Port Townsend 22 August 2018 : Caspar Institute

Still smokey. We made the short drive from PortA to PortT – Port Townsend – under mostly electrical power, getting a shade over 100 miles per gallon.

We parked by our AirBnB in the upper town and made our way to the very touristy lower 'old town' – under much renovation and considerably more tourist pressure than when we visited in years past, maybe the mid 1990s? Still, this is one of my favorite towns to visit.

We found a hidden spot, Sirens, with a welcoming deck with a view of the Salish Sea, as they call this corner of Puget Sound.

That's the Whidbey Island Ferry departing.

As has become our habit, we start eating before we remember to take a picture; only the Cider and Clam Chowder are unmolested here. The Buffalo Chicken Tenders are a nice refinement – all the joys of Chicken Wings with no gnarly bones – and a fairly standard Caesar. I note with sorrow that the popularity of the Caesar has led to the loss of proper dressing – each salad should be assembled in a big bowl, dressed, and tossed before serving, not dressed in its serving bowl. C'mon, guys; you can dedicate a stainless steel bowl to Caesars!

Port Townsend appears to be a poetry town:

Here's to a Long Life

And a Merry One;

A Quick Death

And An Easy One;

A Pretty Girl

And A True One;

And A Good Beer

And Another One

A ways down the street, an Irish shoppe called 'Wandering Aengus' ... a favorite Yeats poem of mine. I congratulated the shopkeeper on her naming; she acknowledged it was the poem that inspired her. A gorgeous wool cape I wanted for Rochelle, but she wasn't having any.

Still farther, a gallery with wonderfully whimsical birds and brightly painted panels, glass sculpture, furniture, paintings -- all nice. I appreciated the collection, and the shopman said, “It started as a small shop many years ago, with me the potter; 41 years of accumulation, and this is what I got.”

Still smokey. We made the short drive from PortA to PortT – Port Townsend – under mostly electrical power, getting a shade over 100 miles per gallon.

We found a hidden spot, Sirens, with a welcoming deck with a view of the Salish Sea, as they call this corner of Puget Sound.

<p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Down...

Down at the Marina end of Main Street, the block of cute little cabins we have stayed in during our last two visits have upscaled themselves dramatically ...but they're still cute little 16 foot square cabins with fireplaces.

Across the street from the cute cabins, a new barn structure houses the Northwest School of Wooden Boat Building, where one can rent space and use of all the needed tools to build or repair your wooden boat. Next door, a ships chandlery with an amazing (and amazingly pricey) selection of wooden blocks (as in 'block and tackle').

Back up the stairs to the 'real' Port Townsend, where we are very happy in our second floor apartment four blocks above town in The People's House, with its cheery yellow color scheme and, for the sixth accommodation on the trip, the bed with its head to the East. Have they gotten the memo at last?

Lots of steps! A brief rest, and then off to Wednesday Farmers Market where we replenished our salad fixings, got some local cheese, and checked in with the Kombucha couple.

Not a huge market, and very much northern, with a shorter growing season, but warmer here in the 'banana belt' of the Hood Canal. We got here two hours after it started, and it seemed uncrowded. There's also a Saturday Market here, as well as a Sunday Market in Chimicum ... and there's Hamlet in the Park on weekends, a candlelight concert in the Methodist Church tomorrow night, and, our hostess informs, the loveliest old-fashioned movie theater imaginable downtown. Too many restaurant choices, too.

So we made a big Farmers Market salad and drank a beautiful local cider, and stayed in. More adventures in Port Townsend tomorrow.