BACK TO THE OLYMPIC PENINSULA

Here is an unusual photo for the blog: both of us in the same picture!

As we traveled from Portland north to Port Townsend, we stopped in Gig Harbor to meet up with our friends Jim and Diane. As soon as we settled in to the nearby Elks Lodge, we took off with them for an evening walk in town. Dozens of photos were snapped in this beautiful little waterfront town on this perfect afternoon - including this one.




Doesn't this look like a lovely place to spend a few days? Nice level sites, big trees for shade, a cute little Elks Lodge...

When we met Jim and Diane at the Elks Lodge in Gig Harbor, we planned to spend two or three nights there to explore the town and area. It was just as nice at it looks here, with one problem: behind Scoopy, on the other side of a healthy crop of delicious wild blackberries, is a 4-lane highway that carries commuters and semis from Tacoma to the Kitsap and Olympic Peninsulas.

MAJOR traffic and MAJOR noise. Sitting outside for happy hour, we had to raise our voices to be heard, and the commute traffic woke me up by 6 am.




So, after one night in Gig Harbor, we all took off. As soon as we settled in Port Townsend (another Elks Lodge), we had an email from our new friends here, David and Ann, who hosted the wine tasting we enjoyed so much on our earlier stay in Port Townsend. Happy hour at their place at 4:30!

You don't have to convince us to have fun, so off we went. Around the table beginning on the left: Ann, David, Mary, Odel, and Elaine. We had tried to visit Mary and Elaine a week ago, but they left their camp hosting job before we had a chance to visit, so we were happy to lift our glasses with them on a beautiful afternoon near Port Townsend.