A Relaxed Day

We didn't have anything planned for Wednesday, so let serendipity reign.  Started by admiring the snow-capped Olympics - they were contrasted against the blue sky, nevermind the fog bank along the shore.  We wandered east along the Sequim and Dungeness shoreline and around Discovery Bay to Port Townsend.  Sequim is in the lee of the Olympics and protected against much of the rain to the west - and consequently has grown greatly in the past decade, with nice places near the coast and tracts inland.

Port Townsend

Port Townsend is an old Victorian town at the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula - the main street down by the water, the next major street 100' up on the bluff. 

At the Ft. Worden Beach

 Joan and I have a very good friend in Port Townsend who has been caring for her now-deceased mother and will soon move to New Orleans.  She joined us for a picnic at Ft. Worden beach.  There have been many coast artillery forts along the Pacific coast - that was Ft. Worden's role before it was retired as a State Park and the quarters converted into a B and B that makes for a great venue for family reunions.  The beach faces out on Puget Sound, a favorite for picnics and walks - water is "wake up in a hurry" cold.

Sailing Past the Fog

We took the ferry across to Keystone on Whidbey Island, landing by a campground in sunshine, protected by the Fort Casey (another retired Coast Artillery fort) headlands.  Up on the headlands the 100+ runners in a training program emerged from and disappeared into the fog.  We went up the western coast, opposite the mouth of the Straits of Juan de Fuca and found Fort Ebey equally fogbound.  So we turned to Coupeville, on the eastern, sunny side of the island, watching a regatta sailing in Penn Cove.  We meandered southeast alongside Saratoga Passage through Langley toward the ferry at Clinton.  When things got tacky on The Sea Ranch Board, I used to say it was time to move to Whidbey - the west side is more like Sea Ranch, but Langley's sun and wind protection are very appealing.

Approaching Mukilteo

The ferry from Clinton to Mukilteo, on the mainland, is a short ride - 20 minutes.  The drive from the Mukilteo ferry terminal to I-5 took us past the Boeing plant where 747s, 767s, 777s, and now 787s, are assembled.  It used to be the largest manufacturing plant in the world, probably still is.  Worth a tour, but we were there too late.

We finished the day, and Harriett's tour at one of Seattle's iconic restaurants, Ivar's Salmon House, looking down Lake Union at the Space Needle.

All in all, a very successful 10 days, notable for many comfortable joys, much humor, and a general sense of an experience well worth building upon.  For Joan and me, there was the extra wonder of having seen all the major peaks in the Cascades from Mt. Shasta to Mt. Baker on one trip.