Views of Sequim, the Olympic Peninsula. . .and beyond
Although a trip to Neah Bay can be made in one day we took our tiny trailer and camped at Hobuck Beach Resort. A walk across the road and we were on the beach. There were a pair of eagles nesting in nearby trees and in the evenings we saw a whale offshore. High tide or low, it’s mighty fine to have the Pacific Ocean in your front yard.
Around here when people head to coastal Washington they often say they’ve gone “out west,” which, of course, is the direction you go when you drive toward the Pacific Ocean.
This week we went out west, to Lake Quinault, which is located in the Quinault rainforest. It’s a three hour drive from Sequim. Theoretically that could be a day trip but we took advantage of a winter visitor’s package at the Lake Quinault Lodge to celebrate DH’s birthday. This is the lodge, which was built in 1926.
The Lodge was designed by Robert Reamer, the same architect who designed the Old Faithful Inn. Both hotels have a classic rustic feel. The Old Faithful Inn is built with massive logs and an alpine style. The Lake Quinault Lodge has a somewhat lighter, graceful look to it but it still has a strong sense of the great outdoors.
Literature for the Lodge uses a slogan, “The Rest Comes Easy.” Judging by the pace we saw inside and out that seems to be the case.
The Swan Hotel in Port Townsend has several tiny cottages that fill the fantasy of a leisurely summer day, watching the world go by.
Sunset view of the Clark barn. The Clarks are one of the early pioneer families in Dungeness. Beyond the barn, in the right side of the picture, is a beautiful two story farm house that operates as Clark’s Chambers Bed & Breakfast. We stayed there twice before we moved to Sequim and loved the comfortable hospitality of the Clarks and the incomparable beauty of the setting. Our room was clean, comfortable, and had a spectacular view of the Strait and Mt. Baker. Family style breakfast with Glenda and Bob Clark was a delicious start to the day.
A little over a year and a half ago I posted that the Red Ranch Inn had reopened after closing sometime in 2011. Since then there’s been steady work to breathe new life into these lodgings. It’s looking good. Take a look here at what it looked like last year and see if you don’t agree. It’s now called the Olympic View Inn.
The Red Caboose Getaway offers a different sort of bed and breakfast stay in Sequim. Each of the guest rooms is in a differently decorated rail car. Breakfast is served in an old dining car.
Reviews on Trip Advisor are positive.
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.