Robin Hood Village on Hood Canal

Presently we are staying in Robin Hood Village, a quaint little RV park located in Union, WA on Hood Canal. The village was the creation of a famous Hollywood Set designer, Donald Beckman, and built in 1934. Four years later, after the filming of the Adventures of Robin Hood starring Errol Flynn, the set crew for that movie visited Beckman at Hood Canal and the village was named in honor of the movie since the crew felt there was so much resemblance. Robin Hood Village originally consisted of a restaurant, a pub and oyster bar, an RV park and a liquor store. Those elements are still present but the property has been divided and sold to various owners.

Across the street from the Village you can see the beach side of the Alderbrook Resort and Spa. The Resort dates back to the early 1900s but about 2001 it was purchased by a Seattle based group that included Bill Gates and members of the Nordstrom family. The Resort was closed for extensive remodeling and renovation which included moving a portion of State Route-106 that runs along the South Shore of Hood Canal. Moving the highway made more acreage available to the resort and to two large walled estates that abut the resort on either side. I believe one estate belongs to Gates and the other is owned by the Nordstroms. The Alderbrook is certainly a first class resort now. I was told that to compensate some of the local property owners for the noise, dirt and inconvenience suffered during the renovation project, Gates and company paid their propery taxes one year.

Close to us there are two streets intersecting SR-106 and they have short dead ends on the water side which are technically street extensions and public property. They make easy access to the water and there are scads of clams and oysters available. The tides are exceptionally low at the moment but I can get a limit of clams and oysters in about 30 minutes within walking distance of our motor home. Yesterday we had fried oysters for lunch and homemade clam chowder for dinner. We're certainly getting fresh seafood which we both love. Yum!

We have been making short excursions from our base here to explore the area. Last weekend we went to Allyn where they were celebrating a local festival. We got to see several chainsaw carvers at work.