Category: Day Trip

The Eisenbeis Cracker Factory

The historic Eisenbeis Cracker Factory was part of the downtown walking tour offered by the Port Townsend Victorian Heritage Festival on Sunday. It was built by Prussian baker Charles Eisenbeis, the city’s first mayor, in 1888. The factory specialized in provisions for ocean-bound shipping: hardtack, ship’s bread, and biscuits.

The present day Cracker Factory has come a long way since its industrial beginnings. Presently for sale, it is described as “newly envisioned” by its artist and contractor owners. The steel oven from the factory remains but the building has been extensively remodeled. The white walls they found inside the building turned out to be not painted but coated with flour from its years as a bakery.

Charles Eisenbeis was quite a successful businessman. He built a number of buildings in Port Townsend and one of his descendents, Fred Eisenbeis, operated a grocery store in what later became known as the Elks Building. It’s not as clear as the First National Bank portion of the ghost signs above but you can see reference to both the Cracker Factory and the Grocery Store in the top ghost sign.

Victorian Festival, Port Townsend

Last weekend was the annual Victorian Festival in Port Townsend which celebrates Port Townsend’s heyday of the 1890s. There is a focus on Victorian era clothing – many residents don period-appropriate threads – and a variety of events. This year there was a bare-knuckle fight exhibition and a gattling gun demonstration. This funeral carriage was on display Saturday and a costumed passerby volunteered to honor its history. On Sunday we took a tour of a number of historic downtown buildings. I’ll show you some of what we saw in the next few days.

Our Superbowl Sunday

My college buddy David coaches his son’s basketball team in Tacoma. This season he had to take a time out for health reasons, but the team still attended the 2013 Special Olympics Basketball Tournament in Bremerton last Sunday. Burtt, his son, is in action in the back here. He’s the one with the headband.

I’m not a great sports fan, but I love the Special Olympics. Even if they don’t take home medals everyone wins. Our team didn’t make it into playoff rounds, but it wasn’t for lack of effort by David’s replacement coach. She did a great job encouraging players and keeping them on track as the athletes stayed steady and tough in the face of stiff competition.

Royal mail

I was taken with this mail drop at the Empress Hotel when we were in Victoria last month. Beyond its polish, it was a surprise to see actual brass in use for an everyday utility like this.

Two of my very first jobs – in downtown San Francisco – were in an old office building that, in those days, still had old wood wainscotting and I think there was ample marble used in floor tiling and the restrooms. There was a mail drop on every floor, a slot into a tube that went all the way down to the lobby. And if I’m not mistaken the mail landed in a drop in the lobby with a proud looking brass front. I haven’t worked in a big city in decades. Do high rises have anything like this anymore, a mailbox with a fancy brass presence?

Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr. today on a day that celebrates his legacy. The longer I live the greater my respect for the bravery of those who’ve fought for human and civil rights through history.

What I wanted. . .what I had

We often stop at Murchie’s on Government Street in Victoria. It’s an unassuming bakery – tea shop – cafe that suits us fine when we’re ready to take a break. The cakes above were some of the treats on offer. . .what I wanted.

Here’s what we had, French macaroons and coffee, just what you’d expect to have in a Canadian tea shop. It didn’t disappoint.

Three French hens

Butchart Gardens makes the best of the winter season by swapping flower blossoms for twinkling nighttime lighting for. There’s an ice skating rink for the agile or brave. And as visitors walk through the gardens there are lit displays illustrating the twelve days of Christmas. My favorite – and the only one close enough for my pocket camera to capture – was the “three French hens,” vignette shown above. That’s a miniature Eiffel Tower in the background, and on the plate? A croissant, of course!

The rendering of “four calling birds” included a parrot with a cell phone.

The gardens are spectacular, beautifully lit with lights that convey motion, magic, and color.