Sunday, May 29, 2011

Olympic Peninsula anniversary trip: Day 1

This will be one of those photo-laden posts – and believe me when I say that I’m only posting a small fraction of the pictures I took today -- starting with this one, in a store window in Port Townsend.  How apropos, eh?

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Since there are so many photos to post, I’ll go light on the words.  (I know, amazing, right?)

We’d been told that we should get an early start since it’s a holiday weekend and the lines for the ferry would be horrendous.  At 7:45 AM, that was not so true.  In fact, we’ve encountered few crowds at all.

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This was our company in line at the Edmonds-Kingston ferry…

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This was our company at the dock…

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And this was our company on the ferry…

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…where Tom found his favorite thing – pamphlets!

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This ferry was heading back to Edmonds as we were headed out.

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In Kingston we had breakfast stuffed ourselves at The Oak Table restaurant.

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Then we rolled into Port Gamble

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…with its quaint streets

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… and its beautiful view of Juan de Fuca.

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But the best thing about Port Gamble was this house…

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…which reminded me so much of the house in which I grew up in Berkeley.  Not the outside so much (this one is more majestic!), but the completely original inside.

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Look at that oak stairway!  Look at those fireplaces!

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Tom would have a field day restoring this house (and I would have a field day decorating it)!

I’m not sure why it was empty. I have a feeling it’s on the National Register of Historic Buildings – and if its not, it should be.

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After Port Gamble, we headed across the (new) Hood Canal Bridge…

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into Port Ludlow, which was also gorgeous!

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These houses are surrounded by water and boats.

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While I was fantasizing about living in a cute house surrounded by water and boats, Tom was fantasizing about this:

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Next stop, Fort Worden in Port Townsend.  This is an old military fort dating back about 100 years.  Now, of course, it’s a State Park.

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These are the gun batteries which helped protect the Puget Sound from enemy invasion during wartime.

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Yikes!  Scary dude!  (Not.)

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Officers’ quarters…

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After Fort Worden, we headed into Port Townsend.  I don’t know what this majestic building houses…

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I guess this is the town lighthouse (on a hill, not on the water!).

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Port Townsend has done a great job of renovating the city’s charming historic buildings.

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And the downtown area is a joy to walk through.

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The downtown area is right on the water.  Beautiful!DSC_0199DSC_0207DSC_0245

We even attempted one of those self-portraits…  Hmmm – maybe we should have asked a passer-by to take a picture of us!

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From Port Townsend, we headed towards the Dungeness Spit, but I barely got a picture of it because we took the wrong turn…

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But I found other things to photograph…

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Last stop of the day: Port Angeles.

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And while the city is nowhere near as charming as Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, or Port Townsend, the view from our hotel room is quite nice…

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…especially with these ships that sailed right by and docked!

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Tomorrow should be clear and sunny, which will be such a treat as we head into the Olympic Mountains to Hurricane Ridge. (Look carefully in the photo below, and you’ll see the mountains.)

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But for tonight, we’ll just enjoy the sunset…

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…and toast to another 28 years together.

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