there, again working as an accompanist. Somewhere in there she and Steve married and welcomed a son and a daughter. Wanting to earn a degree, Blanchard applied at St. Scholastica. When she was accepted, she left to study music there. A language course was required and, instead of the usual Romance language, she chose the indigenous Ojibwe. After finishing, Blanchard and her family returned to the North Olympic Peninsula, where she and Steve now have two grandchildren. Blanchard has retired from teaching but not from working or playing. About four years ago, she formed the Ladies Chamber Orchestra and Benevolent Society — more on that later — and in 2018 she set out on her current voyage of discovery as an EMT. The fire department was testing prospective volunteers with a threepart examination. When Blanchard passed the physical and written tests and the oral interview, she started volunteering — this turned into working 12 hours per week. Yet “I need more,” she said at the time. The job charged up her mind and body — which she loves to keep in shape. When Blanchard was in her early 50s, she met a group of women at her health club who invited her to join them in training for a triathlon. “I wonder if I could do it,” she recalled thinking. The women started out walking the running leg of the event, and planned to stay at a slower speed. They trained six days a week, and before long Blanchard asked herself another “I wonder” question about running 100 yards.

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Come triathlon day, she cycled, swam and ran to the finish. She has since finished four marathons, too. “I do push myself,” she said with a smile. Blanchard is now a resident fulltime EMT with East Jefferson FireRescue, working mostly at the station just outside town on Critter Lane. Her colleagues, other EMTs and the paramedics and firefighters, are “really kind and amazingly willing to teach me things,” she said. “I had wondered,” Blanchard added, “if there would be some misogyny and some ageism. I don’t see any of that.” Up to this point, her life included no other work in emergency response or medical care. So Blanchard was unsure how she would handle it all — EMTs are to paramedics as nurses are to doctors, she said, with the urgency of heart attacks, falls, seizures and other fraught situations adding a particular intensity. But “you’re helping people,” she said, echoing Kelly. “And I love doing it.” Along with their formal educations, both Blanchard and Kelly possess open minds. They’ve been willing to try new jobs and new pursuits even when they had no previous experience in the given field.

Kelly, for his part, still remembers when he was “ridiculously bad” at salsa. Today, a decade since that night at the Cuban restaurant, he focuses on the fun — whether teaching or dancing. He understands newcomers’ feelings of awkwardness and serves as a guide out of those weeds. In class, Kelly practices basic moves thoroughly before going on to more stylish steps. One night when introducing students to the Dominican bachata, he invited them to close their eyes and simply sway. “Everyone was smiling,” he recalled. Attendance ranges from six to 30, with a mix of leads and follows. “We had a week when it was all dudes,” Kelly said. No big deal. When he teaches salsa to young students, they blend the lead/follow roles without a problem. At the Sons of Norway Hall one Thursday in January, half a dozen attendees did a traditional dance warmup and then learned a cross-body lead with arm flourishes. “Safety, fun, look good, in that order” are his priorities when teaching salsa. Mixed in is Kelly’s affinity for lighthearted social dance.

“Last year I went to the Seattle Salsa Congress,” he said, “and it was mostly boring. It looked like an acrobatic show-contest.” In Port Angeles, Kelly wants to foster a dance community that welcomes people where they are. Snobs need not apply. “I’ve never had a bad night dancing — even when I was turned down six times in a row,” he added. For him and for Blanchard, dance and music are sources of joy amidst a demanding world. During the interview, Blanchard was looking forward to her group’s public concert on Feb. 29 at the First Baptist Church in uptown Port Townsend. When she first convened the ensemble of 12, she suggested the “Ladies Chamber Orchestra and Benevolent Society” as their name, thinking it “hilarious.” Then the musicians realized that, yes, the moniker described exactly who they are. These concerts are always fundraisers for a local charity, Blanchard said; last June the concert benefited the Jefferson County Immigrants’ Rights Advocates, or JCIRA. At the February concert, the ensemble collected donations for the

Jefferson County Winter Shelter. The concerts are open to all, with nobody turned away for lack of funds. “The group has been wonderful for me,” she said, adding that it has evolved to include male strings player Lee Inman. When asked if she believes musicmaking keeps a person young, Blanchard replied that practicing anything you truly love will do that. For Kelly, moving to music is a way to come into “the zone” — that feeling of easy flow. “It’s regenerative,” he said. “It’s freeing.” 

Paul Kelly teaches Latin dance at, ironically, Port Angeles’ Sons of Norway Hall.

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AT THE OCEAN’S EDGE U.S. COAST GUARD ‘ALWAYS READY’ TO HELP Story by Drew Herman

n a typical spring day last year, two men set out off the Quillayute River mouth in their small boat headed to Puget Sound — a long trip, even without the worry of slow road traffic. To shave some time off the journey, they decided to cut closer in to shore than usual, and ended up running onto the rocks around Umatilla Reef at about 20 knots (23 mph). Petty Officer 2nd Class Taylor Robinson of the U.S. Coast Guard Quillayute River Station, who recently achieved the elite “surfman” qualification for piloting boats in the most extreme conditions, remembers the weather as “a little bit dynamic.” Robinson and his crewmates took the emergency call and launched their 47-foot rescue boat in minutes, but found nobody at the reported location. After a shoreline search, they found the damaged vessel, now anchored, but couldn’t safely approach close enough to start a tow.

18 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

“The rocks are a lot more dangerous when it’s calm weather,” Robinson explained, since then boaters don’t even have the breaking water to give a visual warning. With the boaters in no immediate danger, the Coast Guardsmen called for a helicopter from Air Station Port Angeles to assist. The airborne asset was able to scout a safe path for the boaters to get to open water using an auxiliary motor. From there, the Coast Guard set up a tow and brought them back to shore. “Their props were completely destroyed,” Robinson said, “and their rudder was all messed up.” It was another case of the responders’ training, preparation, experience and improvisation paying off: no victims or rescuers hurt, everyone safe at home that night and only some mechanical damage after a situation that could easily have led to tragedy.

U.S. Coast Guardsmen in a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter, attached Coast Guard Air Station Port Angeles, checks the landing site for a medical evacuation drill during Joint Logistics Over-The-Shore 2016. Photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Chan

SPRING 2020 | Living on the Peninsula

SOMETHING FOR EVERYONE The U.S. Coast Guard has 11 distinct areas of responsibility, each one calling for high levels of expertise and training. • Port and waterway security: includes protection of commerce and anti-terrorism • Drug interdiction: keep illegal substances out of the country • Aids to navigation: maintain and monitor buoys and markers • Search and rescue: protect life and property afloat • Living marine resources: keep U.S. waters clean and safe for sea life • Marine safety: promote safe practices, investigating mishaps, enforcing regulations • Defense readiness: serve as one of the six branches of the nation’s armed forces • Migrant interdiction: prevent illegal immigration • Marine environmental protection: prevent pollution, respond to spills • Ice operations: maintain navigability on the Great Lakes and in the Arctic • Law enforcement: enforce commercial fishing regulations

Petty Officer 3rd Class Ryan Pipher and crew readying the deck for Cutter Ops. Petty Officer 3rd Class Justin Coachman

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With about 40,000 active duty members, the U.S. Coast Guard is far smaller than the other branches of the armed forces, except for the brand-new Space Force. With limited resources, they enforce laws, save lives and defend the country along 95,000 miles of coastline, plus inland lakes and waterways. The Olympic Peninsula, representing a large chunk of Washington state’s overall coastline, has three Coast Guard stations: Quillayute River, Neah Bay and Port Angeles. Depending on which way you’re going, U.S. Coast Guard Station Quillayute River is the first on open ocean as you leave the Strait of Juan de Fuca, or the last on your way in. “The next turn is on the Strait and then you’re no longer on the ocean,” Senior Chief Petty Officer Mike Carola said. Seeing to safety and law enforcement on the turbulent waters falls to the 30 Coast Guardsmen under Carola’s command who train, maintain and

20 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

crew their two 47-foot lifeboats, “semper paratus” — always ready — to deploy for a long list of missions. The four-member crews of the motor lifeboats belong to an elite class within the service, since Quillayute qualifies as a “surf station.” And that doesn’t mean they get to “hang 10” when they catch an epic barrel. Rather, it refers to the extreme conditions that regularly roil the sea, but don’t stop the responders. Thanks to special training, equipment and experience, they can venture even into 30-foot seas in 50-knot (approximately 57.5 mph) winds if the situation requires, when most mariners stay safely in port, given the choice.

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The need for such daring is fortunately rare nowadays. For most of the 19th century, the risky job of rough-weather rescues along the coasts fell to the United States Lifesaving Service, which combined with the Revenue Cutter

Service in 1915 to form the Coast Guard (The United States Lighthouse Service was absorbed in 1939). The old USLSS had the unofficial motto, “You have to go out, but you don’t have to come back.” That spirit has carried into the modern era, but, “We’re ensuring our people come back, too,” Carola said. Safety also has improved because of technological advancements in ship design and construction, safety equipment, weather forecasting, navigation and enforcement of regulations. That goes for the recreational boating public as well as for commercial operators. “A basic boat from today would have been almost inconceivable 20 years ago,” Carola said. “That has taken the majority of our response away.” For example, an emergency position indicating radio beacon, or EPIRB, is required equipment on all commercial vessels. In an emergency, the device activates to send accurate location

and identification information to emergency responders by way of satellites. Once bulky and expensive, EPIRBS are now small and affordable, bringing them within range of average boaters. Even smaller, personal versions, called PPIRBS, are widely available, and can be attached to a life vest, carried for a hike into the back country or otherwise kept onhand for safety. “The drive to have a better product has created a safer boating environment,” Carola said. That doesn’t mean the Quillayute guardians are bored. Carola called the pace of rescue work at their post relatively slow — a mere 20 cases in a typical year — but those can occur in hectic clusters during the brief fishery openings. And even when not saving a disabled boat or endangered mariners, Coast Guardsmen still have a long list of missions to check off. On any given day, they might rescue an injured fisherman, contain an oil spill, stop drug traffickers or help researchers from Washington State University learn about algae blooms. For the Quillayute crews, inspecting commercial fishing vessels to ensure everyone follows the rules regarding seasons, equipment and quantities of targeted species is the second biggest job after search and rescue. That means they have to know dozens of species on sight and navigate the environment of overlapping federal, state and tribal law — almost as challenging as Washington’s rocky shoreline. Much of their regulatory work depends on good relations with partner agencies, Carola noted, such as the Quillayute Natural Resource Center and the Washington Department of Fish and Game.

OTHER SIDE OF THE BAR A mere 30 miles by sea from Quillayute Station, or a two-hour drive on land, the crews at Coast Guard Station Neah Bay take over for the next section of the route into Puget Sound. Chief Warrant Officer Tim Crochet commands 38 crew members in charge of two 47-foot motor lifeboats, just as at Quillayute, plus a 29-foot RHIB (rigid hull inflatable boat). Also like their colleagues to the south, the Neah Bay crew has the challenge of duty in a remote station, where getting equipment and parts for specialized boats that take terrific beatings is not as easy as popping in at a local hardware store on the spur of the moment. Coast Guard Air Station/Sector Field Office Port Angeles (home to a third small boat crew) is in charge of sending supplies out to the more remote stations and also serves as the main organizational hub. “The Coast Guard does an incredible job taking care of us,” Crochet said. And most of the Neah Bay crew members live around Port Angeles, commuting daily to their duty post. Even so, the posting can mean a big adjustment for young Coast Guardsmen not used to communities even as out of the way as Port Angeles, let alone Neah Bay (population 865). From that remote station, however, they see to the safety of travelers in a vast area of responsibility (AOR) reaching to the Canadian maritime border and to Port Angeles. With its higher-traffic AOR, Neah Bay has a slightly higher operational tempo than Quillayute, up to about 95 search and rescue missions in 2019, Crochet estimated. They head out in all weathers to provide tows for vessels suffering from breakdowns, respond to occasional boat

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fires and assist Air Station Port Angeles helicopter crews with medevacs of injured mariners. “We keep ourselves awfully busy,” Crochet said. An interesting part of life and duty at Neah Bay is due to the station’s status as a federal installation within the Makah Tribe sovereign territory, and Crochet values close communication with their hosts. That means Coast Guard crews bear Makah law and tradition in mind, both on land and on the water. When not on urgent search and rescue, Neah Bay crews also do their share of commercial fishing law enforcement, as well as keeping an eye on people fishing for fun. “We do see a lot of recreational traffic,” Crochet said, noting the popularity of fishing out of Sekiu and Neah Bay. And like Carola, he finds the safety trend with those boaters encouraging. “We’re seeing an uptick in people being smart.” Access to improved equipment and communications isn’t enough to keep every boater safe, though. Responsible boating requires respect for the often hazardous maritime environment of the Pacific Northwest and constant maintenance of the boat and supplies. He recommends getting free, annual safety inspections, offered locally by members of the Coast Guard Auxiliary and United States Power Squadrons. And Crochet, who was stationed in Oregon for six years earlier in his career, points out a big compensation for the difficulty of doing their duty in such a remote locale: “There probably isn’t a more gorgeous place to be stationed in the Coast Guard,” he said. 

VOLUNTEER HELP Safety at sea has improved dramatically in recent decades for both professional mariners and recreational boaters. That’s partly due to technical advances in navigation, communications, boat design and emergency equipment. But just as important is the role of volunteer organizations such as the North Olympic Sail & Power Squadron and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. Both offer Coast Guard-approved classes and other services to the public, and have active groups in Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend. Any member of the boating public can take advantage of boating safety classes on the North Olympic Peninsula. The Power Squadrons and the Auxiliary teach About Boating Safely, an eighthour class that addresses basics including terminology, rules of the road, legal requirements, trailering and emergency procedures. Completion of this class or an equivalent is required to qualify for a Washington state boating license. The volunteer groups also offer free safety checks, in which trained examiners look over your boat to confirm that it complies with relevant laws. They award a yearly decal to boats that pass inspection, but do not issue tickets or fines for not passing. Contact your local Power Squadron or Coast Guard Auxiliary to learn about their class schedule or to request a safety check.

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SPRING 2020 | Living on the Peninsula 21

PINCH OF PENINSULA

BURGERS, MILKSHAKES & FRIES … oh my! FIREHOUSE GRILL UPDATES VENUE AND MENU TO BETTER SERVE CUSTOMERS Story and photo by Shawna Dixson

ince high school, Trevor Shumway had dreamed of making his mark on the Port Angeles food scene. “Cooking has always been a big part of my family,” Shumway said. “My uncle was a chef. He inspired me to cook and be good in the kitchen.” Shumway began to hunt for a food truck, but when the location he had been longing for (on Fifth Street near Lincoln in Port Angeles) became available, he and his family decided it was an opportunity they needed to take. On July 21, 2018, Shumway opened the burger joint he’d always envisioned with the help of his family. Despite having a building instead of a truck, he kept his take-out only strategy and did not include eat-in seating. People came in, grabbed their order and ate on the go. As for his burger style and selection, he knew what he wanted long before it became a reality. “I have a favorite burger place I go to that inspired me to do what I do here on this side of the Peninsula.” Shumway said. He wanted people to have access to good

quality food without having to travel to an urban area like Seattle, 80 miles away. His main goal: Be family-oriented. In the beginning, the restaurant was run primarily by him, his wife, kids and friends. However, his devotion to providing good food and service made the restaurant gain popularity quickly, and he soon had to make some adjustments. “It just took off to something bigger than that,” Shumway said. “I didn’t expect it. I’m forever grateful for it, though.” And the restaurant really was a nearinstant success, winning first place in the Peninsula Daily News “Best of the Peninsula 2019” Clallam County burger category the very next summer. For Shumway, and for many customers who routinely partook of his mouthwatering food, it was obvious that he needed a building with a layout suited to his high volume of customers who just needed to “grab and go.” Barely a year after opening, he decided to renovate and move to an old drive-through place on Eighth Street, just a few blocks away.

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“Transitioning from the takeout to the drive-through, it was more to better serve the customers that cannot get out of their vehicles — that have kids, or they’re taking care of a disabled person or just can’t walk out of the car — to be able to come inside of the restaurant to get their food,” Shumway said. “And then with the weather and all this rain, I felt that it was a good move.” With the new setup, people drive up, place their order at the window, then drive around the little building to pick up their food from the other window. Even when there’s a line, customers don’t usually wait more than a few minutes

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for their food, and they get to do so from the comfort of their vehicle. You also can call ahead and pick up at the walk-up window. Along with moving to this more convenient service format, Shumway redesigned his menu to be more inclusive. Where before the burgers, fries and drinks were all separately priced, “meals” are now the default. When Shumway decided to change locations, he also resolved to offer his burgers as meals without changing the pricepoint. “I was modeling off another menu [at first] … but me, personally, I think people deserve fries and a drink with their burger.” You can still get them separately if you want, but his new meal option is here to stay. For him, it’s about doing the right thing for his customers. He believes food should be accessible and exactly what you’re in the mood for. “When you come to Firehouse Grill Burgers and Fries, you have to be creative. There are over 200,000 options to make your burger ... not a lot of people know that.” Recognizing that many people get attached to a specific fry format, he decided from the beginning to offer

three different types of fries: Curly, waffle and regular fries all have their own followers. He also offers an impressive selection of free toppings and condiments. “The ‘firehouse way’ style [bacon, cheese, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard and A-1 sauce] is my favorite,” Shumway said. “That’s how I created my burger.” Many people pick this ready-to-go combination, but the power of Firehouse lies with its customization options. To have Firehouse at its best, take the time to figure out what exactly you want. If you need ideas, look to the specialty burger menu. These “mouthwatering” burgers, named for their complexity, feature specialty cheeses, cold-cut meats, sauces and other delightful additions. According to Shumway, they are for the people who want to indulge in “heavenly, cloud nine” flavor. Shumway emphasized that they don’t upcharge for many of their premium options, such as grilled mushrooms, jalapeños and Tillamook cheddar or swiss. “We want to get away from your traditional [offerings],” he said.

Flame-grilled chicken and footlong hot dogs also are on the menu. In keeping with his more-options-arebetter theory, you can get your hot dog with any toppings you want. They even have relish and sauerkraut. And what would a burger place be without milkshakes? “We’ve got 20-something different flavors,” Shumway said. “The top three flavors lately have been eggnog, huckleberry and strawberry — and chocolate, of course. “I also do the ‘firehouse blast,’ ” he added. This is a milkshake blended with the mix-ins of your choice, such as Oreo, Butterfinger, Heath Bar, Reese’s, banana or peppermint, to name a few. Shumway isn’t done upgrading his new place. Many of the final details are still being completed during business off-hours. His goal is to make the space more welcoming and provide some outside spaces for enjoying your food. “For the summertime here soon, we’ll have seating out front,” Shumway said. “There’ll be tables and seats and music and whatnot. “I’m trying to change the way food service works around here. Slowly but surely.” 

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SPRING 2020 | Living on the Peninsula

OUTDOOR RECREATION

LOST in your own backyard SEARCH AND RESCUE TEAMS PREPARED TO NAVIGATE PENINSULA’S CHALLENGING ENVIRONMENT Story by Michael Dashiell

Search and rescue workers make their way down the Elwha River on Jan. 8, 2018, in search of a Sequim woman who likely jumped from the Elwha River Road bridge west of Port Angeles. Photo by Jay Cline/Clallam County Fire District No. 2

f you think it’s difficult trying to keep more than 70,000-plus people safe in a region that is 2,671 square miles wide, a third of that space consisting of waterways, along with about 200 miles of shoreline, all in an area that includes mountains, beaches, rivers, dozens of logging roads and a 922,000-acre national park, you’d be right. Fortunately, for everyone from the cross-peninsula backpacking hiker and the local day-tripper to the victim of unfortunate circumstances, there are a number of professionals and volunteers ready and able to help in virtually any rescue situation. Helping lead the way is Clallam County Search and Rescue (SAR), a unit within the Clallam County Sheriff’s Department. This group of about 20 community volunteers with a wide range of experience and expertise helps the department locate and/or assist those in need. “We handle, more or less, backcountry

24 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

rescue,” said Staff Sgt. John Keegan, who oversees the Clallam County SAR team. In addition to ground teams, SAR operations may involve aircraft, search dogs, trackers and other equipment on land and water. “People will ask, with GPS [on phones], ‘How do people get lost these days?’ ” Keegan said. “People get lost in their own backyards — bad things can still happen [close to home].” Sometimes the team responds to people doing “dumb stuff,” he said, but more often rescue situations include people doing everything right … until they get injured on a trail, hit by a land slide or have a heart attack far from medical attention. Typically, police and fire departments help in more urban areas, finding folks with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia (SAR also assists in those situations), but it often takes a search-and-rescue unit in coordination with other entities to

find those lost in the woods, stranded on a beach or in a river, or injured atop an Olympic Mountain peak.

PENINSULA HAZARDS

A variety of visitors and denizens can be found each day on the Olympic Peninsula, including hunters, hikers, backpackers, mushroom-pickers, cross-country snow skiers, snowshoers and more. With the widely varying terrain — as county officials note, the Peninsula has some particularly dense and unique forests — the region’s topography presents some challenging rescue situations. “Navigation can be a real nightmare to anyone not prepared for our everchanging weather conditions,” the Clallam County SAR web page notes. One of the biggest nightmares, Keegan said, is when people don’t know where their family members are because they’ve gone hiking alone and without filing a trip plan or sharing details with anyone.

TECHNICAL RESCUE TEAMS Thanks in part to its diverse geography, many emergencies in Clallam County require specially trained responders and equipment. Captain Chris Turner leads the technical rescue teams for Clallam County Fire District 3, 142-mile coverage area from about 3 miles east of the Clallam County line into what was formerly a portion of Jefferson County Fire District 5. The department trains staff and volunteers in fi ve disciplines — confined space rescue, high angle rope rescue, swift water/flood rescue, trench rescue and structural collapse/ heavy rescue — to handle various rescue situations. Turner said many of the situations teams in District 3 respond to are around the Peninsula’s rivers, from calls for help on the nearby Dungeness to

the Duckabush, Bogachiel, Sol Duc and Elwha rivers. One of the steepest rivers in the United States (according to the U.S. Forest Service), the topography of the 31.9-mile Dungeness River makes for challenging rescues for people who become stranded in or near that river, Turner said. Much of the district’s training is on swiftwater rescue — “You excel at stuff close to your area,” Turner said — but is ready for a variety of challenges. At their disposal is equipment for outdoor rescues such as four-person inflatable rafts and a Zodiac motorboat along with 150- and 300-foot ropes, as well as everything from jackhammers to chainsaws. The team is even prepared to cut through thick slabs of concrete in more urban rescue settings.

Relatively new equipment helps technical rescue team members detect vibrations deep in enclosed spaces such as collapsed buildings, along with technology allowing team members to communicate as far as 150 feet into confined spaces. Clallam County Fire District 3 organized its Technical Rescue Team in 1998 and, along with Bainbridge Island fire department, got an influx of funding for resources in 2006, Turner said. That same year, Sequim and Port Angeles fire departments formed Clallam County Technical Rescue. Over the years, Turner said, Fire District 3 technical team members have trained with crews from Port Angeles, Kitsap County and others, as the departments often assist one another when needed. “You can’t handle emergencies

generally with one department,” Turner said. District 3 technical team members drill each month along with larger quarterly sessions; it takes about 40 hours of training to become proficient in a discipline, Turner said. The team includes as many as 30 district career and volunteer staffers (most career firefighters have at least some technical rescue training by their third year, Turner said). There, they can replicate confined space emergencies, a kind of training that Turner said will be key when the oft-predicted earthquake along the nearby Cascadia Subduction Zone occurs. “We’re going to be isolated (if/ when that happens),” Turner said, and technical rescue skills will be in high demand.

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Much of the park land on the Olympic Peninsula has no cell service at all. Bring a map and plan your route ahead of time. Don’t forget to tell people where you are going and when you’ ll be back.

Clallam County Fire District 3 (Sequim) technical rescue team members practice their skills in the snow that fell on the area in January. Photo by Cpt. Chris Turner/Clallam County Fire District 3

BLAZING A TRAIL? Although you might never use these items, packing them could save your life: • Map and compass • Sunscreen, hat & sunglasses • Extra clothing • Headlamp and/or flashlight • First-aid supplies • Waterproof matches or lighter • Repair kit and tools • Extra food • Extra water • Emergency shelter

Keegan reminds trail users to always take the 10 hiking essentials if headed out into the woods. In addition, with dozens of miles of accessible coastline of sandy beaches, islands, rock cliffs and caves, shoreline users can get caught by rising tides and changes in the weather. The county’s rescue crews see plenty of action in particularly bad weather conditions, Keegan noted — “Snow is bad” — and that was evident during the last two winters. On Jan. 15, SAR and Clallam Corrections Center inmate recovery teams came to the aid of two Port Gamble

S’Klallam tribal members just west of Lake Crescent. The pair had spent five hours in terrain covered with as much as 2 feet of snow in a windswept, forested area while pursuing elk on U.S. Forest Service land. The two men had snacks and water but did not have a compass, said Brian King, Clallam County chief criminal deputy. They lost their sense of direction after dark in windy, frigid conditions a half-mile south of Mary Clark Road, he said. Winds whipped up to about 60 mph. King said, had the men not had a cellphone in an area where reception is spotty, “We’d have been out there for days [looking for them], maybe.”

On the same day, SAR members assisted three people from Kitsap County who got stuck and stranded for about 27 hours on a U.S. Forest Service road in the Palo Alto Road area, about 15 miles southeast of Sequim. Fortunately, they were able to shelter in place, Keegan said, and were eventually helped out by members of Top Shelf Wheelers ORC, a local four-wheel-drive vehicle club. SAR performs many different tasks in the area. “Older folks unable to get to the pharmacy — we’ll help them get their medication,” Keegan said. In February 2019’s so-called “Snowmaggedon,” SAR members were in action along with other first responders. The county SAR team gets calls once or twice a month, often depending on the season, but during the 2019 Snowmaggedon, Keegan said the team got five calls in one day. “Half the time we have to cancel because the problem works itself out … which we don’t mind,” he said.

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Not every emergency situation comes to Clallam County SAR, Keegan noted. Calls that aren’t handled immediately by local police, fire department, park service or other entity go to a Clallam County Sheriff deputy, who then assesses the situation and may call in Keegan and crew. When enacted, SAR provides a number of services and capabilities to help, Keegan said, and it doesn’t always involve putting on a backpack to tromp through the woods.

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Some have incredible information technology (IT) skills — by the time he has organized a party for a physical search, these others have provided topographical maps of the search area. SAR personnel are required to complete Clallam County training before being certified. They get training in first aid, high angle technical work (rescues in which they must rescue someone not easily accessible, i.e. on a cliff or bluff), orienteering and night navigation, helicopter rescue loading and other areas of expertise, and most are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, county staff explained. Staff also are required to carry a standardized set of personal equipment designed to spend at least 24 self-supported hours in the field. Keegan said the training includes a three-month-long academy with sessions once a week, plus some Saturdays. He said he’s hoping to give even more medical training to SAR members beyond first aid, to further help those injured persons in rescue situations. One of the current SAR team members is now in Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) school, Keegan noted. Some training goes into urban

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rescue situations — rare at this point, he said, but “when Cascadia [the major earthquake predicted to eventually impact the Pacific Northwest] hits, that’s where we’ll be needed the most.” He said most team members have had some sort of experience in rescue groups prior to joining the Clallam team. “Some were volunteers elsewhere; some are people who just love the outdoors,” Keegan said. “They all have the mindset to help people.” SAR members also help Clallam County with crime scene searches and evidence searches. That line-upshoulder-to-shoulder scene you see on crime shows on television — that’s about right, Keegan said. “Weapon recovery is one of the bigger [activities] we do,” he said. “They do a really good job.” Team members also offer public education at events like the annual KidsFest and Clallam County Fair events in Port Angeles. They also present slideshow demonstrations to service organizations and schools. “There are a huge amount of volunteers,” Keegan said. “The amount we save [the taxpayers] is hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

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Staff Sgt. John Keegan, who oversees the Clallam County Sheriff's Department's search and rescue teams, displays the department's first drone that has two cameras, one a standard camera and another with infrared capability. Sequim Gazette photo by Michael Dashiell

TECHNOLOGY While much of the county SAR team’s efforts are conducted with eyes and ears, Keegan and company have plenty of equipment to help in their searches. Along with funding provided through the sheriff department’s annual budget, the group received $5,000 in additional funding from county commissioners each of the past two years to boost SAR’s technology and resources. Those funds have been helpful, Keegan noted, in purchasing the department’s first drone: one equipped with regular and infrared cameras, as well as a loudspeaker. Keegan said the department is looking to align its drone use policies with the Washington State Patrol (which, as it happens, reportedly has the largest drone fleet in the nation, with more than 100 units). The funds also helped the team buy a printer that can print out color maps of the region. Along with emerging technologies they have at their disposal, SAR team members have quads and bikes (both standard and motor-assisted) stored at a dedicated SAR building near the William

Clallam County Fire District 3 (Sequim) technical rescue team members participate in a rope skills evaluations at the Port Angeles waterfront on Jan. 25. Photo by Cpt. Chris Turner/Clallam County Fire District 3

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CANINE crimefighters

Sequim police officer Paul Dailidenas works with Mamba, Sequim’s K-9 officer, at a state conference. The dog gets keyed up, Dailidenas says, and sometimes needs a little calming down. Photo courtesy Sequim Police Department

DEVOTED DOGS SERVE COMMUNITY Story and photos by Diane Urbani de la Paz

amba is a beauty, a devoted partner and a razor-nosed tracker of suspected criminals. She’s also a 4-year-old German shepherd and an officer on the Sequim police force. One of only three K-9 partners on the North Olympic Peninsula. “She’s a wonderful dog,” said her handler, Sequim patrol officer Paul Dailidenas. He joined the department 21 years ago, and hadn’t planned on becoming part of a K-9 unit. But when K-9 officer Tony Bush left the Sequim force, Dailidenas was called on to step up. In January 2018 he started the lengthy — and ongoing — training process. Everything about it is challenging,

30 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

Dailidenas said: starting with the initial 480 hours of training in obedience, tracking and what’s called “bite work.” “Out here, we do mostly tracking,” he said; “people run off into the woods,” and dogs like Mamba are highly skilled in leading their two-legged partners to the suspect. This is an animal with a sense of smell many times more acute than a human’s. Sergeant Dave Campbell, who established Sequim’s K-9 unit , puts it this way: When we go over to a friend’s house and the kitchen smells wonderful, we may identify that aroma as cookies baking. Mamba, meanwhile, can smell every last ingredient in them — not that she goes around hunting for treats.

Campbell admires Mamba’s combination of work ethic and pleasant personality. “I’ve never seen drive like in this dog. She wants to go, 24/seven. At the same time, she’s gentle,” he said, “and superwell behaved with kids. Around the office, she’s very well-tempered.” Mamba is lean at about 60 pounds, he said, and eager for work or play. She’s different from his dog Huey, who had a weight problem. He had a lot of friends in the office who would slip him beef jerky treats, Campbell said. Three cups of dry food constitute Mamba’s daily regimen, plus the occasional carrot. As with humans, staying trim is easier on the joints and better for agility.

Series of three photos: Sequim K-9 officer Mamba has high “ball drive,” the ability to focus on the object and task at hand. She demonstrates her abilities by tackling Campbell and holding him. longest-bodied reptile, growing up to 14 feet and moving at up to 12 mph. On the other hand, Mamba the police dog enjoys a peaceful home life with Dailidenas and his wife and their two pets, a male and a female miniature schnauzer. Dailidenas does keep them separate, not necessarily because Mamba would bother the other dogs, but because the male schnauzer can get aggressive. Mamba is only the fourth K-9 officer to serve on the Sequim force. She’s the city’s first female canine crimefighter, as the police department website calls her, and she specializes in tracking and apprehending people, searching for evidence and protecting Dailidenas. Campbell formed Sequim’s original K-9 team 20 years ago with Huey, a yellow Labrador retriever. Unlike Mamba, Huey was trained to find illegal drugs. After he retired in 2005, Titus, a German shepherd and drug detective, came onboard with Sgt. Mike Hill as his partner. Titus retired in 2008; his successor was Chase, who represented the next phase of Sequim’s K-9 unit. During his eight years of service Chase was a patrol dog, trained like Mamba to track down suspects wherever they are on the Peninsula.

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Mamba is mellow, mind you, until Dailidenas brings out her orange training ball. To give a brief demonstration of her speed, he brings her into the hallway at the Sequim Police Department and gives her a command to chase down Campbell, who’s wearing a densely padded sleeve. The dog takes off like a coal-black shot. Then she lets out her signature song: a mashup of a howl and a throaty whine. It’s almost operatic and, Dailidenas and Campbell agree, it’s spine-tingling. Reaching her target — Campbell’s arm — in seconds, Mamba locks her teeth into the sleeve, and stays right there till Dailidenas calls her off. Out in the field, Mamba “is louder than me,” her handler added. She emits her sound, then puts her nose to the ground. When she and Dailidenas confront a suspect who’s been secluded in dense brush, for example, he’ll repeat, “Come out with your hands up,” but it’s the dog’s howl that puts a finer point on the need to obey. Mamba is, after all, named after a fast-slithering snake whose fangs inject venom. The black mamba is Africa’s

Sequim police partners Paul Dailidenas and Mamba are trained to track and de-escalate crime suspects. The Sequim dog’s nearest K-9 colleagues are Copper, age 2, and Bodie, age 6, members of the Port Angeles Police Department. In some situations the three serve as de-escalators, scaring a suspect with their barking and stature even when still inside the patrol car. There are times, Campbell said, when people are more afraid of a K-9 partner than they are of a human police officer. A dog such as Mamba can push suspects off balance and knock weapons out of their grip. That’s the point, he said: rendering suspects immobile without hurting them. Copper, the newest police dog on the Peninsula, has been working for

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about a year now with Port Angeles officer Whitney Fairbanks. To become a certified team, the pair completed the foundational training equivalent to 12 40-hour weeks. Today they participate in monthly trainings with instructors, including Port Angeles police Sgt. Kevin Miller, a nationally known expert in K-9 work. The continual training time can be the most challenging part of K-9 teamwork, Fairbanks said. She’s all in, though. The officer has wanted to be a K-9 handler since she was a girl and her mother, the late U.S. Forest Service officer Kristine Fairbanks, worked with police dogs. “I have great memories,” she said, “as a kid helping her train her dogs, and being able to set tracks for her. She had three K-9s throughout her career.” As for young Copper, “He has a pretty goofy personality,” said Fairbanks, “and can be easily distracted by dust, feathers or anything sparkly. But when it’s time to start tracking, he is all about work.” Like Mamba, Copper enjoys being around people and has a high “ball drive” — or ability to stay focused on the object and task at hand — “what we look for in a working K-9,” Fairbanks said.

32 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

Sequim police officer Mamba is full of energy on her late-night shift. Miller, too, became passionate early on about this type of police work. A master trainer for the Washington State Police Canine Training Association and a certified instructor with the state Criminal Justice Training Commission, he’s been with the Port Angeles Police Department nearly 31 years. “This is all I’ve wanted to do since I was 11,” said Miller, who began as a Kitsap County Sheriff’s cadet in his hometown of Bremerton. Every day, he said, “I get to do my dream job.” When a handler begins working with a K-9 partner, the dog becomes a member of the household. Miller’s dog Bodie is his third “long-term partner,” and one he liked immediately. He’s a Belgian Malinois, a breed known for intelligence, confidence and ability to bond with its human. Miller brought home his first Port Angeles dog, Arco, in the mid-1990s. The Atlantic Richfield Co. provided grant money to purchase the shepherd who, like many police canines was born and bred in the Netherlands. Following their state accreditation, Arco and Miller aided many law enforcement agencies, from the

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and Olympic National Park authorities, to the Port Townsend Police Department. Arco was dual-trained: He could sniff out drugs and track people. In 1998, when Miller and his partner attended a narcotics detection training at McNeil Island, Arco won the Top Dog award for fi nishing first in his class. One October day in 2007, Miller and Arco were deployed to track two suspects who’d fled the scene of a vehicle prowl. Soon after he began work, Arco collapsed; he was later found to have an enlarged heart. Arco retired Oct. 19, shortly before his 11th anniversary of service with the Port Angeles Police. He’d suffered many injuries, including the loss of two front teeth and a fractured rib, in confrontations with suspects. But Arco had always returned to work. When his career ended, he’d logged 362 felony apprehensions and hundreds of illegal-drug fi nds. Miller is “a dog whisperer,” said Port Angeles Police Chief Brian Smith, adding that the sergeant has the ability to match the right animal with the right officer. It comes from experience, Miller said.

Dogs such as Mamba, Copper and Bodie each cost the police department as much as $10,000 to purchase. Then come the officers’ time in training, equipment such as body armor, vests and kennels, plus veterinary care and food. The Port Angeles Police Department budget for its K-9 program reached $9,500 last year, Smith said, adding that the Clallam County Sheriff’s Office provides $3,500 of that. The dogs are available for mutual aid all over the county and beyond, “no questions asked,” he said, since the sheriff doesn’t have a K-9 unit of its own. The Port Angeles Police Department is fortunate in that its K-9 program was established many years ago. Smith isn’t sure it could afford to start one from scratch today. Small rural police departments are hard-pressed to fund police dogs; Port Townsend, for example, no longer has a K-9 team. The Mary P. Dolciani Halloran Foundation also has supported K-9 programs in both Port Angeles and Sequim, with grants in memory of James Halloran, who was an advocate for local law enforcement. In Sequim, other local residents

also have put their money where their enthusiasm is. Donations from the community have paid for Mamba’s purchase and care, said Sheri Crain, Sequim’s chief of police. Open Farm Pet Food and Best Friends Nutrition in Sequim supply her food. While having a K-9 unit is costly, Crain and Smith believe the return on investment is significant — though hard to measure. Mamba may not go out on a lot of police calls. She may not go out tracking fugitives often. But she and Dailidenas do frequently give demonstrations at schools, senior centers, church groups and scout troops, giving people a chance for a positive interaction with the police. “That’s just invaluable stuff,” said Crain. Miller reflected on his life of police work with driven, focused, four-legged partners. With all of the sophisticated technology available, in some situations there’s nothing, he said, as powerful as a dog. “I like the teamwork. You’re working with an animal, trying to accomplish a goal with the least risk,” he said. “The one thing that never gets old is finding the bad guy.” 

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LIVING END

ANGELS among us BY THE REV. PAM DOUGLAS-SMITH “I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: The only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve.” — Albert Schweitzer

hese words of Albert Schweitzer are powerful reminders of the importance of being truly present in the world with a consciousness of awareness, compassion and service. Each is called to simply touch the lives of those around them in a communion of caring as channels of presence and compassion. Every day is an invitation to service wherever we each abide. For some, this innate calling to serve finds its expression in caring for family . . . for some, in volunteering for groups that share their passions . . . for some, the calling is strong enough to lead them along the path of career service. For everyone who heeds this call, we are all deeply blessed. They respond to sudden and life-threatening situations as they openly offer their unique skills to whoever needs them without judgement or hesitation. They are the living embodiment of service as they share their gifts and presence whenever and wherever they are called.

“Some have entertained angels unawares.” — Hebrews 12:2 The presence of angels is found in many spiritual traditions. From Aristotle to St. Augustine to Shakespeare, angels are acknowledged as spiritual presences in our world. In the Talmud, it even says every blade of grass has an angel whispering to it to grow. Angels can be invisible spiritual support or they can be embodied in the physical presence of others. They can be human or come as our furry, feathered or finned companions. The energy of the angels will meet us in the unfolding of our lives in the ways we can each behold. First responders and angels have much in common. Both are messengers sent to meet you on your path. Both bring healing, comfort, protection and guidance. One group may have visible wings while the others camouflage their special presence. One need not be holy to be angelic, because the presence of the divine

34 Living on the Peninsula | SPRING 2020

expresses in the reality of our lives and the experiences of our humanity. One need only be willing to serve — open to being a channel of that presence.

“To see an angel, you must see another’s soul. To feel an angel, you must touch another’s heart. To hear an angel, you must listen to both.” — Anonymous Most of us remember the courage that shone through the heartbreak amid the events of 9/11. There were angels everywhere in their myriad of forms. People opened their homes to take in those who couldn’t get to their own. Others cared for pets until their owners could return. A shopkeeper handed out free athletic shoes to everyone so they could more safely navigate the debris in the street. Diverse groups all around the world held us in prayer and sent their heartfelt blessings. Angels and spiritual presences swirled in the column of smoke and light that arose from the fallen buildings. But there was one moment that begs to be remembered — a woman who made it down the stairs to safety from the first tower was being interviewed. She spoke of the panic but also how people were helping each other down the seemingly unending stairs. She shared the moment they met the young firefighters who were going upwards toward the damage. Her description was that they were absolutely beautiful and radiant, with the most amazing bright eyes she’d ever seen. This is a classic description of the countenance of angels coming into human form to abide close to those who are selfless and courageous in service of others. This does not diminish the reality of the bravery of the firefighters but, rather, brings comfort that they were not alone in their dedication and steps toward the heavens.

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” — Anne Frank A recent visit to Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam brought home the reality of her presence in our world, along with the legacy of service she inspired. In the hidden space behind the bookcase, one still finds the photographs and magazine clippings that she placed on the walls. The video at the end of the tour reminds us that her hope abides in each of us and her remembrance calls us not to wait to express that hope in service. If those who serve are happiest and we needn’t wait to share our own special gifts in service to the greater good, let us not hesitate or delay. According to Jean Houston, love is evolutionary energy par excellence calling us to be channels of its emerging energies in creative ways. Margaret Mead reminds us that we should never doubt the value of small groups working together because that is the only thing that has ever changed the world. Mother Teresa calls us not to do great things, but rather to do small things with great love. The world always will be blessed by any act of loving service. Where are you called to be that presence of grace in your world? The perfect inspiration to celebrate those who serve — and to call us all to lives of conscious service — was written by Cheryl Sawyer in response to 9/11. Its title is simply “One,” and it includes these poignant lines:

“As the soot and dirt and ash rained down, We became one color. As we carried each other down the stairs of the burning building We became one class. As we lit candles of waiting and hope We became one generation . . . As we retell with pride of the sacrifice of heroes We become one people.”

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