We start out from La Push on another gray morning. The trees here in Washington are immense and seem endless.
We stop in Gray’s Harbor to see the Lady Washington that was in The Pirates of the Caribbean. The guy on board is not Captain Jack Sparrow.
We stop in Raymond, Washington where there are a ton (literally) of steel sculptures. It kind of reminds me of all the chainsaw sculpture we saw in Chetwynd, BC. I am wondering in ten years whether they will have room for it all. The picture is thanks to Willapa Harbor organization.Moo and JohnInWashington, Oregon, and British Columbia we see endless streams of logging trucks. Many areas show thoughtful management of forests but we still see a lot of ugly clear-cut plots.The world is my oyster! @ our next stop at South Bend, OregonChinook mounted carving in South Bend, WAJohn with a Washington fisherman Before we head for home we have one more scary bridge to go over, the Astoria-Megler bridge. It is two lanes and freaky high. By this time I am not having as much trouble with bridges but I still do not want to drive over them.
We find a nice nearby restaurant that we can walk to and John has pan-fried oysters and I have spaghetti vongole which they call clam pasta. Both are good.
Astoria, OR to Grant’s Pass, OR 7/22/22
Today we were supposed to be having lunch at Addi’s, an Ethiopian restaurant in Springlfield, OR. Unfortunately they are closed. I assume they could not make it through the tough times of the pandemic. I find a place called Bon Mi in Eugene, OR where they have a small pho and 1/2 banh mi special. Yum!
A big, small bowl of pho and half a banh mi
I know it is our last night before returning home but I am just too tired to go to the trouble of eating out so we go to the nearby WinCo supermarket and get a sandwich which we split. At this point going out to eat is over-rated!
Grant’s Pass, OR to home 7/23/22
We get up early and are on the road before 8 AM. We have a long way to drive today. Only notable thing is that I am driving and I go around a curve and there is a big bridge over the very depleted Shasta Lake Reservoir. Eek!!! John says pull into the gore point of an on ramp! So I do and avoid having to be the driver. It’s not easy when you have a phobia and you have to take into account every high water or land crossing. I wish I could get over it.
We get home about 3 PM. It has been an awesome road trip and we have seen so many interesting things. Yes, we had some troubles with the bugs and the chilly rainy weather but all in all the trip is a success. I am ready to stay home for a while. (Famous last words.)
We start the day by having a vacation from our vacation. We work on our puzzles and I read a book. It is nice to just sit around, have a second cup of tea, and just relax. Our vacation has been very busy with lots of driving and sightseeing. We can take half the day off.
Around 1 PM we drive over to Forks, WA, the nearest big town about 10 miles away, to pick up some lunch sandwiches, a bag of chips for later, and a bottle of wine. After lunch we walk around the property.
The marine layer has burned off and the flowers are looking beautifulCloser look at the flowersThe Quillayute River runs right behind the resortThe confluence of the Sol Duc and Bogachiel Rivers just to the north of the property make the Quillayute River which runs out to the Pacific OceanI love the woods here. Everything is so lush and ferny.
The ocean is about four miles from here and we decide to drive over and see what it is like at the beach. It is part of Olympic National Park. What a difference four miles make! At the beach the marine layer gives everything a gray tone although both these pictures are taken in color!
No bathing suits at this beach! It is pretty chilly, probably in the upper 50s. There are the bleached out remains of trees that have washed ashore and the ground is covered with pebbles.
Cold man and the seaCarcasses of treesPebbles not sand
We take some pictures but it is too cold to stay very long.
A Mary bump on a logSelfie time!
We are making dinner again tonight and after some wine and chips we get down to business. Our meals here have been really good!
This morning when we wake up it is bright and sunny. It is a fine day for taking the ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend.
Approaching Port Townsend on a beautiful morningFerry dock on the left
Our first order of business is to do some more shopping for both clothes and food. Our lodging tonight is self-catering and pretty far from stores and restaurants so we want to be prepared for our two day stay with food for dinners and breakfasts at least. I also need to get more cool weather ware to replace the clothes that I threw out.
We end up at a WalMart and have a hard time finding anything sweatshirt-like. The sales associate laughs when we asked about sweatshirts saying that was fall not summer clothing. I guess they must be used to going around in shorts and short sleeves when it is 60F. I find a couple of leftovers, not the right size but they will have to do.
We head through the Olympic National Park which is just astounding beautiful. The trees here in Washington are magnificent and there are ferns everywhere. We stop at Crescent Lake for some picture taking.
Crescent LakeMary at Cresecent Lake (you can see one of my bites if you zoom in on my left elbow, ugh)
On our way to Quillayute River Resort we have to pass Mary Clark Rd., my namesake street. John has plotted a course so we can drive the entire length of the road. I am a little disappointed to see that there has been some clear-cut logging on several plots of land. Of course we have to take some road pictures.
Who wouldn’t stop for Mary Clark Rd.!?Here I am with my eponymous street sign
We reach our digs about 4 PM and it is so nice to be here. We stayed once before about 4 years ago.. The property is beautiful and the kitchen is well-equipped. John declares it is cocktail time and we dig into our stash of munchies. Later he cooks a steak on a charcoal grill outside our unit. It is a delicious dinner.
The grill is heating up in front of our unitJohn grilling our steak and baked potatoesYummy dinner
We do not have very far to travel today but I am always leery of the time it might take to cross the border. We have sat at the Peace Arch crossing for three hours in the past. So I leave a lot of time and it takes 20 minutes, of course. Since my bites have become very uncomfortable due to my wonky immune system that seems to be working overtime, what is foremost in my mind is just enduring the rest of the vacation and getting home. So we are no longer following THE PLAN. This trip with all my research and detail is no longer appealing to me.
The first thing we do after crossing the border is find a Kohl’s so I can try to replace some of the stuff I threw out. I get a new pair of sneakers. I desperately want to replace my black warm-up jacket which was my favorite but we try Kohl’s, Macy’s, Champs, and Dick’s Sporting Goods to no avail. I guess they just are not making them anymore. This does not improve my mood.
We stop in Anacortes, WA for lunch at Taqueria Mi 5 Estrellas. The people there are so nice and the food is great. We both have the shrimp taco combo. Oh, it is so great to back in the USA!
Shrimp tacos, refried beans, rice, and salad
We stop at an overlook to view Deception Pass. (Okay, I am still doing some of THE PLAN.) Here we learn about George Vancouver and his expeditions to plot the coast line of the northwestern part of North American. He did this in 1792! How come we know everything about Lewis and Clark and nothing of George Vancouver who preceded them in this area? Plus he got to the Pacific Northwest by sailing around Cape of Good Hope and even stopped in Hawaii! Anyway, George and his sidekicks, Joseph Whidbey and Peter Puget, got fooled into thinking that they were in a bay instead of a passage between Fidalgo Island and Whidbey Island. They named it Deception Pass when they realized their mistake. They also named everything around here after themselves and everybody they knew.
Info about the sailings of George Vancouver and his crew in 1792The bridge at Deception Pass (Why do I seek out these freaky bridges? I have no idea.)
We see some odd looking small planes in the sky as we near Oak Harbor. John says these are “scout” planes that are used by the Coast Guard. And what do you know, two minutes later we pass by the Coast Guard Naval Station, home to the “world famous Golden Eagles.”
Coast Guard Naval Station
We check into our hotel and John suggests we go and have a look around Oak Harbor. It is supposed to have a cute downtown. He is apparently still following THE PLAN. Reluctantly I come along and do not bother to plug in the coordinates to where said downtown might be. We end up driving around a lot, missing the downtown by a block because there in a phenomenon that we have not seen in a week!
OMG, blue sky!
Eventually we find the downtown and it is indeed cute with murals, statues, and amazingly beautiful flowers.
Large mural welcoming us to Oak HarborOak Harbor PioneersThe very ripped ”Island Spirit”, he is obviously impervious to how chilly it isJohn and some ducklings that he thought we penguins.Octopus on the side of an abandoned gas stationBeautifully vibrant purple flowersMore flowers!Mary and the mermaid both inadequately dressed for the weather (I wish I still had my jacket!)
Later on we go to dinner at an Italian restaurant named Rustica. John orders a bottle of wine. Oh, sorry we do not have that. He settles on a local wine called Deception which really captures the reality of this dinner. I order mussels. Sorry, all out. John orders grilled octopus. Sorry again, we are all out. Then he tries calamari. Nope, all gone. Why not have the salmon, the waiter suggests. Sure, whatever. The service is terrible due to the fact that the only waitstaff they have is the bartender. Their accountant is also pitching in. The whole dinner is like Monty Python’s Cheese Shop.
This would be an apt name for the restaurant, Rustica.
Today's worry... 