Come Along for the Ride as I Travel Down The Highways and Byways of America Armed With My Camera and a Sense of Adventure
Hello Everyone,
It’s with a heavy heart that I am writing this week as my dad passed away in his sleep this past Monday night. I’ll be in West Virginia for a while helping lay him to rest and say my goodbyes. My dad was a good guy with a big smile and a big heart. There’s a lot of him in me. I’ll write more when I can, but this site will be quiet for a while as I mourn his loss, but have no doubt I will be back on the road soon.
-Mike
The area that is now Port Angeles was first occupied by the Klallam and Makah people who thrived with the abundance of natural resources the region provided. In 1774, Juan Perez sailed into the straight and in 1791 Francisco Eliza claimed the area for Spain and named it El Puerto de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles which would later be anglicized and shortened to Port Angeles. White American settlers arrived in the area in the mid-19th century, and a man named Victor Smith came to town soon thereafter. Smith would have Port Angeles named the official U.S. Customs House and Port of Entry and convinced President Lincoln to support making the town a National Reserve. A lighthouse was built and the Army Corps of Engineers laid out a townsite. Since this made Port Angeles only the second federally planned city in the country after my hometown of Washington D.C. the town was dubbed the “Second National City". When Victor Smith died in 1865, the Port of Entry was moved back to Port Townsend and Port Angeles was all but abandoned. This changed in the 1880s when the railroad arrived and settlers soon chugged into town with it. Like so many other towns in the region, logging soon became Port Angeles’ main industry and the town even claimed the largest sawmill in the world for a bit. The natural deep water harbor has made Port Angeles a major port for both military and civilian ships over the years as well. Port Angeles is the site of the main visitor center for Olympic National Park and is also the hometown of NFL football legend John Elway.
I’ve been to Port Angeles a few times and I always get the same feeling when I’m there: it’s a town that keeps trying and I give it a lot of credit for that. The downtown area’s storefronts are full and there are several nice restaurants and bars to be found. There’s a great bookstore and a fantastic independent outdoor gear store. Port Angeles has supported a lot of cool public art displays and beautiful murals which really liven up the main downtown area. It’s also a great place to do some whale watching. I really like Port Angeles and I was happy to be able to spend some time there taking these photos. I hope you enjoy this little peak into the Olympic Peninsula’s City of Angels.
Hello Everyone! If you’re reading this post in my weekly newsletter, I apologize for not getting it out on Thursday this week, but I’ve been busy catching up with old friends in the greater Seattle area. Spending time with some familiar faces has definitely lifted my spirits and recharged my batteries a bit and I’m grateful to them for making time for me in their busy schedules. I have been enjoying their company so much that I went all week without even opening my computer. But it’s Thursday today and I hope to finish this up today and send it out by tomorrow. I doubt anyone out there sets their clock by my newsletter’s arrival, but if you are used to getting it on Thursday - surprise, it is Friday and the weekend is here. This last week brought me from Centralia through Tacoma and on up into the Kitsap Peninsula where I saw some cool navy boats and spent some time with the Suquamish people. Then I headed down to Bainbridge Island and hopped the ferry to Seattle, where I have been since. I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Seattle in my life, so most of my time here has just been catching up with people, but it has still been an excellent stay. Let me go ahead and jump into what I’ve been up to this week.
When I left you last week, I was on my way towards Tacoma from the old logging community of Centralia, WA. On the way I stopped off in tiny Tumwater for a quick visit to the Historical Park there. I’ve driven by this park for years and was glad I finally stopped in to check it out. The huge brick building visible from the highway is the old Olympia Brewery, now sadly in ruins and falling apart. This brewery was actually shut down by prohibition and the building was sold, so when Olympia restarted brewing beer in 1933 it was in a different building just up the road. The old brewmaster’s house is right up the hill from the old brewery and has been lovingly restored by the community. Just across the street is the old Crosby House which was once lived in by early Tumwater settler Nathaniel Crosby III who also happened to be the grandfather of performer Bing Crosby. Also in the park is the old Tumwater Falls and a very cool salmon ladder which helps the salmon on their upriver journey. It was absolutely packed with salmon during my visit which was cool to see.
From there I headed on into Tacoma and found a spot to park in the Theatre District…
Breathtaking beaches, glacier covered mountains and incredible temperate rainforests all wrapped up in one amazing National Park? You must be talking about Olympic. Designates as Mount Olympus National Monument by Theodore Roosevelt, the area officially became Olympic National Park in 1938. Covering a massive 1442 square miles, the National Park covers most of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. 95% of the park is designated wilderness, meaning you’re going to have to hike in if you want to really see it.
I have been to Olympic before, but really just to catch the highlights at the Hoh Rainforest, Second Beach, Crescent Lake and Marymere Falls. On this trip I spent almost two weeks in the area and saw so much more of what the park had to offer. I did a four day, three night backpacking trip up the Hoh River Trail to Glacier Meadows and then a three day, two night hike around the High Divide/Seven Lakes Basin Loop, both of which were spectacular. I also visited the Quilault Rainforest, Ruby Beach, and Sol Duc Falls while I was there and stopped into the beautiful park lodges at Quinault Lake and Crescent Lake. The highlight for me was definitely the namesake Mount Olympus, but the quiet nights, the sound of water and the incredible wildlife also made me happy. I hope you enjoy these photos of the magical region of Olympic National Park.
Hello Everybody! It’s hard to believe it’s October already. The leaves are definitely turning here in Washington State and the stores are filled with skeletons and pumpkins. It’s definitely starting to cool down and the days are getting noticeably shorter. This week has brought me from the heart of spectacular Olympic National Park to the state capital of Olympia with a couple of cool small towns sandwiched in between. I put in another 20 miles on the trail this week which I’m pretty proud of and finally got my views of Mount Olympus. After a couple of weeks of small towns and national park, it was nice to return to the city, although Olympia is hardly a thriving metropolis. I finished off my week with a night off the road in the classic Olympic Club hotel in Centralia. All in all, it’s been another great week on the road and I can’t wait to tell you all about it…
Long Beach, Washington is a wonderful little seaside town in the far southwest corner of the state. This area was originally home to Chinook Indians who later traded with European ships as they made their way up and down the coast. William Clark visited these beaches at the end of his Corps of Discovery’s overland voyage to the Pacific. White settlers started to arrive not long after the Civil War, originally coming to harvest the plentiful local oysters to ship to San Francisco. In the mid 1870s, steamships started bringing in tourists from nearby Portland and hotels and restaurants started to spring up. Long Beach has been a vacation destination ever since.
I absolutely loved my time in Long Beach. The beach itself is beautiful and the sunsets were magnificent. I really liked Dylan’s Cottage Bakery which is one of the best I’ve been to in a long time. I had a wonderful dinner at Castaways, drinks at the Long Beach Tavern and ice cream at Scoopers. The Marsh Free Museum is a wonderful old collection of oddities set around a modern souvenir shop. But mostly I loved the statues and public art, colorful buildings, hand-painted signs and the general laid back feel of the town. The attention to detail is amazing and even the parking signs and bike racks are adorable. I had a fantastic time in Long Beach and can’t wait to go back again. If you ever get the chance, you should definitely pop in. You may end up staying longer than you thought you would. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Long Beach, Washington.
Hello Everyone.
I hope you are all having a wonderful September out there. September and October are probably my favorite months of the year, with fall colors and moderate temperatures and when the days are still long enough to get a lot out of. I’ve spent all of this past week since my last newsletter in and around Olympic National Park. I’m headed back into the backcountry tomorrow, so I wanted to get this post done before I take off down the trail. It’s been a spectacular week in the scenery department and I will definitely have plenty of photo editing to do next week, but I’ll give you a preview of those photos along with this post.
When I wrote last week, I was on my way into Olympic and made my first stop at Lake Quinault on the southern end of the park. I enjoyed a couple of lovely short hikes in the rainforest there and a delicious dinner at the Lake Quinault Lodge. The lodge is a classic old park lodge designed by the same architect who did the Inn at Old Faithful in Yellowstone, and while I couldn’t afford to stay there, I could definitely afford dinner and a beer on the veranda. I had a lovely filet of King Salmon in the Roosevelt Dining Room and after the sun went down I sat reading my book by the fire until it was time to fade out into the night.
The following day I headed around the lake to the Wilderness Information Center to chat with the ranger there about my upcoming hikes and to have them print out my backcountry permits for me. They were great and very helpful and had a lovely ranger station in a field in the rainforest. I took a short stroll out to the old Kestler Homestead site nearby before making my way back to the highway and north to the Kalaloch campground along the coast. There I was able to get my backpacking gear out from where I store it under my bed, blow off the dust from not using it for a few years and get it packed and ready for the morning. The only issue I faced was the need to pack a warmer and bulkier sleeping bag than I would have liked which took up a lot of space in my backpack, but it was needed and definitely appreciated during the cold nights on the trail…
White Salmon is a cute little town up on the hill on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. The area was historically Klickitat territory and was first settled by the Joslyn family in 1852. Cattle farming, timber, salmon fishing and wheat were the early industries in White Salmon, and later fruit farming and tourism would add to the economy. Today, the population rests right around 2500 people. It was the white salmon crosswalks that drew me in and the cute businesses and signs that kept me there. I wasn’t in White Salmon for long, but I really enjoyed my time there and I hope you enjoy this small handful of shots from the town ‘Where the Sun Meets the Rain”.
Hello Everyone! This newsletter is going to be a short one this week as I am going to be out in the wilderness of Olympic National Park for several days and away from my computer. I hope it’s a wonderful adventure out there, but I don’t want to forget about what I’ve been up to this week so I thought I’d just go ahead and get this done before I head out.
When I left you guys last week, I was on my way to tiny South Bend, Washington on the Willapa River. South Bend is a cute little town with a couple of oyster farms and a nice brewery and I availed myself of both while I was there. When I got to town, I popped into a tiny little hole-in-the-wall spot called the Chester Club for a cold beer and some oysters. If I stumbled into this place in Nebraska or Vegas I would order anything but oysters, but with the oyster fleet in view out the window and the World’s Largest Oyster just a block away, I knew they had to be good. And they were – probably some of the best fried oysters I’ve ever had. With my belly very happy, I moved up the road to the Willapa Brewing Company which is a part of one of my travel resources, Harvest Hosts, which hooks travelers up with businesses for overnight stays. I get a spot in their parking lot for the night and in return I buy a few beers. It works out well for everyone. It was a busy night there as the road crew who is doing construction on the highway was having a party, but it was fun to be there and enjoy some of their tasty brews.
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, and also the most important. It has always served as a trade route from the interior to the coast from the time American Indians paddled their dugout canoes up and down the river to the tall ships of the fur trade to modern trade ships of today. It also has several major dams which provide much needed power to the region and the river also serves as the border between Washington State and Oregon. The incredible waterfalls on the Oregon side bring in tourists by the thousands, but the small towns of the Washington side are friendlier and more livable. It gets hot out there, and it got too hot for me to stay too long and I ended up cutting my visit a little bit shorter than I would have liked, but I still had a great time out there. I hope you enjoy these photos from the beautiful Columbia River Gorge…
fell hard for Astoria during my stay in this classic Oregon town. I would say most people of my generation have seen the movie The Goonies, which is both set in and filmed in Astoria. It’s definitely one of my favorite childhood movies so I came here already having warm feelings towards the place, but it did not disappoint. There were surprises around every corner and even after a few days in town, I felt like there was still much more to be discovered.
Astoria was founded in 1811 at the mouth of the Columbia River just six years after Lewis and Clark cruised down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean on their transcontinental adventure. That makes Astoria the oldest American city on the west coast. Originally Fort Astor, it was built by the American Fur Company to exploit the local fur resources of the region and named after the company’s founder John Jacob Astor. The fort would later be sold to Canada’s Northwest Fur Company and be renamed Fort George. The region would fall under joint American and British rule after the Treaty of 1818 but would eventually become a fully American town after the Oregon Treaty of 1846. With the decline in the fur trade, fishing would become the town’s major industry and the local canneries were humming 24 hours a day. The need for workers brought in many immigrants, notably from Scandinavia, China, Hawaii and the Punjab region of India. Fishing is still a major industry in Astoria today, but not like it once was. Tourism has played a big role in the local economy, and increased dramatically after The Goonies was released in 1985. Forty years later, there is still a steady parade of tourists making a pilgrimage up to see The Goondocks on the hill in Uppertown.
I loved all of the historic buildings, signs and businesses as I strolled the streets of Astoria. The history museum was wonderful and kept me occupied for several hours and the Flavel Mansion is a lovingly restored Victorian mansion and a real local treasure. Dead Man’s Isle tiki bar was a particular favorite while I was there, but I also really enjoyed the crowd at the Chart Room and Fort George Brewery. Blue Scorcher Bakery makes some delicious baked goods and definitely don’t miss the amazing tuna fish and chips at The Bowpicker which is cooked on an old boat and has a line whenever it’s open - it’s worth the wait. Astoria felt like a town that has a plan and works to implement it and the local identity is a strong one. It’s location near the coast and its proximity to Portland bring in a steady stream of tourists and keeps the town bustling throughout the year. This was my first time in Astoria, but it definitely won’t be my last. I hope you enjoy these photos from the amazing little city of Astoria.
Jewett Boulevard in White Salmon
Hello Everyone! It is wonderful to be back on the coast here in Washington State where the weather is cool and shoulder season crowds are small and subdued. While I really enjoyed heading up the Columbia River Gorge, it was just too hot in the interior, and I had to make a beeline back to the coast. I will take my time as I head north and I know that by the time I head inland again it will be well into autumn and cooler temperatures will prevail. Despite a few hiccups, it’s been another great week all around and I’m very happy to be on the road in coastal Washington.
The Train Pulling “Quietly” Through Stevenson. WA
When I finished off writing this post last week, I was in Hood River, Oregon having just spent two fabulous days exploring the Columbia River Gorge. I had every intention of spending a few more days on the trail, chasing waterfalls and exploring the area, but as I mentioned, it was just too hot out there. I had been watching the weather, and while it had been hot for months it seemed like there was a bit of a cool spell coming through. That had held true for those first two days, but ended last Wednesday as temperatures climbed back into the 90s. It cooled down at night, but not very much and not until well after midnight. The heat is my biggest challenge when it comes to sleeping in my van as it absorbs heat on a hot day and it’s tough to cool it down (I don’t have a working a/c). I’ll take cold and rain and storms any day over a hot night. On top of the heat I found Hood River boxy and unattractive and while not altogether unpleasant, not particularly welcoming either. They had parking meters up all over town which I think are a terrible idea in a town that size, and really in most places including back at home in DC. Hood River wasn’t a bad place, but it wasn’t a place I would rush to get back to either. I did enjoy a few beers at Full Sail Brewery which is another old-school craft brewery which has been brewing beer longer than I’ve been drinking it. The beers were excellent and the bartender was quite pleasant as well. After a decent but unexciting stroll around downtown, I decided to call it a night, but it was just too hot to sleep, even with my “emergency fan” which I carry for just such an occasion. It served its purpose, but I still didn’t get much sleep. When it finally cooled down enough for me to doze off, my alarm was going off because they were going to start enforcing the meters at 8am (and they were out and doing just that not too long after).
The Main Dock in Stevenson, WA
When I don’t sleep, I don’t function well and I was on half-speed for most of Thursday. I headed up to a park just outside of town called Panorama Point where I had my coffee and breakfast. The smoke from the wildfires that are burning in Oregon took away most of the view, but I could at least see the outline of Mount Hood in the distance. Mount Hood is part of the Cascade Range which runs up the inland region of the west coast and includes spectacularly isolated, snow covered cone volcanoes which can be seen for miles around. They are absolutely stunning and always make me feel good and it definitely helped my mood a little bit. The overcast weather and cool breeze let me catch a short morning nap as well. When I got up, I headed down to the waterfront area to grab a cup of coffee and then decided it was time to cross the river and head west again towards cooler weather and save the rest of my exploration for another, cooler time. I remember doing the same thing a few years ago in Detroit and being very happy I did.
Looking Back Up River
The bridge there in Hood River is quite nerve wracking to cross as it is very narrow and the metal guardrails on either side have obviously been hit hundreds of times or more the entire way across. Bridges don’t generally make me nervous, but this one did. Right on the other side of the river was a little tourist information center (and a must-stop Welcome to Washington sign for this post), so I pulled in to take a photo and say hello. The lady in the Visitor Center couldn’t have been any nicer. She was born and raised in the area and told me that when she moved away she couldn’t wait to get back. She was a perfect representative of the communities on the Washington side of the gorge and helped with all of my questions, throwing in some stories of her own for good measure. She told me that the bridge I had just crossed was privately owned, hence the poor condition it was in. She also told me that it wasn’t very structurally sound and I was glad I wasn’t going back over it any time soon. When I asked her if it was always that hot in the beginning of September, she told me it was chilly for that time of year and motioned to her jeans and her sweater. That made me smile and, feeling a little better about the day, I decided to pop up the hill and check out the town of White Salmon at the top. White Salmon was small and charming and a big contrast to Hood River just across the bridge. I had a wonderful walk around town, taking some photos and enjoying its quirks (I especially loved that many of the crosswalks were actually painted with white salmon crossing the road). I stopped in the bakery for a snack and my mood was starting to take a real turn for the better. After wandering around town for a while, I headed down the hill and came into the neighboring town of Bingen. I was surprised that they were separate towns given how close they were and how small each of them was. It turns out that the rivalry goes back to the towns’ respective founding families, the Sukdorfs of Bingen and the Jewetts of White Salmon who were bitter enemies. I believe the towns are on better terms today, but I’ll bet their sports teams are still healthy rivals. Bingen had some neat little places to see as well and I especially loved a statue called “Oh Joy of Joys” which was a tribute to a beloved member of their community, Guillermo "Willy" Fisch. Willy had been born in Argentina and after years of traveling the world settled in tiny Bingen, Washington. He was apparently so well liked that he was often referred to as “Bingen’s Second Mayor”. I would be over the moon if a statue as joyous as this one was ever made of me and I’m sure Willy is out there somewhere smiling about it. I also stopped into Chips Tavern which was a perfect little neighborhood bar with lots of great old news stories and photos on the wall to keep me busy.
The Tower at Fort Vancouver
Leaving Bingen, I headed on down the gorge to Stevenson, another cute little town which caught my eye and had me hit the brakes and find a parking spot. Stevenson was super quaint and had some lovely waterfront parks to sit on a bench in the shade and look out over the Columbia River. I stopped in for a quick beer at the Walking Man Brewery which was absolutely adorable and had the feel of a small country pub somewhere in England or Ireland. Their hot water was out and the guy they had working on it was named Tom. He sat and had a beer with me and we ended up chatting for almost an hour. We had a lot in common and he was great to talk to and eventually he went out and got the hot water working again. During that time, one of the musicians who was playing that night at the brewery had wandered in and convinced me to stay and hear them play. It seemed cooler there than upriver, and my van was parked in the shade so I thought I might just stay the night there in Stevenson. I got some dinner, wandered around some more and came back for the music which was excellent. It was definitely cool enough for me to sleep that night, but I hadn’t counted on the trains that pull through town every hour in both directions all night long. While Stevenson is a “quiet town” so they don’t blow a whistle when they pull through, they’re still trains and they’re still loud. It was another night of bad sleep, but I did enjoy my time in Stevenson.
The Big House at Fort Vancouver
Friday I headed straight back to Vancouver which is the city opposite Portland across the Columbia. I started out with a nice visit to Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, which was once the administrative center for the Hudson’s Bay Company’s Columbia River region which covered the fur trading area from Alaska to Mexican California and from the Rockies to the Pacific. Built in 1829, the “fort” itself wasn’t much (and never fired their canons except in ceremonial ways), the community that grew up around it was really quite fascinating. There were obviously Brits there to represent the HBC and probably a few Americans, but also French Canadian fur trappers, representatives of 35 different American Indian bands and a surprising number of Hawaiians. These groups intermarried and had children and created quite a diverse community there. After 1840, Fort Vancouver would serve as the end point of the Oregon Trail and the cities of Vancouver and Portland would grow up around the fort. It would remain a fort when Oregon became an American territory and stay one through both World Wars, becoming a National Park Site in 1948. The reconstructed old fort is cool to visit and I especially enjoyed chatting with a volunteer in the old trading post (which was apparently run by the fort’s doctor). After my visit, I went up to the old Grant House in a more modern part of the fort, which now houses a small wine room and restaurant. It was lovely to poke around inside and the people working there were super friendly in letting me do so. Ulysses S. Grant never lived in the house which bears his name, but he had served as the quartermaster of the fort in the early 1850s and at some point people started calling this house the Grant House. I enjoyed a glass of wine there and then headed downtown. Downtown Vancouver is nice enough, but I was pretty tired so I didn’t stay down there too long. I did have a cocktail at the Wahi Hana tiki bar, a couple of beers at some of the old pubs around the neighborhood and a burrito at Muchas Gracias. I stayed right next to the fort and finally got a good night’s sleep.
Coming Down the River
The next morning, seeing as it was Saturday and I was right across the river from Portland, I decided to go watch my Penn State Nittany Lions square off against Florida International at the Satellite Bar I had been to the week before. It was a noon game on the east coast, so a bright and early 9am game in Oregon. The staff was ready with a breakfast menu and plenty of coffee and there was a reasonable showing for an early season, inconsequential game at 9am (which we won 34-0). After the game I had a bunch of errands to run so I set off to see what I could accomplish. Since there is no sales tax in Oregon, I got what I could over there before re-crossing the river and finally heading north in the late afternoon. I pulled into Kelso just as it was getting dark and found a quiet place to spend the night and slept like a baby.
The Church in Oysterville
I was up bright and early Sunday morning because I had a lot I wanted to accomplish before heading back to the coast. I hit the gym and then pulled into the back side of the mall to do a couple of maintenance projects on my van. I changed the oil which is always easy and the air filter, which is way more complicated in these old vans than it should be. Then I drained my radiator so I could flush it and that would be it for the day. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get my radiator plug (petcock) to go back in. Everything I put in my radiator flowed right out again. I couldn’t believe that this simple project, which I’ve done plenty of times, was going to be what caused me grief. But I couldn’t go anywhere without coolant in my engine and it was Sunday so no place was open. After a couple of hours of racking my brain trying to figure out what I was doing wrong, I decided to call it a day on worrying. I filled it up with water and drove the 3 minutes down the street to a fortuitously placed radiator repair shop. Then I went to the movies and saw Caught Stealing. It was a little more violent than I would have liked, but very fast paced and watchable and excellent to distract me for a while which is exactly what I needed. After the movie I went to Papa Zuzu’s pizza for a hot pizza and some cold Rainier beers before calling it a night.
My Guide to Oysterville
I try and look at things through the lens of what went right instead of what went wrong whenever I can. Being able to wake up in front of a radiator repair shop which opened at 7:30am when I had radiator problems after spending a cool and quiet night in a pleasant little town – that’s all good stuff. A van issue could happen anywhere, and this was one of the best places this particular issue could have happened. The gentleman I spoke with at Hart Radiators told me that they only work on radiators which have been removed from the vehicle they come with, not actually on the vehicles themselves but told me he knew a thing or two about radiators and would have a look. He rolled underneath and told me that when it was screwed all the way out, it was closed and when it was screwed all the way in, it was open. This was something I knew but my brain just wasn’t letting me remember the day before. It’s counterintuitive which is why it should be easy to remember, but for whatever reason I didn’t and hadn’t been paying enough attention when I opened it the first time. Regardless of any of that, he fixed it for me in 20 seconds and rolled back out, shook my hand and sent me on my way (after asking a dozen genuinely inquisitive and good natured questions about Washington DC). Definitely good luck I would say and a huge thank you to Hart Radiators in Kelso, Washington – you not only represent your business well, but your whole community.
Shell Mound
With my van back in service, I headed to the gym for a workout and then to the library to work on this post for a while. Then I made a beeline for the coast. It was a really nice drive down the Columbia River and I was so happy to be headed west towards the beach, cooler temperatures and the setting sun. When I pulled onto the Long Beach Peninsula, I knew that my day was just getting better. This is the kind of coast I love with small town maritime vibes and just a touch of tourist kitsch. It was after 6pm when I arrived, so I decided to just head up the peninsula to Oysterville which has a Victorian church that I really wanted to see. Oysterville is a tiny little village with only about 20 permanent residents but a whole lot of character to go along with it. When I pulled up to the church, which was as beautiful as I imagined it would be, a big, happy dog came bounding up the road towards me with her tail wagging. She was a healthy dog with a collar and tags so I assume she was a local dog and she sure seemed to be the welcoming committee as well. I took some photos of the church and grabbed a walking tour map and she came with me as I wandered down to the old schoolhouse and past a number of the houses in town, many beautifully maintained. I felt bad when I had to leave, but she said goodbye and then strolled down the road. It almost broke my heart when I looked in my mirror on the way out of town and she was bounding after me at full speed. What a great dog and a wonderful town.
Cape Disappointment Lighthouse
I drove down the east side of the peninsula and stopped to check out some of the oyster fleet along the way. Huge piles of oyster shells lined the roads to the piers and the working boats were as captivating as ever. This area once shipped a lot of oysters up and down the coast which brought a lot of money to this little corner of the country. They’re still in the oystering business, but the demand isn’t as high as it once was. I passed some cranberry farms on the way back down the peninsula as well and made it back to Long Beach for a beautiful sunset over the ocean. I had a lovely evening just walking up and down the main street and looking at all of the statues and murals I would photograph in the morning. It was so nice to fall asleep in my van with my blanket on and the windows closed as the temperatures hovered in the 50s.
I got up feeling great yesterday morning and stopped into Dylan’s Cottage Bakery for a bite. They honestly had one of the best bakery displays I’ve seen in a long time with a wonderful and diverse offering of pies and pastries. I had to settle on just two and a cup of coffee and used that to fuel my morning wander around town to take some photos. After an hour or two I headed just south of town to Cape Disappointment which houses a state park, two lighthouses and a wonderful museum about the journey of Lewis and Clark which ended right there at the mouth of the Columbia River (after a six day stretch in a gloomy and awful nook which they called the ‘Dismal Nitch’). Of all of the Lewis and Clark museums I’ve seen on this trip, this was one of my favorites. It was straight and to the point and moved right along, with plenty of great visuals to go along with the story. The Lewis and Clark story is of particular interest to me and this journey I’m on as my very first stop of this trip, way back in November of 2017, was in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia which was where Merriweather Lewis began the outfitting of his Corps of Discovery. It took them 18 months to make it to Cape Disappointment and it took me almost 8 years, but we both got here in the end. Nothing else to do but spend some time on the west coast and then head east again, which is exactly what they did and exactly what I plan to do. Much like Merriweather Lewis, I will probably return to Washington DC in the end, although I doubt any president will be waiting to greet me there. It brought me great joy to find several photos in this museum from the legendary Edward Curtis, the “Shadow Catcher”, after whom my van is named. Beyond the museum, I really enjoyed chatting with the volunteer manning the North Head Lighthouse about Fresnel lenses and lighthouse architecture before heading back north along the peninsula. I stopped in at Ilwaco for a nice walk along their marina and a lovely cider or two at the local cidery. Then I headed back to Long Beach where I had decided to take a room for the night because they are reasonably priced and I thought it was time for a little break. I had some delicious oysters for dinner at Castaways before calling it an early night in my quiet, cool hotel room.
And that’s where I am at the moment. I’m going to wrap up this post this morning before I go and then it’s time to say goodbye to Long Beach and time to head north again. I will stay tonight in South Bend, Washington and then continue up the coast for the rest of the week. I hope to find some great beaches, quiet towns, delicious seafood and maybe even a lighthouse or two. I’ll hopefully be getting real close to Olympic National Park by this time next week, but you’ll just have to check back in and see what I got up to. Whatever it is, it will be on the cooler side, and that is all I could ask for. Have a wonderful week out there, wherever you are and thank you, as always, for reading.
-Mike
Sunset in Long Beach
Dusk at the Long Beach Arch
Oyster Boats
White Salmon Crosswalk and Town Hall
Chips in Bingen, WA
Oh Joy of Joys Statue in Bingen, WA
North Head Light
The Southern Cross in Ilwaco Harbor
Ilwaco Harbor
Old Rolls Royce Cars in Cape Disappointment State Park
Hanging With the Oyster Fleet
