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?

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.

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

This was our company at the dock…

And this was our company on the ferry…

…where Tom found his favorite thing – pamphlets!

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

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

Then we rolled into Port Gamble

…with its quaint streets

… and its beautiful view of Juan de Fuca.

But the best thing about Port Gamble was this house…

…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.

Look at that oak stairway!  Look at those fireplaces!

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.

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

into Port Ludlow, which was also gorgeous!

These houses are surrounded by water and boats.

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

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.

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

Yikes!  Scary dude!  (Not.)

Officers’ quarters…

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

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

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

And the downtown area is a joy to walk through.

The downtown area is right on the water.  Beautiful!

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

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

 

But I found other things to photograph…

Last stop of the day: Port Angeles.

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…

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

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.)

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

…and toast to another 28 years together.