Blogs from Port Townsend, Washington, United States, North America - page 2

Our friends, Justin Porter and Adri Vanbianchi, were wed on September 5. It was an extraordinary celebration!! A coming together of two people so in love, and of their vibrant and embracing families. Although the ceremony had the polish of being planned and rehearsed, it was not at all stiff or contrived. The genuine joy, love and sincerity of the couple and their families radiated as they interacted with warmth, ease and casualness before us all as witnesses. The ceremony was a remarkable combination of complimentary motifs and traditions Elements of Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism combined to give meaning and richness. The gray concrete bunker of Fort Warden was transformed into a ritualistic and celebratory space with brightly colored prayer-flag banners as a backdrop on the semicircular bunker wall and explosive bursts of brightly colored flowers ... read more

9/3/09 So correct me if I'm wrong but I could have sworn that the idea was for Melisse and me to travel around for a year collecting experiences and riding out the recession in light of the fact that neither of us had jobs. Huh. It seems that the universe in its best ironic impersonation of the mad hatter is angling to have other plans for us. That's right, we seem to have numerous offers for gainful employment. From College of the Redwoods to Homer, Alaska, the possibilities are flowing in. What to do? Would we be selling ourselves short by not taking this opportunity to travel for the year? Are we crazy in this day and age to turn down work WITH BENEFITS? Here we are just ambling down the highway minding our own businesses ... read more

Drove down the rode to Olympic National Park in the morning. Started off on Hurricane Ridge. Very nice views of the mountain range and wild mountain flowers all over the place. Walked a trail there and headed down the road to Sol duc Springs. Walked a trail there to a really cool waterfall. Headed back towards Port Townsend after that, but stopped to walk a trail to the Marymere Falls. After that I head back to Port Townsend. I got back around 7:30 and grabbed a book and headed down to the beach to wait for the fireworks to start. Nice place to see the 4th of July fireworks. They set them off from a barge in the harbor, and the fireworks went off right over the water.... read more

We thoroughly enjoyed our B&B stay. Thank you to the kids for the gift certificate. We toured the shops, restaurants, the Rose theater and Fort Worden. Our stay was at the Blue Gull Inn. Cozy, quiet, comfortable, excellent breakfasts and a jacuzzi tub. Clam chowder at Fins ($12) was superb. They use butter clams, shell and all and it is really really good. Of course, we also had salmon and shrimp and wine and a real big check. Ice cream at Elevated Ice Cream Co. was nice. Macadoo's Barbecue is just like in Tennessee. They have catfish and hush puppies!!! We had to stop at Clearwater Casino. Boo Hoo!! ... read more

Here is a lovely spring visit to the Olympic Peninsula, west of Seattle, WA, USA. We enjoyed this special time with our daughter, two grand-daughters and many 'critters' but mainly dog Shadow and the cats. I show a few of the neat things we saw and enjoyed there. Tami is a young widow, for nearly 5 years now, and she has raised her three daughters through high school and out into the world. She is ready to return, herself, to univsersity to get her degree and become a teacher. All of these changes require much effort and we spent two weeks there helping through some paperwork, packing, and cleaning. Sadly, the dog and cats will have to find new homes. ... read more