Port Townsend, WA 31 August 2019

After a visit to Sharon's miniature conifer garden and Mona's Challah French Toast, we headed out, but on the way to the Silverton Saturday Market (disappointing; the Pasta people weren't there, nor was the blackberry jam lady) we discovered that we had a flat tire. Chuck sent us over to Les Schwab's...

...where it was promptly fixed ...for free!

But we lost enough time on this, a 270 mile day, that we elected to tough it out on I-5. Amazing this: three lanes of traffic, nobody traveling less than 10 miles an hour over the speed limit (at times ...and then inexplicably slowing down to 61 or even less, and then speeding right back up again. I am so grateful for our car's adaptive cruise control!)

Something like 170 miles of madness, mostly through uninterrupted strip malls ... but it was fast!

However, at long last, multi-lanes yielded to a twisty Highway 101 along the western short of the Hood Canal ... tree-covered slopes, sailboats out on the water, oyster beds in evidence along the shore ... must be time for lunch!

Simple fare at a place with impaired ambiance (Tides Family Restaurant) but the hand-breaded fried oysters were great and the onion rings were possibly the best I've ever had. A nice hard cider from Corvallis, and we were relaxed enough to travel onward.

On our left, the sudden uplifts of the Southern Olympic Mountains completely covered with thick forest, and dotted with access points for trekkers.

Our poor Nav system finds the Northwest confusing, and so for the second time today she quibbled with our choice of route ...but we had a paper map, and outvoted her. Just about 4:45 we rolled to a stop beside our familiar People's House lodging in Port Townsend. "Better get down the hill if we want to eat at the Fountain Cafe!" so we did, and barely got seated on a busy Saturday night.

The Fountain Cafe is a little place (maybe 26 seats plus 2 at the bar) with big food. Rochelle ordered a house salad and crab cakes; I got a duck salad. The duck salad was the winner. We weren't quite as knocked out by this place as we were on our last visit, but it was still a delicious meal.

Somehow they do all this excellence in a postage stamp kitchen. The place is so small that the waiters can be attentive, and it was amusing to watch them gearing up for the rush that was just beginning to hit as we were finishing our dinner. We brought home a flourless chocolate torte that is sitting beside me invitingly ...but I am still really full from today's feeding.

A postprandial ramble down the tourist main street, planning tomorrow's expedition, and then back up the Fountain Steps to our uptown pied à terre. All that I-5ing made this a tiring day.

Good night.

Here's the link to our 2018 visit