FAQ's

Miracle Ranch
Port Orchard, Washington
actually it is much closer to Purdy, on Hwy 302

Around the area

Right next door is the Horseshoe Lake Park

Around the camp grounds



	So he doesn't have to clean up afterwards.

Fake side of Cheney Hall	Cheney Hall	Dining Hall and Lounge



Horse barn	Some of the 40 horses	There are many trails through the woods.


Saturday, Sep 6. The sewer line had to be laid.	Finished. This is the maze all MMAPers walk through to get to their rig.

Replaced windows in 6 cabins

Before	JK removing the old window	Window has been removed

JD sanding the window frame	Rick installing new window	John and Rick taking windows apart so the metal can be recycled.

Sep 10 & 11 the guys applied a sealant to the pathway to the cabins. A VERY messy job. Rick's jeans and runners are now black. PS. The jeans cleaned up much better than expected.


Sep 15 JK and JD started work on repairing or replacing the stairs at Sweetwater Lodge.	Removing the stairs.	They found more rot than they thought they would, and so all of the old stair parts were scrapped. JK and JD's assignment was changed to work on the cabins so someone else will have to rebuild the stairs. .


Sep 15 Rick and JR built a small retaining wall. It was liked so they were asked to	build another one for cabin #6, and then	for cabin #5. This cabin need the concrete supports under the porch replaced and the whole porch leveled. Some of the planks in the porch needed replacing too.	After the previous picture was taken the powers that be decided to reshape the retaining wall.

Cabin # 4 needed the deck repaired and the steps replaced.	Cabin # 4 finished	Cabin # 3 also got a new deck including new concrete piers and treated posts, new deck boards and support beams.

There were still a few hours to work so Rick was assigned to replace ceiling tiles in Sweetwater Lodge. Holes in the existing tiles had been created with the end of pool clues.


Sherry and Helen made 9 industrial grade hot pads. Sue is making aprons. Joanie sewed in her rig.	A finished apron.


Sep 22 Made valance for two windows in the barn office.

Joanie cut the fabric and pressed the hems.	Sue and Helen sewed.	The finished product in place.

Sherry spent many hours working at the barn and with the horses.


After giving the men their snacks for morning break the ladies went to the Victorian Rose Tea Room and Gift shop on Port Orchard.	One of the ladies in the group is very interested in dolls. After lunch in the tea room	we headed to the Morning Sun outlet store in Tacoma. This is my $4 shirt, less 15% because it was senior's discount day.

In Appreciation September 24 a lovely candlelight buffet dinner was provided for the Island Lake and Miracle Ranch MMAPers.

Great food	Pick a shirt from the selection	A special gift for the ladies for making the pot holder and aprons.


Will John be able to clear the trees in time to make the turn onto the road?	Stop! The landing gear is about to hit the ground. That was solved by raising the back truck tire.	The back end came within an inch or two of hitting the tree but he made it!

Sep 11 - 7 of the 8 MMAPers went horse back riding.

Rick on Bridger	Rick is adjusting Helen's stirrups	Rick, Sherry and Helen ready to ride.

Day trip - September 13

We had a few minutes so took a quick walk around the Saturday outdoor market in Port Orchard were we saw...	carved watermelons.


The free (on Saturday) foot ferry from Port Orchard to Bremerton	The shoreline around the foot passenger terminal


Seattle Space Needle and a cruise ship	Smith Tower, pointed building on the far right, was the tallest building in Seattle until the Space Needle was built for the 1962 World's Fair.

Bill Speidel's Underground Tour A stroll through subterranean storefronts and sidewalks entombed when the city rebuilt on top of itself after the Great Fire of 1889.

Scenes along the old sidewalk

The skylight as seen from the old sidewalk	The same skylight as seen from the current sidewalk.

Pike Place Market
Spans nine acres and may have up to 40,000 visitors daily. It is the US's oldest continuously operating market and after more than 90 years is still widely regarded as the soul of the city. Having less than an hour and a half, we saw only a small portion of it. However we did see the famous fish throw.

Sep. 19 to the Puyallup Fair

Draft horses all fancied up for the draft horse demonstration.	Six horse hitch	The only display of quilling that I saw. Taken for my friend Mary, a quiller.

Some really unique examples of chainsaw carving.	This was a really big log	John, Helen (brother and sister) and Mary. We met at the fair. John's necklaces were won at the fair.

Sep 20 Daughter Brenda and her husband Tyler were with us and we took off for the day. First stop was at Cabela's in Lacey, WA.

The main entrance to Cabela's, a 185,000-square-foot sporting goods retail showroom.	Upon entering the main entrance you are over-whelmed with so much to see. Not being interested in sporting goods Helen looked at the animals.	In the center is a huge mountain displaying many animals.	Stellar Sea lion and black bear,

Elk (Wapiti)	Taken from the second floor, looking down on animal mountain.	Brenda staged this shot.	Moose

Under the mountain is an aquarium	Cabela's also sells furniture.


In-door target practice area.	Animals from Africa

After lunch at the Red Lobster we were off to find the Almond Roca Factory in Tacoma. Brown and Haley have been making Almond Roca since 1912, probably in this same place. In fact the guy in the store said that the only Almond Roca made is made right here. The building looks like it could be 100 years old. They do make some other candy too, mostly in a similar style to the Almond Roca

The factory buildings have seen better days. No tours are offered.	The Almond Roca store, round like the Almond Roca tin, offered samples and good prices on selected items. The man there was most helpful telling how to get to our next stop, where to park at no charge and where to catch the free train.

Chihuly Bridge of Glass A 500' pedestrian bridge crosses Interstate 705, linking downtown Tacoma to the city's waterfront. Conceived by Dale Chihuly, glass artist, and native of Tacoma. It was designed in collaboration with Aurthur Anderson, Architect. It is made up of three parts.

Seaform Pavilion: is a ceiling made of 2,364 blown glass objects from Chihuly's Seaform and Perisian series.

Two crystal towers mark the center of the bridge and rise 40' above the bridge deck. Chihuly made the 63 large crystals in each tower from Polyvitro, a polyurethane material developed to withstand the elements


Venetian Wall: here the pedestrian sees an 80' installation displaying 109 Chihuly blown glass sculptures.

From the Chihuly Bridge, there is a good view of Union Station, a Romanesque Revival railway station given a new purpose as a federal court house in 1992.


After work on Sep 23 Rick offered to sharpen MMAPer's knives, scissors etc.	That evening he did a sharpening demonstration using both the power system and by hand.	John is putting into practice what he has just been told.


	Co-coordinator: John & Joanie

John & Sherry	John & Sue	Rick & Helen


Joanie and Sue made cards.	Sherry made pumpkins and	showed Helen how to make a small baby blanket.


Part of the Bremerton Naval Ship Yard	Bremerton