Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
Continuing with yesterday’s lavender theme, here’s the downtown retail outlet for Purple Haze Lavender Farm. It’s a one stop shop for all things lavender. The Purple Haze Lavender Farm is a beautiful spot a few miles east of downtown where 50 varieties of lavender are grown and is well worth a summertime visit.
Here’s a view of a little resting spot nestled into our downtown. Notice the color coordinated purple amenities: bench, trash, and bicycle rack. You’d expect nothing less from a premier lavender growing region.
This is Peeper Squeak, a Swedish blue duck. He hangs out at Sequim’s Museum and Arts Center on Fridays while his person volunteers there. He’s large – almost as big as a Canada goose – and a friendly sort, curious, and full of personality. He submits to wearing costumes around various holidays (there’s a picture of him costumed in the background above). And he likes to hug. Have you ever hugged a duck? Peeper Squeak has an autograph book of people he’s hugged and so far he’s hugged people from 40 U.S. states and counting.
I’d never hugged a duck. Peeper Squeak is the first, and probably the last. Really, how often do you come across hugging ducks?
There’s a best selling book called “The Boys in The Boat” by Daniel James Brown. Here’s a link to a short YouTube video about it. It’s a wonderful book about an improbable group of young men, a crew team from University of Washington, and their quest for gold at the Berlin Olympics in 1936. One of the team, Joe Rantz, came from Sequim (shown in the video and described as a “small dusty town”). Our local Museum and Arts Center (MAC) currently has an exhibit on “The Boys in the Boat,” including a smaller version of their rowing shell and memorabilia contributed by Joe Rantz’s family. The shell, Working Girl, designed and built by George Yeoman Pocock, is shown above.
Pocock revolutionized rowing shells by fitting together two long, single planks rather than multiple narrow strakes, or planks, creating lighter, more streamlined vessels. Working Girl has four positions; the University of Washington Pocock shell had eight.
In addition to the rowing shell, the exhibit includes copies of some of Rantz’s travel documents and high school keepsakes. My favorite personal item was a postcard Rantz sent his father: “Dear Pa, Here is a view of the finish of the race course where the world championship race takes place next week. By the time you get this I’ll either be chump or champ.”
The MAC is a small museum but it’s got a little bit of everything, including art, an exhibit on the local S’Klallam tribe, information about Sequim’s famous mastodon, and more. Tomorrow I’ll tell you about MAC’s Friday duck celebrity.
This mural is in downtown Sequim. I’ve passed it countless times and even after photographing it I have to admit I know nothing about it. (Unless, of course, its title is “Fire Lane” by “No Parking.”) What’s interesting is that the “painter” on the right side is a separate piece, attached to the mural itself.
The new Sequim Civic Center is on the home stretch. Part of the street has been blocked off as a sidewalk is being poured. And the building has much more color than our last look at it in February.
This view from the other end of the building shows some of the new sidewalk. The local newspaper says that an open house is planned sometime next month after completion and before staff moves in to work. I plan to be part of the local “lookie loo” crowd.
Sequim’s historic grain elevator is the tallest structure in town. The base of the structure was built in 1929 as a storage warehouse; the grain elevator was completed in 1945. It operated as the old Clallam Co-Op until 1977. More recently it was home to El Cazador Restaurant which closed a couple of years ago. In 2014 auctions were planned to sell off the foreclosed property and there was talk of the Museum and Arts Center (MAC) acquiring it. Last July there was news of a “pending offer” to purchase it but I’ve seen nothing since.
This view of the elevator on a clear day shows the Cascade Mountains in the distance to the east.