Feeling Melancholy

After nearly 50 days, I am boarding a flight back to Alaska on Tuesday, May 18th. I am feeling rather melancholy at this point and for several reasons. First and foremost is because of the most enjoyable time I have spent with my sister-in-law, Gretchen; her husband, John; and their fearless protector, Kellogg, a 55 lb Labradoodle. We have shared many laughs, meals and memories not to mention accumulating more memories for years to come. Second, for the spectaculor beauty this country holds. I don't have the necessary vocabulary to describe the magnificent vistas I observed. I feel fortunate to have covered the miles of the Pacific Coast I traveled and to have had the time to do so. And, last, because DABL Ramblings will become silent for awhile.....at least until I embark on another adventure.

Port Townsend - Last stop on the Olympic Peninsula

Port Townsend is an amazingly beautiful place and is situated at the apex of Admiralty Inlet and Port Townsend Bay and across from Whidbey Island. The buildings are of Victorian architecture and cover both the uptown and downtown districts. We were camped at the marina at the end of Water Street. There we watched many fishing boats as they left in the early morning and returned at dusk. Sailboats scurried about the surface and were entertaining to observe....especially when the sailing lessons were in session.

We were there from Tuesday, May 11th until Friday, 14th. We would have stayed longer, but the RV park was booked for the weekend because of the Rhododendron Festival. Besides that fact, a parade was scheduled to begin at 2:00 pm. Trying to negotiate the narrow, winding and steep streets in a 40' motor home pulling a 25' trailer while avoiding the parade route would have been quite a challenge.

Port Townsend was most likely the most charming of the places we visited, but the weather in Sequim cannot be beat!

Nathaniel Davis Hill Bldg - 1889

In 1888 at the age of 65, Nathaniel Davis Hill undertook the ambitious development of the corner of Quincy and Water Street. The building was complete in 1889 at the cost of $25,000.

In 1928 the building changed hands and was renovated into the DeVillo Hotel where rooms rented from 75 cents to $1.25 a night. A tavern moved into the corner storefront the next year and the space has been a tavern ever since. Today it is called the Water Street Brewing Company.

The Hastings Building

This building was constructed by the Hastings Estate Company consisting of widow, Lucinda, and the children of Loren B. Hastings. Lucinda was the first non-native woman to settle in Port Townsend.

The cost of this elaborate building consisting of three stories and a basement cost $35,000-$45,00 to build in 1889. It was considered the handsomest building in Port Townsend with a 38' inside courtyard reaching to the roof. When the top floor business left during the depression a house of ill repute was said to have moved in.

The Hastings Estate Company and the Port Townsend descendants of the original family still maintain ownership of the building.

The Terry Building

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this building because it bears the name of my sister. The shop on the first floor is a Yarn store.....imagine that!

A saloon was torn down at this site in 1890 and Fred Terry built the current one. It originally housed a print shop, served as a boarding house and contained a Chinese laundry in the basement. In 1903, the first phone company in town moved in followed by Citizens Electric, Pacific Telephone and Telegraph and a tailor shop. It then stood vacant for many years and then purchased and restored in 1981. The basement has been occupied by a tavern/restaurant for 20 years. The building's recessed doorways are flanked by cast iron from Port Townsend Foundry which protected the wooden doors from the weather.

St Paul's Episcopal Church

Besides the busy downtown area of Port Townsend there is another shopping/business district on the bluff known as the Uptown district of this city. St. Paul's Episcopal church is located here and is a short distance from the heart of downtown.

Construction began in 1862 and took three years to complete. St. Paul's was the third Episcopal congregation in the state of Washington and the first to build its own building, which makes St. Paul's the oldest Episcopal church building in continuous use in the state.

In 1882, the congregation, finding its church in the path of an impending street regrade, placed it on rollers and moved it to the present location and is across the street from the historic Bell Tower.

Fireman's Bell Tower

The Bell Tower was for calling volunteer fireman and is the last remaining wooden tower of its kind in the United States. The 75' wooden tower was originally built in 1890 to hold a 1,500 lb. bronze bell. An elaborate mechanized ringing system in the tower alerted early Fire Department volunteers to locations of fires by tolling the bell in code. This system enabled volunteers to proceed directly to the fire instead of meeting at the downtown fire station. The Bell Tower system served the community until sometime in the 1920s.

Point Wilson Lighthouse

Point Wilson Lighthouse was built in 1913 and located at Fort Worden State Park. First established in 1879, the light was originally on top of the lighthouse keeper's house. In 1913 the present distinctive structure was built. The fixed white light with a red flash every 20 seconds comes from a 1000 watt bulb through a rotating fourth-order Fresnel lens. The light has a range of 16 miles. Before electricity, the light was produced by an oil lamp which is said to have burned three gallons of oil a night. The lighthouse was fully automated in 1976 has been closed to the public ever since.

Sequim, WA

We arrived in Sequim on, Wednesday the 5th of May. Sequim is pronounced "Skiwm" and the population is approximately 5800. What a perfect little Oasis in Washington. I can certainly understand why this is becoming the most popular retirement community in the state. To sum it up, Sequim is sunshine, rolling hills, flowing rivers, deep blue lakes, snow-capped mountains and a lush Dungeness Valley which is bounded by Jefferson County on the east, the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the north, Port Angeles on the west and Olympic National Forest on the south. In the "rain shadow" of the 7,000 foot Olympic Mountains, Sequim is one of the driest locales in Western Washington, receiving an average of 16 inches annually. The town and valley gladly have adapted the label of "Sunny Sequim" as they are blessed by an average of 300 days of sunshine! Sequim is also known as the "Lavender Capital of North America" and draws crowds of 30,000 to its Lavender Festival in July. In 1995, Sequim farmers began experimenting with lavender in a attempt to save local farmland and open space from development. Today the valley now boasts more than 30 farms containing over 160,000 plants combined. We enjoyed our time in Sequim and it was the second in our longest stay during our travels. The first being southern California where we enjoyed a week with friends and relatives.
If you ever get to Sequim, I encourage you to visit Blake Tile & Stone.....they have been rockin' for 57 years!

It is time. We must move on. Therefore we are heading down the road about 30+ miles to Port Townsend, WA, a boom town of the 1880's and 1890's as a major seaport, fishing and lumber area.

Day Two, Victoria, BC

Our plan was to spend the next day exploring China Town for a bit and then spending three hours in the museum before departing on our return trip to Port Angeles. However the day was again beautiful and sunny so we skipped the museum in our desire to be out in the sun. We strolled the harbor front, shopped among the local vendors and watched the performers. A very relaxing and fun way to spend Mother's Day.

John met us at the dock upon our return with his ever faithful companion, Kellogg. We were delighted to learn that he had a meal waiting for us. However, it took us an hour to find it. We dined on hamburgers and Port Townsend IPAs at Applebees. Our hats off to you, John, the burgers and brews were fabulous! Loved our Mother's Day cards from Kellogg complete with a doggy treat!

Victoria, Vancouver Island, BC, Canada

Gretchen and I took the Coho Ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria on Vancouver Island on Saturday, May 8th. The day was absolutely gorgeous and we were both excited about visiting Victoria a second time even though our first visits were years apart. What a spectacular city. So Victorian, such a "European" feel. The weather was definitely on our side. We were comfortable walking around without jackets for the first time since leaving California. Clear and sunny skies the whole weekend. One of our first stops was to see the Empress Hotel. So grand, so historical, so out of our league, but what fun to explore! A visit in a strange city with Gretchen is not complete without spending at least three hours walking in circles, staring at a map from all angles and debating where we are and where we want to be. We spent the day exploring the sights, sounds and tastes of this fantastic town. We sat in the square and watched a demonstration against farmed salmon unfold before our eyes as we listened to awesome steel drum bands perform. People watching in a "foreign" setting is a fascinating experience and we sat for a couple of hours taking in a full gamut of people.

Purple Haze Lavendar Farm

Today was spent arranging our ferry to Victoria. After that feat was accomplished, we headed to the 12-acre organic Purple Haze Lavender Farm. The fields contain more than 15,000 plants of more than 50 varieties. What a treat! Bee-you-tea-full grounds even if they weren't in full bloom. I loved walking among the variety of lavender plants. We were encouraged to explore any area as long as we stayed on the paths. John took Kellogg for a walk. Being the explorer that he is, Kellogg jumped a fence and John went flying after him. After securing the dog and returning to the shop, John announced that it had been many years since he encountered "nettles". Seems as tho we were in the right place as they had the serum to put on the affected area. The jury is still out as to whether or not the remedy worked.....

Crescent Lake & Cape Flattery

The day promised to be sunny and warmer than what we have been experiencing so we decided to head to the farthest northwest point of the Olympic Peninsula. First stop was to view Lake Crescent. A very beautiful, large lake in the Olympic National Park. The depth of this lake has been measured at 624 feet and the bottom of the lake is 100 feet below sea-level. Though personal watercraft have been banned on the lake since 1997, the lake offers an easily accessible boat ramp for motorboats for water skiers, fishermen and sailors. Kayaks, row boats and canoes are an environmentally friendly alternative which greatly enhances the serenity of this beautiful Lake Crescent setting!

Neah Bay

From Lake Crescent, we continued on to Neah Bay where we stopped to view Sail and Seal Rocks. These picturesque twin offshore rocks (aka: sea stacks) are popular feeding grounds for gray whales. Various birds (tufted puffins) can also be seen. The Strait of Juan de Fuca is a dramatic glacial fjord connecting Puget Sound to the Pacific Ocean.

On our way to Tatoosh Lighthouse

We stopped at the trail head to the .5 mile hike to the Tatoosh Lighthouse view point. As we hiked this short trail, we were impressed by the Western Red Cedar Trees. I am continually fascinated by the variety of trees I have seen on this trip. I guess there is a world beyond spruce, alder and birch. The vistas at the end of this trail were most spectacular.

Ah-haaa Tatoosh Lighthouse

At the end of the trail, we came to a observation deck for the Tatoosh Lighthouse. The lighthouse is not open to the public, but the vistas in the area were awesome. The caves were mysterious and just standing there listening to the waves crash was relaxing in a way. Everywhere I turned was a crude "kodak moment" especially for a professional photographer which I am NOT!
In 1849-50, Wm McArthur lead an expedition surveying sites for lighthouses along the west coast. McArthur gave the following report after visiting Cape Flattery:

"A lighthouse is much needed also at Cape Flattery and I would recommend that it be situated on Totoochi Island, a small island almst touching the Northwest extremity of Cape Flattery...to vessels bound from seaward a lighthouse on this island would be of much assistance. It would enable them to enter the straits, when the absence of a light would frequently compel them to stay at sea until daylight."

Congress allocated a sum of $39,000 in 1854 to construct both the Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Totoosh Island and one on the New Dungeness Spit (Sequim). These two lights were part of the second batch of eight lighthouses to be compled on the west coast.

Foggy Hoquiam, WA

We planned to have an early start for Sequim this morning, well early by retirement standards; however, the weather had other plans for us.

Quinault Rain Forest & Grays Harbor Lighthouse

With very full bellies, we continued on to the rain forest. I was as fascinated with this Olympic Peninsula rain forest as I was with the one in Oregon. What captivated my interest this go-around was the pink, bell-shaped flowers I found sporadically along the route. The size of the bloom was somewhere between that of a pea and an acorn. I googled plants of the Olympic Rain Forest, but could not identify it. The trees were cloaked not only in moss, but moss that sprouted a variety of plant life....mainly ferns. Beautiful in a Jurassic sort of way.

We ended our day with a quick visit to the Grays Harbor Lighthouse. On June 30, 1898, people gathered from the towns of Hoquiam, Westport and Aberdeen for the dedication and lighting ceremony of the Lighthouse. The Westport area had become a major logging port in the late nineteenth century. By the time the lighthouse was built, at least 50 ships had foundered near the entrance to Grays Harbor. A lighthouse was commissioned for the area in 1897, and Point Chehalis, on the south end of the bay was selected for the site

The lighthouse looked a little forlorn to me. Perhaps because its role has diminished over the years.....

Quinault Lake Lodge

Tuesday morning dawned sunny and mostly clear. We decided to explore this area by heading north along the shore cutting over on the Moclips Hwy with our destination being Lake Quinault Lodge and the rain forest of the Olympic National Park. We experienced almost every weather condition excluding hurricane winds. Clear, sunny skies evolved into fog, low clouds dumping rain, hail and then snow! Fascinating!!!!!

We arrived at Quinault Lake Lodge just in time for lunch. We were greeted by a warm fire in the lobby. Built in 1926, the rustic lodge is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is truly an exquisite retreat. The lodge boasts 92 rooms and on October 1, 1937, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had lunch here and nine months later signed a bill creating Olympic National Park. The Roosevelt Dining Room is named to commemorate that event in history. We were not the only ones dining.....several hummingbirds were visible along the expansive deck. The lawn overlooking the lake was very inviting.....the snow on the mountain tops was not.