It’s been a tough couple of weeks for me out here. I spent all of last week in Charleston, West Virginia saying goodbye to my dad and trying my best to sort out his affairs. While he had many health problems over the last few years, his death still came as a surprise. It wasn’t something I was ready for at all. While my dad and I were not super close, I will still miss talking with him and visiting with him. I hope he is in a better place and I’m glad he is no longer suffering from any pain or discomfort. My brother flew in for a few days and we were able to spend time with Judy, my dad’s partner of 33 years, and their two Japanese chins Jake and Charlie. I was also really thankful to have a friend passing through Charleston while I was there who took me out to dinner and helped me talk through a lot of my pain. I had another friend drive out from D.C. for my dad’s memorial service which was really something. I’m very blessed to have so many good friends in this life. Since I last wrote, I also turned 50, a milestone birthday which snuck up on me with everything that was going on. I’m glad I didn’t have any exciting plans for it as they probably would have fallen through. Anyways, I am back in Washington State and I am writing to you today from Bellingham in the far north of the state. I’m still sorting out a lot of things in my head, but I wanted to write about my time leading up to my flight to WV because it will be good for me to write.
It’s with a heavy heart that I am writing this week as my dad passed away in his sleep this past Monday night. I’ll be in West Virginia for a while helping lay him to rest and say my goodbyes. My dad was a good guy with a big smile and a big heart. There’s a lot of him in me. I’ll write more when I can, but this site will be quiet for a while as I mourn his loss, but have no doubt I will be back on the road soon.
-Mike
The area that is now Port Angeles was first occupied by the Klallam and Makah people who thrived with the abundance of natural resources the region provided. In 1774, Juan Perez sailed into the straight and in 1791 Francisco Eliza claimed the area for Spain and named it El Puerto de Nuestra Senora de Los Angeles which would later be anglicized and shortened to Port Angeles. White American settlers arrived in the area in the mid-19th century, and a man named Victor Smith came to town soon thereafter. Smith would have Port Angeles named the official U.S. Customs House and Port of Entry and convinced President Lincoln to support making the town a National Reserve. A lighthouse was built and the Army Corps of Engineers laid out a townsite. Since this made Port Angeles only the second federally planned city in the country after my hometown of Washington D.C. the town was dubbed the “Second National City". When Victor Smith died in 1865, the Port of Entry was moved back to Port Townsend and Port Angeles was all but abandoned. This changed in the 1880s when the railroad arrived and settlers soon chugged into town with it. Like so many other towns in the region, logging soon became Port Angeles’ main industry and the town even claimed the largest sawmill in the world for a bit. The natural deep water harbor has made Port Angeles a major port for both military and civilian ships over the years as well. Port Angeles is the site of the main visitor center for Olympic National Park and is also the hometown of NFL football legend John Elway.
I’ve been to Port Angeles a few times and I always get the same feeling when I’m there: it’s a town that keeps trying and I give it a lot of credit for that. The downtown area’s storefronts are full and there are several nice restaurants and bars to be found. There’s a great bookstore and a fantastic independent outdoor gear store. Port Angeles has supported a lot of cool public art displays and beautiful murals which really liven up the main downtown area. It’s also a great place to do some whale watching. I really like Port Angeles and I was happy to be able to spend some time there taking these photos. I hope you enjoy this little peak into the Olympic Peninsula’s City of Angels.
Hello Everyone! If you’re reading this post in my weekly newsletter, I apologize for not getting it out on Thursday this week, but I’ve been busy catching up with old friends in the greater Seattle area. Spending time with some familiar faces has definitely lifted my spirits and recharged my batteries a bit and I’m grateful to them for making time for me in their busy schedules. I have been enjoying their company so much that I went all week without even opening my computer. But it’s Thursday today and I hope to finish this up today and send it out by tomorrow. I doubt anyone out there sets their clock by my newsletter’s arrival, but if you are used to getting it on Thursday - surprise, it is Friday and the weekend is here. This last week brought me from Centralia through Tacoma and on up into the Kitsap Peninsula where I saw some cool navy boats and spent some time with the Suquamish people. Then I headed down to Bainbridge Island and hopped the ferry to Seattle, where I have been since. I’ve spent a fair bit of time in Seattle in my life, so most of my time here has just been catching up with people, but it has still been an excellent stay. Let me go ahead and jump into what I’ve been up to this week.
When I left you last week, I was on my way towards Tacoma from the old logging community of Centralia, WA. On the way I stopped off in tiny Tumwater for a quick visit to the Historical Park there. I’ve driven by this park for years and was glad I finally stopped in to check it out. The huge brick building visible from the highway is the old Olympia Brewery, now sadly in ruins and falling apart. This brewery was actually shut down by prohibition and the building was sold, so when Olympia restarted brewing beer in 1933 it was in a different building just up the road. The old brewmaster’s house is right up the hill from the old brewery and has been lovingly restored by the community. Just across the street is the old Crosby House which was once lived in by early Tumwater settler Nathaniel Crosby III who also happened to be the grandfather of performer Bing Crosby. Also in the park is the old Tumwater Falls and a very cool salmon ladder which helps the salmon on their upriver journey. It was absolutely packed with salmon during my visit which was cool to see.
From there I headed on into Tacoma and found a spot to park in the Theatre District…
Breathtaking beaches, glacier covered mountains and incredible temperate rainforests all wrapped up in one amazing National Park? You must be talking about Olympic. Designates as Mount Olympus National Monument by Theodore Roosevelt, the area officially became Olympic National Park in 1938. Covering a massive 1442 square miles, the National Park covers most of Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. 95% of the park is designated wilderness, meaning you’re going to have to hike in if you want to really see it.
I have been to Olympic before, but really just to catch the highlights at the Hoh Rainforest, Second Beach, Crescent Lake and Marymere Falls. On this trip I spent almost two weeks in the area and saw so much more of what the park had to offer. I did a four day, three night backpacking trip up the Hoh River Trail to Glacier Meadows and then a three day, two night hike around the High Divide/Seven Lakes Basin Loop, both of which were spectacular. I also visited the Quilault Rainforest, Ruby Beach, and Sol Duc Falls while I was there and stopped into the beautiful park lodges at Quinault Lake and Crescent Lake. The highlight for me was definitely the namesake Mount Olympus, but the quiet nights, the sound of water and the incredible wildlife also made me happy. I hope you enjoy these photos of the magical region of Olympic National Park.
Hello Everybody! It’s hard to believe it’s October already. The leaves are definitely turning here in Washington State and the stores are filled with skeletons and pumpkins. It’s definitely starting to cool down and the days are getting noticeably shorter. This week has brought me from the heart of spectacular Olympic National Park to the state capital of Olympia with a couple of cool small towns sandwiched in between. I put in another 20 miles on the trail this week which I’m pretty proud of and finally got my views of Mount Olympus. After a couple of weeks of small towns and national park, it was nice to return to the city, although Olympia is hardly a thriving metropolis. I finished off my week with a night off the road in the classic Olympic Club hotel in Centralia. All in all, it’s been another great week on the road and I can’t wait to tell you all about it…
Long Beach, Washington is a wonderful little seaside town in the far southwest corner of the state. This area was originally home to Chinook Indians who later traded with European ships as they made their way up and down the coast. William Clark visited these beaches at the end of his Corps of Discovery’s overland voyage to the Pacific. White settlers started to arrive not long after the Civil War, originally coming to harvest the plentiful local oysters to ship to San Francisco. In the mid 1870s, steamships started bringing in tourists from nearby Portland and hotels and restaurants started to spring up. Long Beach has been a vacation destination ever since.
I absolutely loved my time in Long Beach. The beach itself is beautiful and the sunsets were magnificent. I really liked Dylan’s Cottage Bakery which is one of the best I’ve been to in a long time. I had a wonderful dinner at Castaways, drinks at the Long Beach Tavern and ice cream at Scoopers. The Marsh Free Museum is a wonderful old collection of oddities set around a modern souvenir shop. But mostly I loved the statues and public art, colorful buildings, hand-painted signs and the general laid back feel of the town. The attention to detail is amazing and even the parking signs and bike racks are adorable. I had a fantastic time in Long Beach and can’t wait to go back again. If you ever get the chance, you should definitely pop in. You may end up staying longer than you thought you would. I hope you enjoy these photos from beautiful Long Beach, Washington.
Hello Everyone.
I hope you are all having a wonderful September out there. September and October are probably my favorite months of the year, with fall colors and moderate temperatures and when the days are still long enough to get a lot out of. I’ve spent all of this past week since my last newsletter in and around Olympic National Park. I’m headed back into the backcountry tomorrow, so I wanted to get this post done before I take off down the trail. It’s been a spectacular week in the scenery department and I will definitely have plenty of photo editing to do next week, but I’ll give you a preview of those photos along with this post.
When I wrote last week, I was on my way into Olympic and made my first stop at Lake Quinault on the southern end of the park. I enjoyed a couple of lovely short hikes in the rainforest there and a delicious dinner at the Lake Quinault Lodge. The lodge is a classic old park lodge designed by the same architect who did the Inn at Old Faithful in Yellowstone, and while I couldn’t afford to stay there, I could definitely afford dinner and a beer on the veranda. I had a lovely filet of King Salmon in the Roosevelt Dining Room and after the sun went down I sat reading my book by the fire until it was time to fade out into the night.
The following day I headed around the lake to the Wilderness Information Center to chat with the ranger there about my upcoming hikes and to have them print out my backcountry permits for me. They were great and very helpful and had a lovely ranger station in a field in the rainforest. I took a short stroll out to the old Kestler Homestead site nearby before making my way back to the highway and north to the Kalaloch campground along the coast. There I was able to get my backpacking gear out from where I store it under my bed, blow off the dust from not using it for a few years and get it packed and ready for the morning. The only issue I faced was the need to pack a warmer and bulkier sleeping bag than I would have liked which took up a lot of space in my backpack, but it was needed and definitely appreciated during the cold nights on the trail…
White Salmon is a cute little town up on the hill on the Washington side of the Columbia River Gorge. The area was historically Klickitat territory and was first settled by the Joslyn family in 1852. Cattle farming, timber, salmon fishing and wheat were the early industries in White Salmon, and later fruit farming and tourism would add to the economy. Today, the population rests right around 2500 people. It was the white salmon crosswalks that drew me in and the cute businesses and signs that kept me there. I wasn’t in White Salmon for long, but I really enjoyed my time there and I hope you enjoy this small handful of shots from the town ‘Where the Sun Meets the Rain”.
Hello Everyone! This newsletter is going to be a short one this week as I am going to be out in the wilderness of Olympic National Park for several days and away from my computer. I hope it’s a wonderful adventure out there, but I don’t want to forget about what I’ve been up to this week so I thought I’d just go ahead and get this done before I head out.
When I left you guys last week, I was on my way to tiny South Bend, Washington on the Willapa River. South Bend is a cute little town with a couple of oyster farms and a nice brewery and I availed myself of both while I was there. When I got to town, I popped into a tiny little hole-in-the-wall spot called the Chester Club for a cold beer and some oysters. If I stumbled into this place in Nebraska or Vegas I would order anything but oysters, but with the oyster fleet in view out the window and the World’s Largest Oyster just a block away, I knew they had to be good. And they were – probably some of the best fried oysters I’ve ever had. With my belly very happy, I moved up the road to the Willapa Brewing Company which is a part of one of my travel resources, Harvest Hosts, which hooks travelers up with businesses for overnight stays. I get a spot in their parking lot for the night and in return I buy a few beers. It works out well for everyone. It was a busy night there as the road crew who is doing construction on the highway was having a party, but it was fun to be there and enjoy some of their tasty brews.
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest, and also the most important. It has always served as a trade route from the interior to the coast from the time American Indians paddled their dugout canoes up and down the river to the tall ships of the fur trade to modern trade ships of today. It also has several major dams which provide much needed power to the region and the river also serves as the border between Washington State and Oregon. The incredible waterfalls on the Oregon side bring in tourists by the thousands, but the small towns of the Washington side are friendlier and more livable. It gets hot out there, and it got too hot for me to stay too long and I ended up cutting my visit a little bit shorter than I would have liked, but I still had a great time out there. I hope you enjoy these photos from the beautiful Columbia River Gorge…
fell hard for Astoria during my stay in this classic Oregon town. I would say most people of my generation have seen the movie The Goonies, which is both set in and filmed in Astoria. It’s definitely one of my favorite childhood movies so I came here already having warm feelings towards the place, but it did not disappoint. There were surprises around every corner and even after a few days in town, I felt like there was still much more to be discovered.
Astoria was founded in 1811 at the mouth of the Columbia River just six years after Lewis and Clark cruised down the Columbia to the Pacific Ocean on their transcontinental adventure. That makes Astoria the oldest American city on the west coast. Originally Fort Astor, it was built by the American Fur Company to exploit the local fur resources of the region and named after the company’s founder John Jacob Astor. The fort would later be sold to Canada’s Northwest Fur Company and be renamed Fort George. The region would fall under joint American and British rule after the Treaty of 1818 but would eventually become a fully American town after the Oregon Treaty of 1846. With the decline in the fur trade, fishing would become the town’s major industry and the local canneries were humming 24 hours a day. The need for workers brought in many immigrants, notably from Scandinavia, China, Hawaii and the Punjab region of India. Fishing is still a major industry in Astoria today, but not like it once was. Tourism has played a big role in the local economy, and increased dramatically after The Goonies was released in 1985. Forty years later, there is still a steady parade of tourists making a pilgrimage up to see The Goondocks on the hill in Uppertown.
I loved all of the historic buildings, signs and businesses as I strolled the streets of Astoria. The history museum was wonderful and kept me occupied for several hours and the Flavel Mansion is a lovingly restored Victorian mansion and a real local treasure. Dead Man’s Isle tiki bar was a particular favorite while I was there, but I also really enjoyed the crowd at the Chart Room and Fort George Brewery. Blue Scorcher Bakery makes some delicious baked goods and definitely don’t miss the amazing tuna fish and chips at The Bowpicker which is cooked on an old boat and has a line whenever it’s open - it’s worth the wait. Astoria felt like a town that has a plan and works to implement it and the local identity is a strong one. It’s location near the coast and its proximity to Portland bring in a steady stream of tourists and keeps the town bustling throughout the year. This was my first time in Astoria, but it definitely won’t be my last. I hope you enjoy these photos from the amazing little city of Astoria.
