4th of July--Part 2

We took our lawn chairs to the park behind the hotel to watch fireworks. Sadly, it was the not the big fireworks display we’ve enjoyed in Vancouver in past years, but tough economic times brought that to a close this year. I think this was the peninsula version of it though. Live music and a beautiful sunset made for an enjoyable night.
People were everywhere on this calm, cool evening.
On the pier,on the bridge,and sitting right down by the water.It was the first year we’ve spent the 4th somewhere other than in the marina on our sailboat for several years. We kind of missed it, but it’s also nice to try something new.

Fourth of July Part 1-Hurricane Ridge

I slowly continue my attempt to catch up on summer blogging. We’re still on the run, but it’s about to start slowing down the end of next week. We always slow down with mixed emotions. Right now, I’m sitting in a hotel room in Astoria just off the East Mooring Basin and Dave is fishing somewhere out on the Columbia River. The limit right now is one silver and one Chinook salmon per person per day. The last report I had said he had one silver in the boat, but there was no report on how big it was. When there’s serious fishing to do, there’s not much time for texting. Now we’re hoping for a 30 pound Chinook. (That will feed the two of us all winter.) With that update over, allow me to flash all the way back to the fourth of July.
We spent the fourth in Port Angeles. Port Angeles is many things, and one of them is the gateway to the Olympics. We couldn’t check into our hotel for a while, so we took a drive up to Hurricane Ridge. For me it was somewhat of a throwback to vacationing in Colorado and driving in the Rocky Mountains when I was younger. The difference in this part of the Olympics is that you drive UP to Hurricane Ridge and then turn around and drive back DOWN. I had hoped for hundreds of different color wild flowers, but at the top, there were only two. . .
blueand white. Combine with one meadow and snowcapped mountaintops and I think you get breathtaking.There were little white tail deer wandering all around the meadowsand coming right up by the parking lots.While we were up there, fog began to roll in over the Strait of Juan de Fuca, but if you zoom in and look closely, you can see some outlines of the San Juan Islands from this view north from Hurricane Ridge.I need to pack up and check out, but I’ll try to add the evening part of this post in the next 24 hours.

Victorian Port Townsend

Port Townsend was founded in 1851 and many of the original buildings are still standing. Not to worry, we didn't photograph them all, but there are a few that we found particularly interesting and worth sharing.
Of course we start with a lighthouse that isn't really a lighthouse. This is a private residence that overlooks the east side of the bay. Whenever I see one of these, I always think that someone else loves lighthouses as much we do, maybe even more.I seem to also have a weakness for clock towers, especially against a clear blue sky.But what is a Victorian building without a ghostly legend? This is Manresa Castle.Today it's a hotel, but according to the History Channel feature called Haunted Northwest, the place is haunted. Believe what you will, but it probably makes for a good campfire story.

CATCHING UP AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!

These long road trips are so hard to post. It takes forever to sort through hundreds and sometimes thousands of pictures and then we come home, do laundry, repack, and go take more. I've about decided that instead of trying to post an entire day, I'm just going to post one location at a time. Sometimes that may be just one picture, just so you know we haven't fallen off the face of the earth (photographing lighthouses).
We made our way to Port Townsend and that's why I'm so far behind. The sky was clear enough to see the North Cascades behind the Point Wilson Lighthouse when we got there in the afternoon.After we checked into the hotel and had dinner we decided to go back out and try for some sunset, or golden hour, shots. There are hundreds to sort through, but this is a favorite.For the sake of posting, we'll just have to go out of order for a bit. On the way to Port Angeles, we stopped in Sequim (pronounced Squim) and visited some of the lavendar fields. It was a week before lavendar festival and so everything wasn't in full bloom yet, but our favorite was the Purple Haze Lavendar Farm on Bell Bottom Road. We were there early in the morning and they invited us to go ahead and walk through the fields.I wish I could add a smell widget to the blog. The aroma was spa-like and relaxing.
In the interest of letting you know what else will be coming soon, I hope, to this blog, we spent the fourth of July in Port Angeles and took a ferry to Victoria, B.C. the next morning for a day trip. After that, it was off to Seiku for a few days of fishing. We came home via the Port Townsend to Keystone Ferry and up Whidbey Island. The last day of our trip was another ferry ride to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island. Except for our days fishing, the weather was beautiful. A lot of July was spent on the river sailing, a random crabbing trip to Nehalem Bay, and a trip to Seattle for a Mariner's game on a hot Saturday afternoon.
The best part of the summer so far was a visit from Lindsay and Rylie last week. I know you'll be anxious to see those pictures, but I've got to get ready for a visit from Jan and Amanda coming up in less than 48 hours.
I'll do my best to try and post at least ONE picture a day in my attempt to catch up. Scott has gotten my wireless internet going on my laptop, so posting is no longer limited to sitting at this desk. Hope you enjoy the changes we've made in the layout of the blog. Personally, we love the bigger pictures--hope you do too.