Here is a perfect example of camping enhancing life—beds and showers never feel as great as the first night in off of the trail, and we were only out 5 nights. Imagine how great they must be to a thru-hiker.
We just had coffee and yogurt at the hotel before returning our bear canisters to the NP. I don’t want to brag about our generosity, but we let them keep the $2 deposit (each!). Maybe the next time we come back they will have a backcountry camp named in our honor.
The yogurt just didn’t quell our hiker appetite so we headed to downtown Port Angeles where we saw people carrying very colorful boxes with satisfied smiles on their faces. We enquired as to their smiles and they directed us to Cock-a-Doodle Doughnuts. A dozen doughnuts later (bacon caramel long john, lemon filled, banana chocolate chip fritter, peach fritter, apple fritter, chocolate with raspberry cream, etc.) we had a nice sugar buzz and wanted to spend some money. We headed to Brown’s Outdoor to replace our missing pack covers. While inside, we started talking to an old guy who was very knowledgeable of Olympic National Park. This turned out to be the elder Mr. Brown whose grandfather started the store eons ago. Now his kids and grandkids were running the show as he was trying to retire but he loves what he has spent his life doing. We ended up spending a few hundred bucks and talking to Mr. Brown for over an hour. Everyone should frequent this family business if you’re ever in Washington (or use the internet if you don’t make it out there). What a great family!
All we’ve done already today and it’s still not even lunch time. What are we going to do with an entire extra unplanned day in a region of the country where we are not even the slightest bit familiar with the variety of grapes that are grown—investigate! Our first stop was Harbinger’s Winery. The tasting experience here was unlike any other we have ever had. You just go in and get a table or couch or barstool or stand and they bring you a glass then they start running bottles out and give you very generous pours. Does this friendliness work? We’ll let you know after we get done drinking the case of wine we had shipped home. We started talking to a couple of nurses out from Seattle. One of them was a type 1 diabetic so Pam started shop talk.
That was a great experience and the nurses recommended a few other wineries to try. Being compliant people, we checked them out. We ended up at Comraderie Winery where we ended up splitting a bottle with a couple and his mother from Vegas. We really liked the Washington reds. Also, another case shipped home. We couldn’t keep this pace of spending up so we changed lanes and went to Sequim, WA, the lavender capital of the world and reason we had such a hard time finding a room last weekend because of their lavender festival. It was late afternoon by the time we made it to Sequim so most places were closing or closed for the season. We found one lavender farm/shop open and Pam got a bunch of gifts for Christmas.
The nurses also suggested we head out to Port Townsend and spend the night. Port Townsend is a quaint little Victorian town but it was getting late. We tried to find a place to stay but there wasn’t anything available. Consequently, we drove on to Kingston where we would catch the ferry in the morning and hopefully get something there.
We got a hotel just down from the ferry landing so we were all set. We decided to walk down towards the landing and found a nice restaurant for supper and ordered a bottle of wine. One bottle turned into two and the waitress started talking to us more. She told us that Saturday night is Karaoke night and that we should stay. We kept our dinner tab open and decided to stick around a bit. I normally say there isn’t enough alcohol in a state to get me to sing Karaoke. Another 4 bottles later and I’m contemplating what song I could sing (a very optimistic outlook considering I could barely stand or talk, but in my mind’s eye, I was feeling very Sinatra-ish). We were just one bottle shy of me singing. Unfortunately, the bar closed but at least now we know how much alcohol it takes to get me to sing Karaoke—7 shared bottles.
Needless to say, Sunday was painful and not the way you want to end a trip. We took the ferry to Seattle and drove by the Space Needle but just couldn’t bear the thought of a ride up the elevator. Since we were this close, we should go to REI. We drove into the garage but decided to not get out. We then tried going to the arboretum thinking the walk might help us some. We got out of the car and Pam opened the back door (I thought to get a jacket). She crawled in and laid down and told me to go on without her. I walked almost the length of the parking lot before I decided she had the right idea.
In the end, we got a cheap motel by the airport and delivery pizza to sleep off what was left of last night. It turned out, even getting done a day early with the trail, we still only had one free day after our hike.