Winthrop is a great little Old West themed town on the east side of the North Cascade Mountains. The area was originally inhabited by the Methow People who made seasonal hunting and fishing camps along the Methow and Chewuch Rivers. In 1891, a man named Guy Waring, who had been a Harvard classmate of Theodore Roosevelt, made a homesteading claim at the confluence of the two rivers and established a trading post. As a town grew up around Waring’s store, they chose the name Winthrop after Major Theodore Woolsey Winthrop who had traveled extensively in Washington (and elsewhere) and was one of the first Union officers killed in the Civil War. Guy Waring irrigated the town, built a sawmill, started a cattle ranch and an apple farm and ran the Duck Brand Saloon in town (now Town Hall) before returning to the east in 1917. Winthrop carried on without him. The town was an early adapter to tourism with several dude ranches opening in the 1930s. When the road through the North Cascades was finally ready to open in 1972, the people of Winthrop adopted a plan to beautify the downtown area with an Old West theme. The result is a fun town that you have to simply have to stop and wander through. I had been to Winthrop before, several years ago, and was looking forward to checking it out again on this trip through. I love the architecture in Winthrop, especially the glistening white Farmers State Bank and the Old Schoolhouse Brewery. The Shafer Museum is also excellent and is mostly outdoors so it is accessible even outside of their business hours. I really enjoyed my stay in Winthrop and the cloudy skies helped portray how chilly it was there in late fall. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful downtown Winthrop, Washington’s Old West town.
The San Juan Islands are a beautiful archipelago located off the coast of Washington State in the far northwest of the country. Originally home to different bands of the Coast Salish people, the islands were named by Spanish explorer Francisco de Eliza in 1791. After the Oregon Treaty of 1846 established the border between the United States and British Canada at the 49th Parallel, ownership of the San Juans came under dispute. Forts were established on both sides of San Juan Island and when an American soldier shot a British pig, the 12 year Pig War began. This was a bloodless war (except for the pig), and soldiers from both sides were frequently found socializing in the opposing fort. Athletic competitions were held between the two. Finally, in 1871, Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany stepped in and proclaimed that the Haro Straight would be the border between the countries, leaving Vancouver Island in British hands and the San Juans with America. I enjoyed my visit to three of the San Juan Islands on this trip - San Jan Island itself, Orcas Islands and tiny Lopez Island. I hope you enjoy these photos from the beautiful San Juan Islands of Washington.
Hello Everyone,
It’s always good to be home. Home is definitely sweeter when you come in off the road, especially when it’s cold and dark out there. December is a great month to be in Washington D.C. and I’m really looking forward to a few weeks of rest before getting back out there at the end of the month. I have plenty to do while I’m home as I need to sort out my dad’s estate, work at my uncle’s house and help my folks out with a number of things, but I’m also looking forward to holiday shows, playing music with my friends and quiet nights by the fire. I’m not going to lie, 2025 was an incredibly difficult year for me and I’m very much looking forward to putting it behind me. 2026 is going to be better. It should be a very busy year and I am looking forward to it very much, so I hope to be well rested by the time it kicks off. I did have a nice week in Eastern Oregon and Boise, though and I want to tell you all about it, so let’s jump into it.
Happy Thanksgiving to all of my friends here in the United States. I hope you get to spend the day with friends and family, good food and cheer. To those of you who will be spending the holiday alone, as I will be this year, I hope you can have a quiet and peaceful day and find a good meal somewhere. I have officially left the state of Washington and returned south to Oregon. My last few days in Southeast Washington were excellent and I was sad to see it fade away in my rearview mirror. I was there for over two months, though, and saw most of what I had hoped to see and it is wonderful to be back in The Beaver State. It’s a little bit warmer and a little bit less expensive here and I’m looking forward to this coming week here before I fly back to the east coast for the holidays. I have a lot of photos left to edit and publish from Washington and I’m looking forward to catching up on those in December and starting fresh and up to date in 2026.
Coupeville is an adorable little waterfront town on the shores of Penn Cove on Whidbey Island. The architecture reminds me of a quaint little New England town and is very well preserved. Originally Lower Skagit Indian land, the area was settled in the 1850s by Thomas Coupe, for whom the town is named. Coupeville is a small town with a population of right around 2000 people. It’s also home to Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve, the first site of its kind in the country which preserves the old buildings and countryside of the 19th century settlers. I had a great visit to Coupeville, enjoying coffee on the pier and wonderful views out over the water. There are some lovely little Victorian buildings around including the immaculate Anchorage Inn and Kineth House. I loved all of the seasonal and Halloween decorations that were up when I visited as well. The highlight of my visit was probably the fish and chips at Toby’s, though. You can get fish and chips everywhere in Washington, but these were the best I’ve had in a very long time. You should definitely check it out if you visit. I hope you enjoy these photos of tiny Coupeville, Whidbey Island’s waterfront gem.
It’s been an interesting week out here in the “Inland Empire” of Washington State. The week started out in deserted ghost towns of the far northeast of the state, took me to the big city of Spokane, led me just across the border into Idaho for a night and finally back towards the center of the state and the enormous Grand Coulee Dam. I’ve passed through a lot of ranch country this week and a handful of railroad-and-grain-elevator towns similar to those found all across the heartland of the country. I caught a lot of live music this week, ate one too many burgers and somehow managed to dodge most of the raindrops in the area. All in all, I’d say it’s been a good week.
Most states have at least one town with a European theme and if you’ve been following this blog for a while, you've seen that they are too rich in photography opportunities to pass up. Which is the point. Poulsbo, a small town of just over 11,000 residents, is a beautiful example of how to do this well and judging by the number of tourists I saw there during my stay, it’s working well for them.
This area was originally inhabited by the Suquamish people who currently live on a reservation just down the road. After the Treaty of Point Elliott was signed in 1855 moving American Indians in Washington onto reservations, the vacated land was open to settlement. Norwegian immigrant Jørgen Eliason founded the townsite in 1880 and was soon joined there by other Scandinavians who appreciated the landscape and location on what’s now called Liberty Bay. When the town grew to a size that it needed a post office, one citizen recommended “Paulsbo” after his Norwegian hometown. The authorities in Washington DC misread the handwriting on the petition and the town would forever after be known as Poulsbo instead. Norwegian was the primary language spoken in the town until World War II when the town experienced an influx of GIs who came to work at the nearby Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.
I had a fantastic time in Poulsbo. I was thrilled to find some great Oktoberfest beers on tap and delicious European comfort food at Tizley’s Europub. I enjoyed another great fest beer while sitting next to a lovely outdoor fire pit at Valholl Brewery, and live music at The Brass Kraken finished off the night. The next morning I had a delicious pastry from Sluy’s Bakery and then sat down to all-you-can-eat pancakes at the Sons of Norway Hall. In between all of that fun, I managed to take some great photos, especially around dusk when the water was still and amazingly reflective. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Poulsbo, Kitsap County’s Little Norway.
I came to Centralia to enjoy a night in the storied Olympic Club - a century old private men’s club turned hotel and bar. The beautiful, old mahogany bar, enormous woodstove, leaded glass fixtures and spacious pool room were all I imagined them to be and more and I definitely recommend a visit. But there was more to Centralia than the club. I found some great neon signs, a cool old theater, some colorful businesses, friendly locals and one of the prettiest tower clocks I’ve ever seen (so pretty I included day and nighttime photos below!).
This area was originally home to the Upper Chehalis people and settlers started arriving down the Oregon Trail in the mid 19th century. One of the original non-native settlers was a free Black man named George Washington who arrived in 1850 with his adoptive parents. Washington is remembered as the founder of Centralia and in 2023 his birthday was officially designated as Centralia’s Founder’s Day. When a road was built, it became the central stopping point on the stagecoach route between Tacoma and Kalama. When the Northern Pacific Railway came through in 1872, a town started to take shape and chose the name Centerville to denote its central location. A few years later, the townspeople worried they would be confused with another Washington town of the same name, so they changed their name to Centralia. It’s had its ups and downs since, but Centralia is still hanging on. Trains still come through town and it’s still a halfway stopping point, but now between Portland and Seattle. If you’re ever passing through on Interstate 5, stop through Centralia for a beer at the Olympic Club and stay for some classic Americana in Hub City. Enjoy these photos from beautiful Centralia, WA.
I have made it across the mountains and into Eastern Washington and it feels like I’ve landed in another country. While the west of the state is covered in evergreens, this side has a lot more deciduous trees and they are popping with fall colors at the moment. The towns are few and far between and the landscape is more wild west than coastal. I’m liking the change of pace and scenery. Daylight Saving Time has ended and it’s getting dark before 5pm which is always a challenge, but I’m happy it is light earlier and I’m not waking up in the dark. And I turned 50 this past week which I’m actually pretty okay with. It’s hard to believe in some respects, but I feel like I’ve lived several lifetimes in the last half century which is a good way to be. It hasn’t been a super-busy week, but let’s get into what I’ve been doing since I wrote last.
A Victorian waterfront town in a far-flung corner of America? You don’t have to tell me twice! Port Townsend is a magical place in the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula in the far north of Washington State. The bay on which the town sits was named “Port Townshend Bay” by George Vancouver way back in 1792. From the beginning it was recognized as a good, safe harbor and a town site was inevitable. Founded by Americans in 1851, it was the traditional homeland of no fewer than five American Indian bands. In the late 19th century, Port Townsend was called The City of Dreams and people imagined it would be the major port city to serve the Northwest United States. Grand buildings and homes were built in the Victorian style of the time and a magnificent county courthouse was erected to show the strength and stability of the town. Sadly an economic downturn caused the expected railroad links to stop far short of Port Townsend, choosing to end their cross country lines in Tacoma, Seattle and Tumwater instead. This was a huge blow to Port Townsend and one they would never really recover from. The construction of the U.S. Army base at Fort Worden around the turn of the century would keep the town afloat though and eventually people would recognize the beauty of Port Townsend. The town experienced a renewal of interest in the 1970s and many of the old buildings have been lovingly restored . Today it is a major tourism destination and has a busy ferry port as well. I really loved my stay in Port Townsend, especially exploring the downtown area and the fort (now a state park). I had a fantastic seafood feast at Sea J’s Café on the waterfront and the beers at Propolis Brewing were on a different level than most breweries. It’s a really cool town and one you should definitely put on your itinerary. Port Townsend is definitely the Crown Jewel of the Olympic Peninsula.
