Our hotel in Victoria was a block away from the Black Ball Ferry that we had reservations with to go to Port Angeles, Washington. We had to be at the ferry at 9:00 am, which was no problem, for a 10:30 am departure. US immigration and customs looked at our passports with minimal fuss so it was mainly a “hurry up and wait” situation. The ferry departed on time and soon we were crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca for the USA. The ride took an hour and a half and we debarked in Port Angeles close to noon. TSA greeted us but that, too, did not take long. I asked the TSA agent for lunch suggestions and he recommended the Garden Café on the outskirts of town which had delicious sandwiches.
We took the road into Olympic National Park and to Hurricane Ridge 17 miles down the road. Or I should say up the road as we climbed to a mile high with quite a bit of snow on the ground. A few black-tailed deer were present and we had great views of snow-capped peaks and a few glaciers. After a while we headed back down to highway 101 which we took east and south through winding twists and turns with pine forests alongside the road. We arrived at the home of our hosts, Fran and Richard Davey, about 6:00 pm, just in time for a nice shrimp salad dinner. The evening was spent discussing the joys and tribulations of living overseas and reminiscing mainly about good times in Australia.
Friday we had high clouds with some nice periods of sunshine. In fact, we had great views of Mt. Rainier on our drive to Allyn where Fran and Richard live. But when we woke up Saturday morning we had rain and drizzle which we were told is typical of this area. Rain does not stop people in this part of the country – if it did, nothing would get done. So we donned our rain gear and headed to Bremerton where we caught the ferry to Seattle. Seattle was shrouded in clouds on our arrival and the rain increased as we started walking to the Pioneer Square area where skid row originated. Skid row was a long downhill ramp where logs were sent down to the saw mills on the docks. Bawdy houses and bars were built along the ramp which became known as Skid Row and the name spread to seedy areas in other cities.
Next we walked to the Pikes Place Market with seafood, produce, flowers and anything else one wants. We saw the fish market where fresh salmon are tossed as tourists snap their cameras. I was too late. We saw the first-ever Starbucks coffee shop but it was too crowded to get in the door. So we went to Kells Pub and had an Irish coffee to take the chill off. We walked through the markets some more and then to Elliot’s seafood restaurant where we had an excellent lunch. Three of us shared a bowl of fried calamari – Rita does not like it. We were fortunate in our timing as the Copper River sockeye salmon had just arrived on the market. I had that along with rice and grilled vegetables which was delicious. Rita and I split a big dessert of chocolate cake with ice cream topping. A bottle of local Riesling wine went well with the meal. We walked around Seattle a bit more before heading back to the ferry. As we were leaving Seattle the rain stopped and the clouds had lifted, revealing the skyline.
Sunday was Father’s Day and our hosts prepared a nice brunch of eggs Benedict for the fathers. We had a resting day and took phone calls from our children throughout the day. Tomorrow we get the Toyota serviced and head south towards Oregon.
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