Day 27 -- Olympic Peninsula

Greg and I really wanted to explore the Olympic Peninsula so that was our first stop. In a perfect world, we'd have had a week just to do this part of the trip. Obviously, we don't live in a perfect world so we had one day. I mapped out a route that MIGHT have been possible (not!) and we headed off.

We drove to Seattle and took the ferry to Bainbridge Island. That put us on the Kitsap Peninsula. We then had lunch in Poulsbo, WA (a small Norwegian town on the water) and drove across one of Washington's famous floating bridges. As someone who is bridge-phobic, I like bridges that stay right on the water! We were finally on the Olympic Peninsula. We drove up to Port Townsend and fell in love. This little Victorian gem at the top of the peninsula is spectacular. Our love affair was enhanced by the PERFECT weather (sunny and 75F). We drove through every street and admired houses and buildings. Definitely a town you could imagine yourself being happy in!

We continued on our way. At this point, we realized that my "plan" for the day was unaccomplishable unless we took the last ferry back to Seattle at 12:55am so we just relaxed and enjoyed what we could see. We drove to Sequim (pronounced Squim) where there was a "wildlife drive." Most of the drive took us through neighborhoods and past lavender farms. But, we just about the time when Greg was starting to harrumph about the lack of wildlife, Ruth yelled out, "Bald Eagle!" We slammed the brakes one and backed up and there it was . . .



We continued on to Port Angeles which is the gateway to the Olympic National Park. We couldn't see most of this amazing park but we wanted to do at least part of it. We chose to do a road called Hurricane Ridge which lets you get into the middle of the park and you can see the highest point, Mt Olympus. It was spectacular and awe-inspiring and we saw Ravens up there . . . and black-tailed deer.





We drove back to the ferry and decided to eat dinner on the Seattle side. I researched mexican restaurants and found one with amazing reviews. Serena couldn't get us there, however. There was a bridge that was closed permanently and that totally threw her for a loop! Once we made it there, the restaurant was closed and in a seedy neighborhood. Sigh. We ended up eating at Famous Dave's (always a good meal at like 9:45pm). Exhausted but happy!