Saturday, 9 July, touring Port Townsend, WA

The weather looked pretty good when we got up this morning.  Supposedly it is going to clear up and be sunny again for a couple days.  We'll see.
When we came back for our bike ride yesterday the park was pretty full.  Right next door do us is a Solera by Forest River.  It is a cab-over Class C probably only 24' it's pulling a trailer with a smart car on it.  They also have an SUV with them. It's a pretty lively group with 6 adults and a child of about 10 years old.  I would love to see how they all fit in there to sleep last night.  They all piled into the SUV this morning and took off around 7:30.  Almost immediately after they left an alarm started going off in their rig.  
We drank our coffee and I worked on the blog with great frustration.  Since we do not have very good internet service here I cannot get the pictures to transfer over from our phones onto my computer.  It is driving me crazy.  They have transferred onto my iPad, but I cannot post them from my iPad onto the blog.  ERRRg. So, I'm writing the blog so I don't forget and will have to come back later to insert the pictures.  That is why I am not posting daily.
I fixed bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Yum!  We don't have that very often.  Afterward we got dressed and headed off to Port Townsend.  It is only about 20 miles away, on the other side of Sequim Bay.  
We got there at about 10:30 and went directly to a Farmer's Market. It was really nice and a good size.  They had some really lovely produce plus cheese, lavender products (of course) coffee, teas, some crafts, and food. 

They had a booth with Salmon or Brisket sandwiches, and one with Nuremberg Bratwurst. Plus, they had a couple with really yummy pastries.  We bought some produce and a couple pastries, stashed them in the car and then went for a walk-about.  
The Farmer's Market is located in what is called Historical Uptown.  Back in the 1800s Port Townsend was shipping town.  Down at the waterfront were all the ship/dock workers, and all the real rowdy people.  Soon, the high society peeps wanted to get away from them and built all their ritzy homes up on the bluffs looking down on the water front and down their noses at all the Rowdies.  





The beautiful homes remain today, most have been restored and are still occupied by various residents.  Some have been turned into historical sites. 

One thing about it being so rainy and wet here is that there are amazing gardens here.

We walked a marked trail through the neighborhood that told us what all the buildings were and are.  

The old bell tower is still there.  It was used to call the volunteer firemen.  










While we were standing near the old Bell Tower, looking down on the waterfront,

 a fawn came running up like it thought we were going to feed it.  It was really close. 
 Bella really wanted to get close and at one point their noses were only a couple feet apart.  
There are a couple old churches, 

and just really cool looking houses with interesting, decorative trims.

We finished the tour a bit after noon which was perfect for going back to the Farmer's market for sandwiches.  Rob got a Salmon sandwich and I got a bratwurst.  Yum yum. 

 After eating we went to Fort Worden.  It is really pretty.  
It is where they filmed "An Officer and a Gentleman".  

We recognized it at soon as we saw it.  And as we drove around we kept saying, "Oh, that's where they filmed that, and that's where that was filmed."  It was fun.  It is now a State Park, and the buildings are all kept up.  A couple are being used as museums or visitor center, or Science Center.  The Officer's Quarters are available for rent for a night, weekend, or vacation.  

The old Blimp building was being used while we were there as a concert hall for the Fiddler's Music Festival.  The various fiddlers were staying the the barracks or some were camping in the campgrounds also located there. 

Here is an old picture from when it was a training center.

This is what it looks like now.

 We drove out to Point Wilson Lighthouse, but it was a bit windy and cold, plus we didn't want to pay the $10. parking fee.

From there we drove back to Sequim to check out some Lavender farms.  
Next weekend, July 15-17 is the big Sequim Lavender Weekend.  They are going to have an Art Jam, Charity Golf Tournament, Olympic Driftwood Sculptors, Farmer's Market/Craft faire, Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Show and Wine Tasting.  Also, there will be live music in town and at the various farms and a Street dance Saturday night.  I'm really sad we are going to miss it.  But, we drove out to some of the farms today anyway.  

They are beautiful, and in full bloom.  I did buy some soap and a couple items.  The car smells really good.

From there we went in to Sequim and found The Rose Cellar and I did some wine tasting and then had a glass and Rob had beer.  We shared a really good platter of Baked Brie cheese with fig spread on it, sliced apple and crackers, and later a platter of various cheeses, fruit, olives and crackers.  It was fun.  Not especially attentive tho.
From there we stopped at the grocery store on our way back to the park.
The peeps next door were out visiting.  There were 8 of them. 6 of them piled into the SUV and left leaving only one couple. I guess they are the actual travelers and the others were visiting them?!
We watched a movie.  The Longest Ride, based on the book by Nicholas Sparks.  The movie was "cute" according to Rob, but I hated it because I had read the book which as usual was so much more in depth and better.
We went to bed.