Mini trip report - a day on the Olympic Peninsula
Jun 25th, 2006, 11:51 AM
#1
Mini trip report - a day on the Olympic Peninsula
Now and then those of us who live in areas others come to visit make use ourselves of the recreational/touring opportunities close at hand. So I thought I'd throw out some notes and a couple of pictures of a short (7 hr) day trip we did yesterday.
Summer has evidently come early to the Puget Sound area this year. (Global warming? I'm convinced.) Yesterday it got into the 80s in Seattle, today and tomorrow into the 90s, which for the week before the 4th of July is downright disorienting.
About 9 yesterday morning, Herself,, Dog and I felt like we needed to postpone the weeding until the dandelions are more tree-like (easier to spot) so we packed up old dobbin and hit the road. East to Mt. Rainier? Nah, means driving into the sun and then home into the sun. Up to the border and into Vancouver? On a summer Saturday? Hahahah.
Okay, boat time. It was early enough that getting on the Bainbridge ferry wouldn't be more than 45 min. wait, so we rolled down the freeway to the Coleman Dock in downtown Seattle, handed over our $20 for car, two humans, and a Prince, and made it right onto the main deck of the Tacoma just as she was tooting her horn and churning the soup. Cool.
Crossed to Bainbridge, marveling at the view of the city and the approaching Olympic Mountains behind the hills of Bainbridge. OMG - forgot there's no espresso bar on the boat. Once on the island we stopped for gas that was 20c a gallon cheaper than in the city (more hybrids, Volvos and hippie vans to fill on Bainbridge I guess), got a latte or two, and headed up the road to the OP.
Crossed Bainbridge, noting for later reference a roadside strawberry stand sign, then over the Agate Pass Bridge to the Kitsap Peninsula. On the Kitsap side of the bridge one lands in the Suquamish Indian reservation, noteworthy for their big waterfront casino/hotel complex, and numerous enormous fireworks stands selling munitions the possession of which would make headlines in other countries. Fireworks next to the smoke shops. Fire department just down the road - be afraid.
Through the woods and past strip-mall Poulsbo (the downtown of which is cute if overly Norwegian-themed) then more woods and reforested woods, then across the Hood Canal bridge. Hood Canal is a 100+ mile-long inlet that separates the Kitsap Peninsula (Bremerton and other Navy-ish towns, home to long black boats that travel under water and carry some pretty scary munitions themselves) from the Olympic Peninsula. The Hood Canal Bridge floats except, like the Interstate 90 floating bridge across Lake Washington from Seattle, when it doesn't.
More trees and views of the mountains on the other side, then past the turnoff to Port Townsend and the Whidbey Island ferry, around the bottom of Discovery Bay, and presently we're at Sequim Bay. Note "Sequim" is pronounced "Skwim."
We turn off 101, down to the John Wayne Marina on the west side of the bay for loo break, dog break, dog walk on beach break, dog sniff other dogs break, dog eat something organic on the tideflats break, watch dog for signs of doggie distress break, additional dog loo breaks on 40% of all available bushes, trees, fenceposts or other vertical objects. Seriously gorgeous spot. It never fails to amaze me how one can visit marinas on days that are simply amongst the most beautiful ever created - warm sun, slack tide, good breeze but not too strong, sheltered, clear waters full of fish and nearby interesting anchorages…. and here they sit… Millions and Millions of dollars of floating fiberglass and teak, their blue sail covers fading in the ultraviolet. No owners, only seagulls and the occasional eagle pooping on the mortgaged vessels. Blimey.
Anyway, dog emptied, we continue up the road a few miles into Beautiful Downtown Sequim (it isn't) then hang a right and head through what I expect to be bounteous fields of lavender toward Dungeness, namesake of the Dungeness Crab (which maybe was once harvested in quantity nearby but no longer) and lunch.
Only a couple of lavender farms are open - while the lavender in our yard is in full bloom at the moment, the many farms around Sequim appear to be a couple of weeks behind us, so no lavender frenzy present just yet. There's a Lavender festival hereabouts. You can close your eyes I suppose and imagine you're in Provence. Turn on the French language CBC station from Victoria just over there, and maybe convince yourselves. Not.
Arrive at the 3 Crabs restaurant, named, so the story goes, for three prior owners rather than any nearby crustaceans. The 3 Crabs is the only place in town in Dungeness. Which is not saying much - Dungeness isn't a town, and the 3 Crabs isn't much of a restaurant, except that they do a surprisingly good burger, and are famous not for crab or fish (which they have in quantity of course - not bad but not great) but for their coleslaw. They have some sort of pink coleslaw dressing that is really very good - I'm guessing mayo, ketchup, sugar, some vinegar for thinning, and maybe some cocaine so that you remember it better. Good, but once again Provence has nothing to fear.
Out the window is the lagoon trapped behind Dungeness Spit, the other side of which is the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the other side of which is Vancouver Island and Victoria BC (Canada, hoser) home of a fine museum, cute Victorian Parliament buildings and overpriced Empress Hotel, complete with overpriced (seriously so) afternoon tea erroneously called "high tea" by people who don't know their high teas from their high balls.
On this side, though, is a gravelly beach littered with clamshells, oyster shells, formerly living marine organisms of all sorts, and presently dog spoor, as our lunch coincides with his, consisting of something really delicious, salty, and dead. Meanwhile a couple of eagles are soaring around and parking themselves on some old pilings out in the water/mudflats, eyeing Mr. Dog and trying to calculate as best they can (eagles being beautiful but rather dim) if they could maybe hoist his 40 lbs. if they worked as a team. Nah, not when there are a few salmon hanging out by the mouth of the Dungeness River down the beach a bit.
Coleslaw and other eating complete, beach walks and rolling around in something stinky done (hey, I had a bath yesterday. I gotta get rid of that clean shampooey smell somehow) it's back in the car and off in search of lavender photos. Finally got a couple, then back into Beautiful Downtown Sequim (it isn't) to a street market we drove past. Thinking it might be a farmers' market, we stop and stroll for the 90 seconds required to determine (a) it's tiny and (b) it's schlunky, so back into the car, and back towards the strawberry stand.
An hour later we're back on Bainbridge, find the strawberry stand, buy half a flat of small, intensely sweet local berries for $10 or so (no huge bargain but really good fruit.) We pass on the winery down the road and head back to the ferry dock where our luck is not holding - the strawberry break means we're third in the line that didn’t make the boat that toots as we pull up and sails off to Seattle.
So herself gets an ice cream from the adjacent ice cream stand, Dog has some water to balance his electrolytes (too much salt evidently) and we wait the 40 minutes for the next boat, of which we're third on.
By this time it's pretty hot (around 4:30) so we opt to stay on the car deck rather than head up to the main deck and listen to video game noises. The ride from Bainbridge back into Seattle in the afternoon and evening is as usual a feast for the senses - salt breeze, the beautiful city approaching, lots of sailboats (but no Orcas, an occasional sight)… but this time enhanced by Mt. Rainier looming over everything, and a couple of cruise ships crossing our bow as they make their afternoon departure from downtown Seattle heading north to Alaska. Definite chamber of commerce ferry ride. Disembark into downtown Seattle, past the hoards at the Pike Market, onto the freeway and home in ten minutes. It's still too hot to pull the dandelion shrubs; maybe in the morning. Or Monday. Yeah, that's it. Monday.
So anyway, that's a short trip report. Not much of a trip, just a ride in the country. But what wonderful country it is.
Oh, I posted some pictures of the trip here: http://tinyurl.com/kaghz
Summer has evidently come early to the Puget Sound area this year. (Global warming? I'm convinced.) Yesterday it got into the 80s in Seattle, today and tomorrow into the 90s, which for the week before the 4th of July is downright disorienting.
About 9 yesterday morning, Herself,, Dog and I felt like we needed to postpone the weeding until the dandelions are more tree-like (easier to spot) so we packed up old dobbin and hit the road. East to Mt. Rainier? Nah, means driving into the sun and then home into the sun. Up to the border and into Vancouver? On a summer Saturday? Hahahah.
Okay, boat time. It was early enough that getting on the Bainbridge ferry wouldn't be more than 45 min. wait, so we rolled down the freeway to the Coleman Dock in downtown Seattle, handed over our $20 for car, two humans, and a Prince, and made it right onto the main deck of the Tacoma just as she was tooting her horn and churning the soup. Cool.
Crossed to Bainbridge, marveling at the view of the city and the approaching Olympic Mountains behind the hills of Bainbridge. OMG - forgot there's no espresso bar on the boat. Once on the island we stopped for gas that was 20c a gallon cheaper than in the city (more hybrids, Volvos and hippie vans to fill on Bainbridge I guess), got a latte or two, and headed up the road to the OP.
Crossed Bainbridge, noting for later reference a roadside strawberry stand sign, then over the Agate Pass Bridge to the Kitsap Peninsula. On the Kitsap side of the bridge one lands in the Suquamish Indian reservation, noteworthy for their big waterfront casino/hotel complex, and numerous enormous fireworks stands selling munitions the possession of which would make headlines in other countries. Fireworks next to the smoke shops. Fire department just down the road - be afraid.
Through the woods and past strip-mall Poulsbo (the downtown of which is cute if overly Norwegian-themed) then more woods and reforested woods, then across the Hood Canal bridge. Hood Canal is a 100+ mile-long inlet that separates the Kitsap Peninsula (Bremerton and other Navy-ish towns, home to long black boats that travel under water and carry some pretty scary munitions themselves) from the Olympic Peninsula. The Hood Canal Bridge floats except, like the Interstate 90 floating bridge across Lake Washington from Seattle, when it doesn't.
More trees and views of the mountains on the other side, then past the turnoff to Port Townsend and the Whidbey Island ferry, around the bottom of Discovery Bay, and presently we're at Sequim Bay. Note "Sequim" is pronounced "Skwim."
We turn off 101, down to the John Wayne Marina on the west side of the bay for loo break, dog break, dog walk on beach break, dog sniff other dogs break, dog eat something organic on the tideflats break, watch dog for signs of doggie distress break, additional dog loo breaks on 40% of all available bushes, trees, fenceposts or other vertical objects. Seriously gorgeous spot. It never fails to amaze me how one can visit marinas on days that are simply amongst the most beautiful ever created - warm sun, slack tide, good breeze but not too strong, sheltered, clear waters full of fish and nearby interesting anchorages…. and here they sit… Millions and Millions of dollars of floating fiberglass and teak, their blue sail covers fading in the ultraviolet. No owners, only seagulls and the occasional eagle pooping on the mortgaged vessels. Blimey.
Anyway, dog emptied, we continue up the road a few miles into Beautiful Downtown Sequim (it isn't) then hang a right and head through what I expect to be bounteous fields of lavender toward Dungeness, namesake of the Dungeness Crab (which maybe was once harvested in quantity nearby but no longer) and lunch.
Only a couple of lavender farms are open - while the lavender in our yard is in full bloom at the moment, the many farms around Sequim appear to be a couple of weeks behind us, so no lavender frenzy present just yet. There's a Lavender festival hereabouts. You can close your eyes I suppose and imagine you're in Provence. Turn on the French language CBC station from Victoria just over there, and maybe convince yourselves. Not.
Arrive at the 3 Crabs restaurant, named, so the story goes, for three prior owners rather than any nearby crustaceans. The 3 Crabs is the only place in town in Dungeness. Which is not saying much - Dungeness isn't a town, and the 3 Crabs isn't much of a restaurant, except that they do a surprisingly good burger, and are famous not for crab or fish (which they have in quantity of course - not bad but not great) but for their coleslaw. They have some sort of pink coleslaw dressing that is really very good - I'm guessing mayo, ketchup, sugar, some vinegar for thinning, and maybe some cocaine so that you remember it better. Good, but once again Provence has nothing to fear.
Out the window is the lagoon trapped behind Dungeness Spit, the other side of which is the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the other side of which is Vancouver Island and Victoria BC (Canada, hoser) home of a fine museum, cute Victorian Parliament buildings and overpriced Empress Hotel, complete with overpriced (seriously so) afternoon tea erroneously called "high tea" by people who don't know their high teas from their high balls.
On this side, though, is a gravelly beach littered with clamshells, oyster shells, formerly living marine organisms of all sorts, and presently dog spoor, as our lunch coincides with his, consisting of something really delicious, salty, and dead. Meanwhile a couple of eagles are soaring around and parking themselves on some old pilings out in the water/mudflats, eyeing Mr. Dog and trying to calculate as best they can (eagles being beautiful but rather dim) if they could maybe hoist his 40 lbs. if they worked as a team. Nah, not when there are a few salmon hanging out by the mouth of the Dungeness River down the beach a bit.
Coleslaw and other eating complete, beach walks and rolling around in something stinky done (hey, I had a bath yesterday. I gotta get rid of that clean shampooey smell somehow) it's back in the car and off in search of lavender photos. Finally got a couple, then back into Beautiful Downtown Sequim (it isn't) to a street market we drove past. Thinking it might be a farmers' market, we stop and stroll for the 90 seconds required to determine (a) it's tiny and (b) it's schlunky, so back into the car, and back towards the strawberry stand.
An hour later we're back on Bainbridge, find the strawberry stand, buy half a flat of small, intensely sweet local berries for $10 or so (no huge bargain but really good fruit.) We pass on the winery down the road and head back to the ferry dock where our luck is not holding - the strawberry break means we're third in the line that didn’t make the boat that toots as we pull up and sails off to Seattle.
So herself gets an ice cream from the adjacent ice cream stand, Dog has some water to balance his electrolytes (too much salt evidently) and we wait the 40 minutes for the next boat, of which we're third on.
By this time it's pretty hot (around 4:30) so we opt to stay on the car deck rather than head up to the main deck and listen to video game noises. The ride from Bainbridge back into Seattle in the afternoon and evening is as usual a feast for the senses - salt breeze, the beautiful city approaching, lots of sailboats (but no Orcas, an occasional sight)… but this time enhanced by Mt. Rainier looming over everything, and a couple of cruise ships crossing our bow as they make their afternoon departure from downtown Seattle heading north to Alaska. Definite chamber of commerce ferry ride. Disembark into downtown Seattle, past the hoards at the Pike Market, onto the freeway and home in ten minutes. It's still too hot to pull the dandelion shrubs; maybe in the morning. Or Monday. Yeah, that's it. Monday.
So anyway, that's a short trip report. Not much of a trip, just a ride in the country. But what wonderful country it is.
Oh, I posted some pictures of the trip here: http://tinyurl.com/kaghz
Jun 25th, 2006, 12:08 PM
#3
Picture of Dog as innocent youth: http://tinyurl.com/z2dvh
Jun 25th, 2006, 12:20 PM
#4
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OMG, was this ever a trip down memory lane for me! I had an aunt and uncle who lived in Sequim (that is, before they passed away), and my DH and I visited them several times (I have a brother in Lacey, WA so it's an easy drive to Sequim).
Anyway, my uncle's favorite place to eat was the 3 Crabs Restaurant. Small world! I remember when the town's Costco went in. Thought it was strange for such a small town to have such a big store and big parking lot. It was absolutely empty. Probably not nowadays, tho.
Many a day we'd go raspberry picking (in season) and also down to the docks for fresh shrimp! Yummy.
Loved your mini report! The photos were terrific.
Anyway, my uncle's favorite place to eat was the 3 Crabs Restaurant. Small world! I remember when the town's Costco went in. Thought it was strange for such a small town to have such a big store and big parking lot. It was absolutely empty. Probably not nowadays, tho.
Many a day we'd go raspberry picking (in season) and also down to the docks for fresh shrimp! Yummy.
Loved your mini report! The photos were terrific.
Jun 25th, 2006, 12:31 PM
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Great mini trip report, Gardyloo!! You helped us so much with our trip to ONP in May and I thank you again.
We ate at Three Crabs too and I agree that the coleslaw was really good. I put mine on my halibut sandwich...yummy!
We ate at Three Crabs too and I agree that the coleslaw was really good. I put mine on my halibut sandwich...yummy!
Jun 25th, 2006, 04:58 PM
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Nice report! My husband spent a career on those long black boats and directing them, lol! So also spent a LOT of time at that John Wayne Marina, and all around the Hood Canal Bridge. The area is very pretty, and this weekend was SO beautiful! We were up there and just returned to Portland tonight. I was MUCH preferring your temps to ours though!
Jun 25th, 2006, 06:10 PM
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Thank you Gardyloo! I really enjoyed reading this, the photos are great! and I bet Pup would love Dog.
You make me even more eager to visit Seattle...
mms, I want to see those long black boats too! LOL
You make me even more eager to visit Seattle...
mms, I want to see those long black boats too! LOL
Jun 25th, 2006, 07:04 PM
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Enjoyed reading your report, Gardyloo, as we visited Sequim for the first time last year. I wasn't sure what to expect on the lavendar farms, but we hit them just a few days before their festival, and thought they were gorgous.
Thanks for the photos, too. You "used a few brain calories" to help me plan a special dinner (Salty's) for DH's birthday last year, and your photos brought it all back to me. Not being from the area, I'm always AMAZED at the presence of the mountain when "it's out."
Thanks for sharing your day.
Thanks for the photos, too. You "used a few brain calories" to help me plan a special dinner (Salty's) for DH's birthday last year, and your photos brought it all back to me. Not being from the area, I'm always AMAZED at the presence of the mountain when "it's out."
Thanks for sharing your day.
Jun 25th, 2006, 08:36 PM
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Gardyloo,
What a great trip report and fabulous pixs! And your dog is darling too. I'm trying to get my best friend to move here from L.A. but she says she "doesn't like rain" so I'm e-mailing her this report. Thanks for posting it!
What a great trip report and fabulous pixs! And your dog is darling too. I'm trying to get my best friend to move here from L.A. but she says she "doesn't like rain" so I'm e-mailing her this report. Thanks for posting it!
Jun 26th, 2006, 07:34 AM
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Hey Gardyloo, thanks for the laughs. My folks live in Sequim and DH and I absolutely hate (sorry, Hate with a capital H) it there and Hate how far away it is from everything (including our freaking house in Oregon, and the freaking ferries, and freaking Seattle....basically anywhere else we'd much rather be). We'll be there next weekend on a short visit to pick up our son who is vacationing with his grandparents for the week, and once we get there we will be counting every second until we can leave.
Apologies to those of you who love it there. Ugh. If you plan on retiring there, consider how it IS the end of the earth for anyone who might ever consider visiting you (because they probably won't). My folks can't figure out why, when they love it so much, they're not swamped with relatives and friends. Go figure.
Apologies to those of you who love it there. Ugh. If you plan on retiring there, consider how it IS the end of the earth for anyone who might ever consider visiting you (because they probably won't). My folks can't figure out why, when they love it so much, they're not swamped with relatives and friends. Go figure.
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