Pacific North-West Bliss

Port Townsend, WA

Heading north from Seaside, we cross the Columiba River at Astoria, on a bridge that is the longest continuous truss bridge in North America. It looks both enormous and high as we approach it.

The drive along the Pacific coast of Washington state and then inland across the Olympic Peninsula begins to feel like home: the misty, evergreen north-west. We stop at Port Townsend, a 175 yr old town that has a well preserved main street of ornate Victorian buildings now occupied by wine bars, art galleries, boutique clothing stores and the usual trappings that attract bobo (bohemian bourgeoise) travellers like us. Gotta love it!

Shipping and boat building were once the mainstay of the town, but those industries went to Seattle at the end of the 19th century and now a paper mill is the main employer. The steam belching from the stacks kind of mars the view!

We bike in the mornings, along the shore and through the forest. Then lunch in one of the many gourmet cafes. Shopping in the afternoon. I find a yoga studio with a sauna and spend a few hours there in the evening while Craig watches football. All very healthy and relaxing, although the football watching is questionable.

Although nothing like Africa, we do see some wildlife. Mostly gulls and heron, a few deer. We look long and hard out at Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca hoping to see Orcas, but our only sighting is on a poster advertising their presence. Sufficient to know they are there, even if they don’t reveal themselves to us.

Today we take a ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria and then from there to Salt Spring Island, where we are booked for three nights at the Hastings House Country Inn, thanks to a gift certificate from one of Craig’s clients. Perhaps we will see the elusive Orcas on one of the ferries.

 

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