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| The Original Starbuck's |
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| Starbuck's Line |
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| Flowers 💐 were beautiful! |
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| King Crab Legs $89.50 lb. |
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| Cheese Curds |
We had to check out the Gum Wall and the Graffiti Wall on Post Alley. It was cool yet very disgusting. The Gum Wall started in the 1990s when local patrons and performers at Unexpected Productions stuck their used gum on the wall. The wall has grown piece by piece and continues to expand down Post Alley.
I really enjoyed the Market and could have bought so many things. We did get lunch, Chowder from Jack's Fish Spot and a Gyro from Mr. D's Greek Delicacies. Both were delicious 😋.
At least the area around the market was not as bad as our first night in Seattle. We did stray a couple of blocks from the market and saw some homelessness.
Next stop Whidbey Island by way of the Mukilteo Ferry Terminal.
We were staying at the Navy Base (Navy Gateway Inn and Suites) which is pretty basic lodging. Of course, we had a room on the third floor and there was no elevator. I wanted to empty the trunk and reposition our clothing from the Alaska trip.
We were originally booked for three nights and extended to five nights. You can't beat the prices ($82/night).
We were excited to go to Agave Taqueria for dinner, however, when we arrived they were closed. We ended up going to a dive bar, All Sports Bar & Grill. Everyone turned and looked at us when we walked in. Imagine that, from delicious cruise ship food it was back to bar food. The burger and service were really good.
We spent an afternoon poking around the little shops in Anacortes.
We made a trip to the Commissary and Exchange to replenish coffee creamer, yogurt, fruit, beer, and vodka. All the necessities.
We went to West Beach County Park to see the Graffiti Wall. It is actually listed as a tourist attraction. I'm not sure why and it wasn't that impressive. We were more intrigued by all the driftwood.
We found a trail Moyors Loop to walk 🚶♀️ 🚶♂️ at Joseph Whidbey State Park. We saw lots of slugs, they were gross. The trail was pretty cool.
While we were at the Club, Rob bought a Challenge Coin because he was afraid someone might challenge him. If he were challenged and did not produce a coin he would have to buy a round of drinks for the challenger and everyone else who has their challenge coin. Not that it really mattered since there were only two other people at the bar. The coin he purchased was pretty cool.
We left the CPO Club and returned to base. We figured we would park the car and walk across the street to the Officer's Club for dinner. When we walked in there were some bar tables, but no chairs and no bar stools at the bar. Further inspection showed there were no tables and chairs in the dining room. The Barmaid told us we could order drinks and sit outside at picnic tables. If we were hungry, we could order food from Kegler's Bar & Grill and pick it up. So, we did what all the other officers were doing, ordered a drink and stood at the bar.
We placed an order with Kegler's, picked up our food and went back to our room to eat. Once back in the room, Rob realized he lost his new coin. He was not happy.
On August 11th, we went to Deception Pass State Park. We first parked by the bridge over Deception Pass. We had to pay $10 to park since it was a state park but it also gave us access to the entire park for the day. It was well worth the $10.
Captain George Vancouver of England named the Waterway Deception Pass because he was deceived by the narrow waterway. He believed the pass was the mouth of the river until his lieutenant sailed around the land to the south, discovering that the adjacent land was actually an island. Vancouver named the island after that lieutenant, Lieutenant Whidbey, hence Whidbey Island.
We started to walk 🚶♂️🚶♀️ across the bridge 🌉, but one of us made it about 20 feet and decided they could not do it. I went for it. It was a little nerve racking when someone was passing or a big tractor trailer was going by 😳.
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| Rob taking my picture |
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| Me taking Rob's picture |
Before 1935 the only way over to Fidalgo Island was by boat. The Deception Pass Ferry was owned and operated by Berte Olson, the first female ferry captain in the State of Washington.
I made my way back across. What an amazing view!
We walked the Goose Rock 🪨 Perimeter Trail 👣, 1.9 miles round trip loop with an elevation change of 150 feet.
It's lunch and beach time! We walked along both the West and North Beach areas.
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| Deception Pass Bridge |
Rock skipping!
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| The beach was all rock! |
We also checked out Cranberry Lake. There was a sandy beach ⛱, swimming 🏊♀️ area, kayak and paddleboard rentals.
After such a great day it is now time to celebrate 🍾 me! It is my birthday and for my birthday dinner, Rob made reservations at Frasers Gourmet Hideway. Due to a miscommunication, we had bar seats. We normally like eating at a bar but we actually wanted a table. However, it wasn't a traditional bar. It turned out to be the chef's table and we got to watch the cooks make our dinner.
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| Black Bean & Kalamata Olive Spread with Sourdough Bread 🍞 |
Our salads were a Young Greens Seasonal Salad 🥗 and a Ceasar Salad 🥗.
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| Mixed salad with pear 🍐 slices, spiced pecans, Gorgonzola cheese, maple 🍁 bourbon vinaigrette 😋 |
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| Romaine, crispy prosciutto, fried capers, & parmesan black olive hemp tuille |
Our dinner entrees were Crab 🦀 & Shrimp 🦐 Lasagna and Smoked Pork Shank Gnocchi Carbonara.
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| Lasagna with a Dungeness crab 🦀, shrimp 🦐 and lobster 🦞 cream sauce |
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| Tender pork shank, ricotta gnocchi, charred brocolini, & parmesan cream sauce |
Thank you Michelle Lawrence for the great recommendation!
The next day, we took a ferry ⛴ ride to Friday Harbor (ironically on a Friday). My original plan was to leave Whidbey Island and spend a night or two in Friday Harbor. All the hotels were booked for our timeframe, so we decided to at least spend a day there.
Once off the ferry we walked around town. I could have easily spent a night or two. The flowers lining the streets were so pretty.
We stopped for lunch at The Bait Shop -- a fish & chips joint. We had to order the fish 🐟 and chips 🍟.
The house in the picture below was built for Judge John Bowman in the late 1870's. He was one of three residents when Friday Harbor was chosen as the county seat. The house is currently being restored. It is the second oldest building in Friday Harbor.
Time to head back to the ferry. On the way we, more like "I" stopped for ice cream 🍨 at Friday Harbor Ice Cream Co. I had to wait in line. Rob said, "You don't have time, no more than 5 minutes." I got my delicious ice cream and it was so worth the wait.
We arrive at the ferry terminal and Anacortes (where we were heading) is on the board. After about five minutes they announce there is a delay. The ferry will be late.
Our time on Whidbey Island has ended. Our next stop was Port Angles. The plan was to ferry ⛴ from Keystone to Port Townsend which would have been about a one hour and 15 minute trip (a total of 26 miles). Well, I didn't know you had to book your ticket in advance and when I went to purchase tickets we could only do standby or reserve for 9 or 10 pm. Not that it mattered since the tide was so low, the ferries weren't able to operate in the timeframe we wanted. So we drove the long way which took about five hours and over 200 miles. Who knew!?! We saw the Tacoma Dome and drove over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
We decided to stop in Port Townsend, even though it was another 30 minutes out of our way. Cute town with some very cool buildings. Port Townsend was officially founded in April 1851.
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| Point Hudson |
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| Historic City Hall |
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| Fred Lewis Building 1889 |
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| We thought about Crashing 🤔 |
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| Captain H L Tibbals 1889 |
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| Eisenbeis 1889 |
We made our way to Port Angeles. We were staying at the Aircrest Motel. Nothing spectacular but the location to Olympic National Park was perfect.
On August 14th, Olympic National Park Visitor Center was our first stop. Olympic has nearly one million acres. We got our little map and headed to the Hurricane Ridge Area.
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| Hurricane Ridge Road |
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| Love the tunnels through the mountains |
These rocks are volcanic, but there are no volcanoes in the Olympics. Eons ago, underwater eruptions occurred in the Pacific Ocean forming pillow basalts. The rocks formed from sediments shed onto the ocean floor.
Morse Lake Overlook
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| I'm not moving! |
Hurricane Ridge Visitors Center, elevation 5,242.
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| Overlook from Visitor Center |
We took the to the Cirque Rim Trail. This trail 👣 is only 1/2 mile loop. In winter we would be standing five feet higher. Sometimes the snow ❄ lasts until August. From the Cirque Rim Trail we took the High Ridge Trail all the way to Sunset Point for another mile with an elevation change of 220 ft.
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| Hey dude, this is my territory |
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| This deer 🦌 found a shady spot at the top and was not moving. |
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| Overlooking the Straits of Juan de Fuca |
Making our way back down.
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| I'm Done |
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| Trying to conquer his fear 😨 |
We made our way to downtown Port Angeles and explored for a little while before choosing Kokopelli Grill for dinner.
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| The propellers are from the Black Ball Ferry Line |
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| Chocolate Martini |
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| Irish Death Beer |
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| Bread with honey butter |
Our morning started with the Madison Creek Falls Trail 👣. It was a short little walk 🚶♀️ 🚶♂️ to a cute waterfall.
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| Elwha River |
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| Madison Falls |
After the fall we wanted to continue driving up the road but the road was closed. Well, the road was washed out from the Elwha Valley flood. A large portion of the Elwha River is flowing across the road.
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| This was our lunch spot! |
On our way back to the car we stopped to see the mules and horses 🐎 . The mules are used to support the backcountry work, where mechanized vehicles are not allowed. Every year they transport 60,000 to 70,000 pounds of gear.
We had to stop because a deer 🦌 was in the road. Rob loves deer.
On August 16th, we left Port Angeles and headed towards Forks taking the scenic route. We were spending only one night so we checked out the Shay Locomotive 🚂 and then headed to Hoh Rain Forest Visitors Center, another area of Olympic National Park.
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| Our scenic drive |
We then headed towards the entrance station to Olympic National Park Hoh Rain Forest. We had to wait in line to enter the park. The parking lot is very small and as one vehicle exited they allowed another to enter.
We hiked the Hall of Mosses Trail 👣, a point 0.8 mile easy loop with a 100-foot elevation -- the trails I like!
We then ventured on to the Spruce Nature Trail 👣, a 1.2 mile loop to the Hoh River.
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| The trunk is 190 feet long |
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| Overlooking Taft Creek |
This tree root just amazed me.
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| Pic as we left the park |
We stopped at Blakeslees Bar & Grill for a refreshing beverage.
Forks is one of the rainiest towns in the contiguous US. We were lucky and had really good weather. Forks is also the hometown of the vampire coven from the Twilight Saga. We did not see any vampires or werewolves.
On August 17th, we left Forks and headed down the coast. We drove over the Astoria Megler Bridge into Oregon.
We bypassed Astoria and Seaside as we had already been with Tony and Michelle. Our next stop was Rockaway Beach. We were staying at Surfside Resort and scored a good price through Priceline.
Dinner was at Rick's Roadhouse. The barmaid, Alexis, (the name did not fit the personality) was priceless and the food was really good. She made it clear that they are a bar and not a restaurant. We also met the owner Anthony. He was really nice and a dairy farmer who bought a bar and kept the name "Rick's".
We liked the place so much we booked another night. This is one of the great things about not being on a schedule. The downside -- we didn't get a great rate but we did get a waterfront room. The only difference in the room setup was the view and it was too cold and foggy to really enjoy. Actually, our first night was in the better room.
In the morning we walked the Rockaway Big Tree Boardwalk, 1.2 miles out and back trail. It was a wooden boardwalk over a bog and into old growth cedar Grove with a loop around the Big Cedar, the largest cedar tree in Oregon. We took the dirt trail coming back.
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| The Boardwalk |
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| The Big Cedar |
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| Another Big Tree |
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| The Dirt Trail 👣 |
Now it was time for a train ride on the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad 🚂. Round-trip from Rockaway Beach to Girabaldi. We went to the Visitor's Center to purchase our tickets. We couldn't purchase our tickets there but we did meet Kathy who was very friendly and full of information. We bought our tickets online while waiting for the train to arrive.
I made him stand under The Little Crow sign, Vintage and New! He's definitely not little or new, maybe a little vintage 😉.
We went back to Rick's Roadhouse for dinner. It was not as exciting as last night (more restaurants were opened), but the food was still good and it was our kind of dive bar.
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| French Dip |
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| Meatloaf Special |
Our first stop after leaving Rockaway Beach was the Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was a cool stop and with individually wrapped cheese 🧀 samples. We also bought some cheese.
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| 8 Stainless steel cooking vats turning milk into curds |
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| Vacuum Sealer & Block Forming Towers |
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| Packed Cheese & Quality Checkpoint |
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| Metal Detector & Heat Shrink Tunnel |
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| Check Weigher Scale |
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| Overlooking the store |
Our next stop was the Devil's Churn. It began as a small fracture, a weak area in the ancient volcanic rock. Thunderous waves have gnawed at the rock for eons, enlarging the crack into a chasm.
North Bend was our stop for the night. We were staying at the Quality Inn & Suites at Coos Bay.
We only spent a night and we were headed to Crescent City, California to see the Redwood National Forest. On our way we stopped at Face Rock Creamery for some cheddar cheese.
We stopped at Conquille Point, Oregon Islands National Wildlife Refuge. We took the stairs down to the beach.
We made our way back up the stairs and did a 1/4 mile loop trail 👣 at the top. We saw Cosmo the tufted Puffin. He was made out of garbage 🗑 picked up on the beach.
Our next stop was the Face Rock 🪨 Scenic Park Viewpoint. There was limited parking and there was a KAREN saving a parking spot. Luckily we found a spot but what really annoyed me is the vehicle she was saving the spot for wasn't even in the area.
We had to stop to see the Natural Bridges. There was a path that lead down to the bridges and apparently across the bridges but we didn't even attempt it.
I promised Rob no more stops (today). We were done with our travels down Washington and Oregon's West Coast. Next stop California!
The most important places on a map are the places we haven't been yet! - Jennifer Joukhader
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