We have spent the past two weeks in Washington State. We drove up the Washington Coast on Highway 101 to the capital of Washington, Olympia. Olympia was one of those places we had been to before and said we need to get back there and spend more time. Mt Rainier dominates the eastern skyline even though it is almost 100 miles away. We have an album with pictures of all the state capital buildings, but the picture of the Washington capital was not so hot, so one of the first things we did was take a better picture. While downtown we discovered that it was Farmer's Market day, so we picked up some very tasty peaches and cherries. We then had a nice lunch at Fish Brewery.
On Sunday, we attended the horse races at Emerald Downs and we were surprised to find that they were also having Weiner Dog races that day. Some of the dogs that raced were pros and they took off out of the starting gate and never looked back. I bet $50 and won back $ 47, so not too bad of a loss.
The next day I played a round of golf at Chambers Bay Golf Course, where Jordan Speith won the 2015 US Open. You can only walk this course and it is a six mile hike with 500 feet of elevation gain at various times throughout the round. I decided to get a caddie, for the first time ever. I was paired with Brandon and he was great. Besides saving me having to either carry my bag or hand cart it, he really helped me manage the course. It was a hard course and a long walk but I enjoyed it so much I would do it again. Later that evening Josie and I had a great dinner on the Olympia Waterfront.
On Sunday, we attended the horse races at Emerald Downs and we were surprised to find that they were also having Weiner Dog races that day. Some of the dogs that raced were pros and they took off out of the starting gate and never looked back. I bet $50 and won back $ 47, so not too bad of a loss.
The next day I played a round of golf at Chambers Bay Golf Course, where Jordan Speith won the 2015 US Open. You can only walk this course and it is a six mile hike with 500 feet of elevation gain at various times throughout the round. I decided to get a caddie, for the first time ever. I was paired with Brandon and he was great. Besides saving me having to either carry my bag or hand cart it, he really helped me manage the course. It was a hard course and a long walk but I enjoyed it so much I would do it again. Later that evening Josie and I had a great dinner on the Olympia Waterfront.
We left Olympia and drove west to the Washington coast where we used a large pullout right on the ocean for a place to have lunch. We then drove to the town of La Push where we stayed at the Quileute Oceanside Resort, on the Quileute Nation Reservation. Our site looked out onto a very scenic beach that was covered with huge driftwood trees. Some days the fog would come in but we were able to see a few sunsets on other days. One evening the new moon with the planet Venus put on a spectacular show in the western sky. There is only one restaurant in town and it is owned by the Quileute Nation, we had the Clam Chowder, Fish and Chips and a Marionberry cobbler with ice cream. Delicious.
Another day we drove to the town of Forks, Washington. We saw on Travel Advisor that there was a Beachcomber Museum and it sounded interesting. John the owner has turned his hobby into a passion and he has an unbelievable collection of flotsam and jetsam that he has collected for over 45 years. He has one section entirely devoted to the Japanese Tsunami of 2011. John was able to identify some of his findings and return them to their owners in Japan. He has a whole notebook of letters he has found in bottles. He has been able to contact all of them but two in his 45 years of beachcoming. Many of the items he has found come from cargo containers that were lost during heavy seas, like the Nike shoes and Raggedy Ann doll heads in the pictures below. He gave us a seed from the Seaheart plant that grows in the Amazon Rain Forest. The seed falls off the plant and into the water and it eventually makes its way to the beaches of the US Gulf Coast, where John finds them.
We had no idea that the "Twilight" series of books was based in the town of Forks. The town was able to procure many of the actual props and costumes from the movie. We may have to read the books or watch the movies to see what it's all about.
Another day we drove to the town of Forks, Washington. We saw on Travel Advisor that there was a Beachcomber Museum and it sounded interesting. John the owner has turned his hobby into a passion and he has an unbelievable collection of flotsam and jetsam that he has collected for over 45 years. He has one section entirely devoted to the Japanese Tsunami of 2011. John was able to identify some of his findings and return them to their owners in Japan. He has a whole notebook of letters he has found in bottles. He has been able to contact all of them but two in his 45 years of beachcoming. Many of the items he has found come from cargo containers that were lost during heavy seas, like the Nike shoes and Raggedy Ann doll heads in the pictures below. He gave us a seed from the Seaheart plant that grows in the Amazon Rain Forest. The seed falls off the plant and into the water and it eventually makes its way to the beaches of the US Gulf Coast, where John finds them.
We had no idea that the "Twilight" series of books was based in the town of Forks. The town was able to procure many of the actual props and costumes from the movie. We may have to read the books or watch the movies to see what it's all about.
We drove over to the Hoh Rain Forest in Olympic National Park and hiked a few of the trails through the old growth forest of Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock. They receive 5 feet of rain yearly so the ferns and moss are everywhere. We also saw a Pacific Wren, a life bird for me.
Today we drove up to Port Angeles, Washington so we can stage for our ferry ride over to Vancouver Island tomorrow. We stayed at the Elwha Dam RV Park, which sells itself with the tag line" The Best RV Park by a Dam Site" The dam was taken out in 2011 and now the river flows free and the salmon are coming back up river to spawn. We stopped at the Dam Bar for a drink and then had a great pizza and microbrew at Bar Hop Brewery and Artisan Pizza in town.
RSS Feed