Hi there. Remember me?
It’s good to be back! I have lots of fun stuff to share with you, but first things first: Please join me in giving a big standing O to the great Phil Hecken, who went above and beyond during the past month, providing sooooo much great August content (including some posts on weekends, when he was supposed to be taking a break!). Phil, I think I speak for everyone here when I say that you really outdid yourself this time around. Thanks so much for doing such an outstanding job during my August absence.
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As for me, it was an eventful month. Let’s start with this: Earlier this year I began spending some time with a woman who we’ll call E. E and I recently decided that it was time for us to take a trip together, and August was the time frame that worked best for both of us. After looking at maps and discussing possibilities, we settled on the state of Washington, because neither of us had spent much time there. Also, considering my color preferences, how could I not love a place whose nickname is the Evergreen State?
We gave ourselves 10 days. We figured we’d fly to Seattle, explore the Olympic Peninsula (that’s the northwest region of the state, to the west of Puget Sound), and then venture into other parts of the state if time allowed.
This was my first real vacation (i.e., not just a glorified long weekend) since Mary and I went to Ireland in 2019. And that means it’s time to revive a long-dormant Uni Watch feature: the road-trip travelogue!
Here are the basics: We flew to Seattle on Aug. 7 and flew back home from Seattle on a red-eye on the night of Aug. 16. In between, we drove about 1,400 miles in a wobbly counter-clockwise route that took us through the Olympic Peninsula and then through the east-central part of the state. Here’s a rough depiction of our route (the numbered dots indicate where we ended up at the conclusion of the first day, the second day, and so on):
Before I get to the day-by-day travelogue, here are some preliminary notes:
- Our car was a silver Toyota Corolla with Washington plates. Reliable and unremarkable, which is all I want from a rental car.
- We stayed in motels — mostly mom-and-pops, although a few times we had to go with the chains (Quality Inn, Rodeway) because there were no other options. We booked the first, third, and fifth nights of the trip in advance, just to provide a bit of initial structure for our itinerary, and made up the rest as we went along. Prices were mostly around $100-$130/night, although one was $200 — a huge splurge by my standards, but it was the only option at the time.
- For the most part, we were extremely lucky with the weather — no rain at all! The last couple of days were extremely hot, but we figured out how to adapt to it. (More on that later.)
- The vast majority of our driving was on two-lane highways, and we quickly noticed that the double-yellow “No passing” lines are more widely spaced apart in Washington than what we’re used to seeing in other parts of the country (maybe because Washington presses a little rumble strip in between the yellow lines):
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- Our meals were mostly okay but unremarkable. While we did have one extremely memorable oyster experience (more on that soon), there was much less fresh seafood available than we expected. Just about every eatery offered fish and chips, but there’s only so much fried food a person can eat, so we maxed out on that pretty quickly.
- Washington is famous for its apples, pears, peaches, and cherries, and it was fun to see all the fruit farms and their vast orchards. Instead of grain co-ops, which are common in other parts of the country, we saw fruit co-ops — interesting! Lots of apple-based signage, too. I really enjoyed seeing this aspect of the local culture. (And yes, we ate a lot of apples.)
- We also saw lots of logging trucks, lumber-processing facilities, and so on. It was all very Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet:
- A large percentage of Washington appears to be closed on Mondays and, especially, Tuesdays (even during the summer tourist season, which I found surprising). As a result, there were several cool-seeming places that we weren’t able to visit, like the Seattle Pinball Museum, America’s Car Museum in Tacoma, and a few eateries. Next time!
Okay, enough preliminaries — here’s the day-by-day travelogue. Most of the photos were taken by me, with a few taken by E (including, obviously, those of me).
Day 1: Monday, August 7
We arrived in Seattle in the early afternoon, rented a car, and drove into the city, where we hit a few oddball shops and then went to the Sloop Tavern for some beers and fish and chips:
While we were at the Sloop, E glanced at the TV and noticed that one of the local TV news broadcasts has either a really good sense of humor or a really bad proofreading department:
After that, we figured we should look at the Space Needle, which really is a remarkable structure. Uni Watch membership card designer Scott M.X. Turner, who used to live in Seattle, had warned me that going up inside of the Needle is basically just a “really expensive elevator ride,” so we skipped that, but we had fun checking out the visitors’ center and then hanging out for a bit in the Needle’s accompanying park.
Incredibly, neither of us took any photos of the Space Needle. Perhaps not coincidentally, it was right around this time that we realized we were really tired (from the long flight, jet lag, etc.), so we went to our hotel and crashed.
Day 2: Tuesday, August 8
Our plan for the day was to loop down beneath Seattle and then head up into the Olympic Peninsula. Along the way, there were several oddball roadside attractions we wanted to see, beginning with the bizarre “Big Catch” sculpture in Des Moines (yes, there’s a Des Moines in Washington, but it’s pronounced with a “z” at the end — “Des Moynz”), which shows a man embracing and sort of groping a fish that has breasts:
A plaque on the site explained the backstory:
“Legend of the ‘Big Catch’: Long ago, a beautiful young maiden fell in love with a handsome fisherman. To her dismay, the Wicked Witch of Puget Sound fell in love with him too. The Wicked Witch cast a spell and turned the maiden into a fish. For years, the sad fisherman searched all the waters of the Sound looking for his maiden, to no avail. One day, while fishing at the Des Moines fishing pier, he saw a big fish in his net. He knew it was his love. He pulled her up, kissed her, and she was transformed back into his beautiful maiden. They were married and lived happily ever after.”
In the same town, we visited a roadside mural depicting a locally famous UFO visitation that supposedly happened in 1947:
From there we went to the town of Auburn, which recently erected a sculpture of a giant crow eating French fries (because it’s located on the site of a now-defunct burger joint that was apparently very popular with the local bird population). I have to say, this one was pretty amazing:
We had known about the crow in advance. But while we photographed it, we saw something we hadn’t known about: The trees planted in an adjacent plot of grass had been fitted with metal shields that looked like carrots, so the leaves of the trees looked like carrot greens — brilliant!
From there we looped down through Tacoma and began a gorgeous, leisurely drive along the shores of Hood Canal and Dabob Bay. Driving along a body of water is always a good thing:
That star in the middle of the route is the small but beautiful Twanoh State Park, which we stumbled upon during the drive. It had a little beach and swimming area, where we waded in for a bit:
We eventually made it to our destination for the night: Port Townsend, which is at the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula. We walked around a bit and found a waterside eatery where we could split a batch of fish and chips that was the very definition of golden brown:
Day 3: Wednesday, August 9
While walking to the fish/chips place the previous evening, we noticed a peculiar-looking shop that had closed for the day but appeared to specialize in selling vintage glass bottles. We went back to it after breakfast and met the owner, Russ West, a very endearing weirdo who’s been digging for old bottles since he was a kid and has hundreds or maybe thousands of them displayed in his shop:
Russ also collects and sells old glass insulators (plus a few ceramic ones). He had tons of them displayed in his shop’s bathroom:
We did a few more things in Port Townsend, including a visit to a beach where E got a really nice photo of me skipping a stone:
We eventually moved on and headed west. Our first stop was at Eaglemount Rockery, a motel whose original owners filled the property with a sprawling assortment of miniature sculptures depicting various scenes from around the world. Most of the sculptures are in pretty rough shape at this point, but it’s still a really interesting example of roadside kitsch, and the current owners don’t mind if you explore the grounds and take photos. Our pics don’t fully capture the charm of it all, but hopefully they give you at least a vague sense of the place:
From there we continued west to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, which is located on Dungeness Spit — the longest sand spit in the United States (and growing, at the rate of about 15 feet per year). We didn’t see any notable wildlife while exploring the site, but the spit itself was fascinating — raw and windy on the ocean side, more tranquil and noticeably warmer on the bay side, just a few dozen yards away:
The ocean side, like almost all of the beaches we visited during the trip, was filled with sooooo much driftwood, including lots of really big logs:
We eventually pushed on and made our way to Port Angeles, where we walked around a bit, had dinner, and prepared for a more physical day on Thursday.
Day 4: Thursday, August 10
Today we entered Olympic National Park, where we planned to go hiking. E has somewhat balky knees, so we chose a moderate trail: Hurricane Hill, which is a tidy 3.2 miles but entails a significant elevation gain along the way. The scenery was great, plus we saw a couple of deer and a slew of marmots along the way. We lingered for a while at the summit, which offered spectacular views of the surrounding mountains:
After returning from that hike, we briefly left the park and drove to another hiking spot. Along the way, we encountered this really interesting-looking round diner (where I got a good-but-not-great chocolate milkshake):
After the diner stop, we moved on, re-entered the park, and went on a hike to Marymere Falls. The hiking trail took us past this amazing tree:
We eventually reached the falls, which were really, really nice:
After that, it was time to head to the town of Sekiu, where we’d booked a room. Along the way, we passed a herd of elk. We pulled over to take a look, and another observer said it was a wild herd that is often seen in the area:
We eventually arrived at the very wonderful Bay Motel, which is situated on a beautiful sea cove and has some chairs out front, which made for a very picturesque cocktail hour.
Day 5: Friday, August 11
I’m a sucker for points of intriguing but largely meaningless geographic distinction (the geographic center of the United States, the geodetic center of North America, that type of thing), so of course I wanted to visit Cape Flattery — the northwesternmost point in the contiguous lower 48 states. It’s located on the Makah Indian Reservation, so we had to purchase a $20 visitor’s license along the way. It was totally worth it — the hike to the Cape turned out to be spectacularly beautiful, filled with great views of the ocean swirling around the rocky shore:
Because of Cape Flattery’s name, it seemed appropriate to give each other lots of compliments during the hike: “You have the nicest eyes.” “I really love your voice.” “You smell good.” “You’re an excellent card player.” Good thing it wasn’t called Cape Disparagement.
At the end of the hike is Cape Flattery itself. It has a viewing deck with a railing, which is where most people have their northwesternmost moment. But you can also climb down around the deck and go right up to the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea, which is what E and I did. At the moment this photo was taken, we were the northwesternmost people in the contiguous United States:
On the hike back to the parking lot, we saw a tree with branches that looked a lot like an elephant’s tusks:
When I posted that photo on Facebook, longtime Uni Watch reader/contributor Kenny Ocker, who lives in Oregon, posted the following comment:
That’s a western red cedar. The Makah, and many other Northwest tribes, harvest the bark to make baskets, hats, and clothing. The Makah also modify them as they grow to create waypoints along their traditional trails. As weird as this one looks, and given how close you were to a culturally important place, it wouldn’t surprise me if this were a culturally modified tree.
Faaascinating!
With no more northern or western territory left to explore, we turned south and drove to another hiking spot. This time the trail led us to Second Beach, one of the most dramatic-looking beaches I’ve ever seen. Dig:
We hung out for a bit on the beach and then headed to our motel in the town of Forks, which bills itself as the Logging Capitol of the World and has the lumber to prove it:
Day 6: Saturday, August 12
Forks has two museums that we wanted to check out. We began at the Forks Timber Museum, a small but informative facility packed with info on the area’s logging heritage:
Next up was the completely amazing John’s Beachcombing Museum, a testament to one man’s lifelong obsession with collecting flotsam that’s washed up on local beaches. It’s a truly astounding collection — or, rather, it’s a collection of collections, because there are hundreds of bottles, hundreds of buoys, hundreds of sneakers, and a lot more (including a surprising amount of stuff that showed up on Washington beaches after the 2011 Japan tsunami). Unfortunately, the titular John was out for the day, but his wife was a very friendly and informative host. We really enjoyed this one!
We had planned to spend the afternoon hiking through the Hoh Rainforest, but the guy running the Timber Museum told us that it would be impossible to get in during the afternoon because they limit the number of cars that go in each day. So instead we went a bit farther down the coast and checked out the Tree of Life, a Sitka spruce whose underlying ground has eroded away, leaving the tree’s roots exposed and the tree seemingly suspended in midair:
Our next stop was another Sitka spruce — this one billed as the world’s largest:
It had already been a great day, but the best part was still to come. When we got to our motel in Aberdeen, we noticed that there was an Elks Lodge next door:
Fraternal organizations (Elks, Masons, VFWs, American Legions, etc.) are among my favorite travel stops. They’re usually members-only, but there’s usually a member who’ll be willing to sign you in as a guest as long as you ask politely and behave respectfully. Once you’re in, you become something of a curiosity, so some of the other members will inevitably want to talk with you (“Wait, you’re from where? How’d you end up coming here tonight?”), and as a result you end up chatting with interesting folks who can tell you a lot more about the town than you’ll ever learn at the local tourism bureau. Plus you have the fun of being in a secret spot that would normally be off-limits!
That’s exactly what happened with us at the Elks. Even better, it was karaoke night, which was quite a trip with this mostly elderly crowd, so we settled in at the bar and enjoyed the scene. Several hours, beers, and chicken wings later, we walked back to our motel very happy.
Day 7: Sunday, August 13
While driving west out of Aberdeen, we spotted an old, battered neon sign on the side of the road. It featured an 8-ball and the word “Tavern,” even though there was no longer any tavern on the site:
See that yellow shed in the last photo? While we were taking photos of the sign, a big, biker-looking dude came out of the shed and approached us. I thought he was going to shoo us away, but instead he said hi and began talking with us about the history of the sign. We introduced ourselves, and he said, “Everyone calls me Moose.”
After a few minutes of chitchat, Moose played his trump card: “You two were at the Elks last night.” Turns out he had been there when we arrived but left soon after that. (Once he brought it up, E remembered seeing him, although I didn’t.) Is that crazy coincidence or what? One of those magical road trip moments.
We pushed on toward the town of Bay City, where we had an important stop to make at a seafood shop. But just before we got there, we passed an intriguing-looking sausage shop, so we decided to investigate. It did not disappoint:
As you can see in that last photo, the place was a carnivore’s delight! But it wasn’t even noon yet and we already had other eating plans in the works, so we just got some beef jerky and moved on.
A few minutes later, we arrived at our primary destination: a waterside establishment called Brady’s Oysters.
Brady’s is a fishmonger, not an eatery, which presented a conundrum: We wanted oysters, but we didn’t have proper shucking accoutrements. Luckily for us, the incredibly friendly staff was happy to loan us an oyster knife and a rag (the latter is necessary for holding the oysters while shucking). They even gave us a bottle of Tabasco and invited us to enjoy our oysters in their backyard. So we bought a half-dozen oysters and a lemon, grabbed some beers from our back-seat cooler, pitched a towel under a shady tree right by the water, and settled in for a very satisfying oyster picnic (plus a bit of the beef jerky to create a surf ’n’ turf effect).
I can’t fully express how idyllic this was. It was one of those situations where the rest of the world melts away and there is no other place but right there where you are. After finishing the oysters, we kept sitting for a spell under that tree, enjoying the perfection of the moment.
We eventually moved on and pushed inland to the town of Chehalis, which was once the home of a now-defunct discount chain called Yard Birds. Although the chain went belly-up in 1995, the Chehalis location lived on as a shopping mall. The mall was shuttered last year and is now abandoned, but a giant statue of the Yard Birds mascot — a huge black bird that for some reason appears to have ears — remains on the site, an absurdist monument offering mute testimony to market failure.
With that, we retired to our motel and prepared for a serious change in the weather.
Day 8: Wednesday, August 14
Our original plan for this day had been to go hiking in Mount Rainier National Park. The bad news was that the temperatures through much of the park were forecast to be around 100º; the good news was that we were able to locate a hike — the Naches Peak Loop Trail — that takes place mostly at a high elevation and was thus not so hot.
So off we went! The hike passed by two lakes and offered kickass views of Mount Rainier:
Along the way we came upon a group of park employees who were sledgehammering rocks and sawing wood to shore up a portion of the trail (sorry, no photos). We talked a bit with them about the process of trail upkeep, which was really interesting. (Several days later, when we got home, I found that the great design podcast 99% Invisible had just posted an episode about trail formation and maintenance. Another crazy coincidence!)
Even with the higher elevation, temps were still in the mid-80s, plus this was a particularly dry and dusty trail, so we felt pretty beat when we got back to our car. I found myself thinking of what Mr. Spock said about vacations in the “Shore Leave” episode of Star Trek: “On my planet, to rest is to rest — to cease using energy. To me, it is quite illogical to run up and down on green grass using energy instead of saving it.” (This analysis presumably also applies to dusty hiking trails.)
With that in mind, we decided to shut down any further outdoor physical activities for the day and instead began meandering our way to our next motel town, figuring we’d stop at any interesting bars or sights that we encountered along the way. We had fun chatting with a nice retired couple at a roadside lodge, and also spotted this spectacular motel sign:
Unfortunately, we had already booked a room at another spot a bit farther down the road, so we checked in there, found a place to eat, and made plans for the next hot day.
Day 9: Tuesday, August 15
We decided to have breakfast the Waffles Caffe in Yakima, which seemed like it could be either really good or really bad. On the one hand, it’s open only from 6am to 1:30pm, which is usually the sign of a first-rate breakfast joint. On the other hand, the unusual spelling of “Caffe” (with two “f”s) plus the logo’s unusually shaped “C” makes it look like the place is called Waffles Gaffe:
Despite this potentially bad omen, this was a great stop. I really enjoyed my blueberry pecan waffle, and E enjoyed her waffle with bananas:
In addition, Waffles Caffe offers something called the “Iron Man Challenge,” which is one of those gutbuster eatery dares:
No way were we going to order the Iron Man, but we wanted to see what all that food looked like. Unfortunately, nobody was taking the challenge while we were there, but here’s an annotated screen shot of a guy who did it just a few days before we stopped in (you can see his full video report here):
Our waitress said that they get about one Iron Man attempt per week, with maybe one in 10 being successful. Those people get their names up on a bulletin board:
As for the rest of the day, temperatures were already in the 90s and were expected to go into the triple digits, so outdoor activities were pretty much out of the question. Instead, we looked at our road atlas for scenic highways and charted a course toward the Grand Coulee Dam, which we figured would be interesting.
Along the way, we passed a big “MOTEL” sign with an arrow pointing to the left:
We dutifully looked to the left and gazed upon the appealingly named Ala Cozy Motel, which had a pretty great sign of its own:
I tried to get a panoramic shot showing both signs, but it was tricky because of the considerable distance between them:
Just before we got to the dam, we spotted an interesting-looking art installation in the town of Grand Coulee. It turned out to be a really fun “windmill garden,” with all of the windmills made out of scrap material by a now-deceased local resident. Unfortunately, it wasn’t windy, but the windmills were still really cool to see:
At about 3pm we made it to the Grand Coulee Dam. I’ve been to the Hoover Dam twice, but Grand Coulee is much larger. The tours that they usually offer had been cancelled due to the heat, but there was still plenty to see in the visitors’ center. We watched a good movie about the dam’s construction and checked out the various exhibits, including this one:
But the main pleasure was just gawking at the dam itself, with water tracing slow, mesmerizing paths down its spillway. None of the photos we took even come close to capturing its monolithic scope, so this one will have to do:
As we prepared to move on, I noticed that the dam’s parking lot included some spaces marked with curved lines. Never seen anything like that before:
Grand Coulee marked the easternmost point of our travels. With only one more day remaining, we turned west and drove an hour or so to Okanogan. We wanted to stay at this place, but it was closed for renovations:
We found another motel nearby. On the way there, I noticed an Eagles lodge:
I’d never been to an Eagles lodge (or “aerie,” as they’re called), but we’d had a good time with the Elks, so we decided to try out the Eagles. It was a much smaller, quieter scene — just two members plus us — but sure enough, they signed us in and we had swell time talking with those two members (whose names, remarkably, were Dave and Misty, which should resonate with anyone familiar with Clint Eastwood’s directorial debut). A very nice way to end a long day.
Misty also gave us a valuable piece of advice: The scenic road we’d been planning to take back to Seattle the next day was closed due to wildfire smoke. So when we got back to our motel, we planned an alternate route that we figured wouldn’t be quite as scenic but would still offer some fun stops along the way.
Day 10: Wednesday, August 15
Our first stop after hitting the road was the Washington Apple Commission visitors’ center, where we anticipated being bombarded with fun apple propaganda. Unfortunately, although there were several cars with the parking lot with Washington Apple Commission license plates, the visitors’ center was closed. Booooo!
From there we pushed on to the town of Cashmere, where we got lunch at Rusty’s Drive-In, a roadside staple since the 1940s. We particularly enjoyed seeing that their menu was posted over a graphic of a giant apple:
Although it was another hot day, Rusty’s has a comfortably tree-shaded backyard, where we sat down with our hot dogs (unremarkable) and a coffee shake (excellent).
Our next stop in Cashmere was Liberty Orchards, a small candy company best known for making Aplets & Cotlets (made from apples and apricots, get it?), which are Turkish-style fruit candies invented by a pair of Armenian immigrants back in the 1930s.
We tried some free samples in the gift shop and, honestly, didn’t care for them — too gooey-sweet. But we were still interested in taking the factory tour, which turned out to be short but enjoyable. I captured most of it in this video (you can hear our tour guide in the background):
We kept driving west on a state highway and were about to get on the Interstate, which would take us the rest of the way to Seattle. But we still had several hours before we needed to be at the airport (we were taking a red-eye back to NYC), so we stopped in Cle Elum — the last available town before the Interstate — and looked around for something interesting. Here’s what we found:
Yes, another Eagles lodge aerie. And this one was hopping — big crowd, lots of people eating as well as drinking. Several people offered to sign us in, but bartender Jessica wasn’t having it. “Nobody who’s already here is allowed to sign you in,” she told us. “You can only be signed in by a member if you come in with them as their guest. Sorry, those are the rules.”
So we slinked outside, wallowing in our rejection. “Hey,” I said, half-jokingly, “if we stand out here long enough, maybe another member will show up and be willing to take us in.” Literally about 20 seconds later, a woman walked up the sidewalk and reached for the door to go in. We quickly introduced ourselves and explained our situation. She said, “No problem,” brought us in with her, and signed us in on the guest registry. Bartender Jessica was sort of grudgingly amused but didn’t give us any more trouble.
We ended up sitting for a while with a guy named Dean (one of the ones who’d offered to sign us in), who told us about how he liked to go camping, his frustrations with the local dating scene (“The women here are all either rich and stuck up or poor and wantin’ you buy drugs for ’em!”), and other weighty topics.
If you look at that last photo, behind me you can just barely see a guy sitting at the bar. His name was Vern, and we had the following conversation:
Vern: Where y’all from?
Me: New York.
Vern: Oooh, sorry to hear that.
Me: Why?
Vern: Seems like a bad place. All that crime. So much crime.
Me: I’ve lived there for over 35 years and never had any problem with crime.
E: Me neither.
Vern: Well, you must be two of the lucky ones.
Me: Have you ever been there, to New York?
Vern: Nope. Don’t plan to, either. Wouldn’t feel safe.
Me: It’s not that bad, honest.
Vern: Well, whatever works for you, I guess.
Sticking up for NYC like that seemed like a good cue for us to head to the airport and fly home to New York (where I’ve continued to have no issues with crime). Vern, if you’re reading this, come on out sometime — first round’s on me.
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So that was our trip! But here’s an additional thing that was going on in the background: E and I like to play cards. On the first night of the trip, we played a few hands of rummy 500 in our motel room before going to bed and decided we would keep the game going for the entire trip. We’d play a few hands every night, and the winner would be whoever was winning at the end of the trip (instead of the first person to reach 500 points, which is how it usually works). At one point, E was winning by about 700; at another, I was up by 500-ish. But at the end of Day 9, we were almost tied, with E holding a slight lead — 6,065 to 5,980:
We thought we might play a few more hands at the airport and/or on the plane ride home, but that didn’t happen, so E won this game of what turned out to be rummy 6,000.
Thanks for letting me share all of this with you. I did a few other interesting things last month, which I’ll be telling you about in the near-ish future. However you spent your August, hope it was as much fun for you as this trip was for us!
That scenery is spectacular! Glad you enjoyed your time away!
They Olympic peninsula is beautifully unique. Crazy to me that you can visit rocky coasts, rainforests, and mountains in the span of a few hours. Glad you enjoyed your trip!
“an absurdist monument offering mute testimony to market failure”
That’s a marvelous turn of phrase.
I always enjoy the travelogues.
Paul,
Welcome back.
Also, New York is not a crime-ridden problem. That’s discouraging to run into – embarrassing, even. Spent stints in numerous states – and three-plus years in another land. I’m in a spot much smaller than New York now, but I can think of many worse places to go back to.
Glad you had a great time in my home state, but sorry you couldn’t find more great food. We seem to have a dearth of the kind of small-town spots where the proprietors do some particular and unique thing very well, as I’ve seen in other areas of the country.
And don’t worry too much about Vern’s (likely echo-chamber of-choice-borne) misconceptions about NYC – he probably believes the same about Seattle, for the same mistaken reasons (I’ve lived here half my life and still love it). I do love his “agreeing to disagree” when faced with someone who actually lives there.
Crap, didn’t mean that to be a reply to Gabe. My bad!
Great report Paul! You and E make a very handsome couple.
Seems like an AWESOME trip!
I’m curious to know if there is any meaning to E’s tattoo :-)
thank you Paul for painting a picture of your travels. I enjoy how curious and observant your are on trips.
You did all the hikes in your Chucks! My feet hurt just thinking of that.
Nope. The green/brown footwear that you see in some of the pics are hiking boots. In fact, they were promotional freebies that the Portland Timbers sent me back in 2018 (with the Timbers’ logo on the insole!).
Good to know! I saw the pic of you taking a photo at Mt. Rainier National Park, saw the Chucks and thought that was your footwear for all the hikes.
I always love your travelogues! The views and nature in your pictures are incredible!
Yeah, people who have no person experience thinking they know everything about New York (or Chicago or Atlanta or DC)…
Fantastic travelog, Paul! Welcome back.
I no longer travel like I did back when I was married (which was a pretty decent amount), but that non-New Yorker who’s seemingly immersed in a bubble that portrays NY as some dystopian hellscape isn’t an abberration — though I imagine it’s gotten worse. More than a few times, my ex-wife and I encountered natives who almost immediately and reflexively pegged us (at first) as denizens of some third-world city besodden with criminals and grifters (the biggest of which fortunately moved to Florida a few years ago).
Once they got to know us, we almost always made new friends, or at least enlightened them to the fact that New York is a great place to live, even if they weren’t convinced. One person we encountered on a trip even said something to the effect of, “You’re not like any New Yorkers I’ve ever met,” to which we countered, “oh really? How many have you met?” Sheepishly, he replied, “well, you’re the first.”
I, too, found my own preconceived notions of the denizens of places we visited to be wrong as well. It’s gotten worse — people are increasingly more tribal nowadays. But there has always been a fear(?) of those who are from places to which they’ve never been. Stereotypes exist for a reason, but often they’re incorrect.
Glad you enjoyed your time meeting new and different folks (and for defending NY :))
Looks and sounds like a great trip. Nice to meet you, E!
Sorry about the dickhead grilling you about being from some place he doesn’t like. I grew up in Spokane in the 70’s and 80’s, and in my experience it was wonderful, welcoming to ‘outsiders’, and fairly progressive for its time. As with any place, most people are awesome, so I hope that guy doesn’t occupy too much space wrt your vacation memories.
To be clear: Vern was nice, and definitely not a dickhead. Our interaction was friendly. He just has some silly notions about something he knows nothing about (which is probably true for most of us in some regard).
Love these travelogues
Great to have you back! Phil did an amazing job while you were away. Great travelog. You were in absolute beautiful parts of that State.
I’m not sure who gave you all of the recommendations but kudos to them as well.
I’m not sure who gave you all of the recommendations but kudos to them as well.
My primary travel-planning resources are the book Road Trip USA, the website RoadsideAmerica.com, and the website AtlasObscura.com. Many of the spots we visited came from them. But we also did a lot of poking around, trying out spots that seemed interesting, etc. A mix of planning and spontaneity.
Welcome back, Paul…and COTD!
Your travelogue was a treat to read this morning.
I love seeing all the out-of-the-way restaurants, hotels and shops and ooooooooooh, all those wonderful neon signs…
I wish we had known you were coming. I live in Des Moines and love the quirky side of my adopted state. So many little hole in the wall places around the state. Glad you enjoyed your time here
And this weekend Washington comes to you: Mariners at Mets! Go M’s!
Looks like a great trip. I’ll always have a soft spot for the Elks. My grandfather was a member of the local Elks Lodge and I always remember asking him what B.P.O.E. stood for as it was prominently displayed on the sign. He quickly replied “Best People On Earth”.
Second Beach’s monuments remind me of the Twelve Apostles in Australia. There are a lot of them in Oregon, too. Startling, because they have no analogs on the East Coast.
Biscuits and gravy is just really wet flour on top of really dry flour.
You say that as if it’s a bad thing…
Welcome back Paul! I’ve missed the travelogues so much.
Nice to know there are still so many great vintage neon signs in Washington State! Looks like it was a great trip!
Paul, did you consider going to see the Mariners play or attending a minor league game during your trip?
Not really. Sports is already a big part of my regular life, so I’m usually not looking to add more of it when I’m on vacation. Might have gone to a minor league game if we stumbled across one, but that didn’t happen.
Paul, I’ve missed these — they have always been my favorite feature here. I’ve got 8,000 words’ worth of things to add about your travelogue about all the small-town Washington you got to see along the way, but I’m not going to take everyone down the rabbit holes of my mind. I do have a little Sekiu-area CQ for you though (they’re pronounced the same way) — I’ve been in Washington for a decade now.
One thought I will share is that you unknowingly passed one of the great all-time pieces of minimalist graffiti (because you were traveling the wrong way to see it). When you head north toward the wide spot in the road named Humptulips on Highway 101, you have to cross the Humptulips River. Well, someone with a can of white spray paint very helpfully added a C to the front of the sign (right size and everything), turning it into the Chumptulips River. The first time I saw that, I dang near crashed my work rig because I was laughing so hard.
Congrats on E having as part of this fun trip in every way with you, Paul! I wish you two much happiness; you both deserve that. Perhaps porch cocktails will return?
Aw man. Wish I knew you were heading out this way. I work at Mt St Helens, which is a great visit, but admittedly when road tripping, is a bit of an outpost being at the end of a 50 mile dead end road. I really wish we were connected to Rainier better. Would improve our visitation.
I visited Mt. St. Helens (and wrote about it for Uni Watch!) in 2008. Really enjoyed it!
My favorite part: The little scale model with the button that says, “Push to Erupt.”
Like others, I felt an immediate visceral reaction when I read the part about not feeling safe in NY City, and felt compelled to defend it. I live in Western New York State (Rochester area), and just got home from a week-long family vacation in NYC. We enjoyed every minute of it, and never felt unsafe at any time. We explored the whole city, from the stadiums to downtown, midtown, subways, buses, ferries, and pretty much everything in between.
Even Rochester, a medium-sized city, occasionally receives negative press for crime, or safety-related things (car thefts, violence, etc.), but that doesn’t dissuade us from venturing into the city for family outings, etc., and we’ve never had a problem.
I think a lot of the fear is obviously media-driven. And without stirring up a political beehive, some news outlets are worse than others. But I can’t imagine living in a bubble and never extending outside of the geographical area you’re used to, just because you saw a news story, or whatever. To me that’s just a sad way to live, and I would never want to be like that.
I have been to WA a number of times, but not the Pennisula yet unfortunately. Very intrigued by what you shared of the Spit, Second Beach & Cape Flattery. Looks like I really need to get that region next time I go.
I am curious about Forks… how has it been changed or impacted by tourism based on Twilight?
I am curious about Forks… how has it been changed or impacted by tourism based on Twilight?
E and I have never watched Twilight, but we did end up talking about this with a few local residents, who mostly said it didn’t amount to much.
There’s some signage and shops that cater to it. And they definitely tried to make it a thing. It’s just so remote…
Welcome back Paul! I’m always jealous of your trips. It’s the kind of stuff o would want to do but the family just ain’t down with.
That skipping stones photo immediately reminded me of Sidd Finch.
So fun to read your travelogue, it’s always been one of my favorites. Imagine my surprise when I saw the sloop tavern, until very recently I worked in Ballard! Welcome back to the ‘site, I look forward to reading your work again.
I feel like I’m stepping into hot territory here but whatever. It feels like theres a correlation between consumption of certain right wing media and a perception that the cities (particularly in left-leaning areas) are crime ridden hellholes.
Meanwhile, rural areas are portrayed as idyllic but in reality there’s just as much if not more crime (mostly related to drugs and addiction).
This isn’t aimed at any one network, its true in Canada as well. I live in a big city and work downtown and I hear from my rural and suburban friends how much they hate riding transit (which they have never actually done) and how much they hate going downtown (which they do once a year) because its SO DANGEROUS. Which is a line they’ve been fed by our version of right wing media. And the lived experience of someone who lives and works in those settings is completely different than what the media portrays.
Whether it’s a hot topic or not, you’re absolutely correct on all fronts.
I’ve taken the TTC almost everyday for ten years now, and consistently alone since I was 12. I’ve never once had an issue with safety. The number of people who claim it’s unsafe with no actual evidence beyond the occasional blogTO headline is downright ridiculous.
Also – thanks for a great travel diary, its been too long since we got to see unfamiliar territory through your eyes. Looks like you had fun and its nice to see you’ve got a like minded traveling companion.
Great stuff, Paul, and welcome back.
In the vein of points of intriguing but largely meaningless geographic distinction, have your Wisconsin trips ever included the center of the northwestern hemisphere? link
I somehow didn’t know about that one!
It really is sad how people who live in rural towns have been led to believe that all big cities are crime-infested hellholes.
I mean, personally I don’t think Vern would have ever planned on visiting NYC to begin with. Which is perfectly fine, it’s probably just not on his radar, and it just sounds like some friendly jabbing about the “sorry to hear that” and some self confirmation with the “too much crime.”
Even better thing you didn’t end up at Cape Disappointment, near Long Beach along the coast!
But too bad you missed out on Twin Pines in Cle Elum for a burger that would have bested your hot dogs.
Nobody road trips better than you, Paul!
Awesome writeup! Thanks Paul. I really enjoy these posts. I’ve never been to the NW USA and this sure looks like a good itinerary.
Three notes:
Calandra beat me to this one, but yeah, Cape Flattery at the NW is paired with Cape Disappointment at the SW tip of the state.
You barely missed out on the Bavarian village of Leavenworth, which seems like it would have been right up your alley, and also you drove right past the cherry pie at Twede’s Cafe in North Bend.
On the other hand, awesomeness all around, so there’s that :)
Ah, sorry we missed the Bavarian village and, especially, the cherry pie. Next time!
Wishing you had made it to the Teepee, a great burger and Shake joint near Grand Coulee Dam.
Hey Paul
I’m glad you enjoyed our little part of the world. I’ve been pretty much everywhere you went. I work in Des Moines and have never seen that mural or even knew about the UFO deal. I’ve sent you pictures from Yakima and Cle Elum of signs. And everyone needs to understand how small and really isolated Aberdeen is. The peninsula is a world away. He would say the same thing about any medium sized or larger city. If you only read or watch the news; the only thing you’re going to see is “how bad the crime is now”. If it bleeds it leads. And Leavenworth is pretty kitschy; and I go there all the time. (Great pizza and beer at Blewitt Brewing) Nice to have you back and thanks for everything Phil!
Cheers
Rand
Great job! We did a similar trip to WA a few years ago, our adventures in Forks took us to the Tip and Sip – a quality adult beverage establishment if there ever was one.
Disappointed to not see any vampires or werewolves, though ;-)
Paul,
Longtime reader in Spokane, WA. Cool to hear you enjoyed your trip to our beautiful state. I hope you can make it to the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area next time! We have interesting uni related experiences to behold, like the minor league club with Salish on their uniforms.
Glad to have your travelogues back. Always some of my favorites that you write. Took me me my entire workday to read it in chunks and will probably go back and re-read it later.
Would love to have all your travelogues in a single book someday – would be an awesome read.
Paul, I’m glad you guys came to and enjoyed our state. Those are some nice photos of the places you visited and it makes me want to go to visit some of these places I haven’t yet visited (Grand Coulee Dam and Cape Flattery). Take care.
Thanks so much for sharing, Paul! Always love your write ups of these trips, whether it’s a longer road trip or a weekend getaway. Just curious, how many of these stops/quirky places of interest are you aware of prior to arrival in that town or area vs. simply planning the route and stopping at whatever is interesting? I’m a type A planner or sorts and like to know what’s available or what I could be missing, but I’d love to try a more relaxing method to a road trip. Much of this seems to be improvised, do I have that right?
how many of these stops/quirky places of interest are you aware of prior to arrival in that town or area vs. simply planning the route and stopping at whatever is interesting?
Probably about 50/50. Examples: We knew in advance about most of the weird roadside statuary, the candy factory tour, and weird little museums. But we didn’t know about the Elks/Eagles clubs, the neon signs, the windmill garden, and a few other things. A nice mix of planning and spontaneity.
Always love to read about your travels, and that area is gorgeous! Glad you had a good trip, welcome back!
Well, that was a great write up. And you made it to 2nd Beach!
Yup. Thanks for that suggestion, Jim!
Paul
Glad you made it to my hometown of Chehalis. Couldn’t believe it when I saw your travel log and saw Yard Birds. Back in the day there was a large bird that stood on two legs. You were able to drive through its legs leaving the parking lot. You can google the story of it burning down. Also there is a documentary on the story of Yard Birds out there.
Welcome back!
A bit late to the party, but what a great write up on what seemed to be a spectacular trip! My wife and I spent 10 days in Washington back in 2017–a few glorious days in Mt. Rainier national park (the highlight for me), a few days on the Olympic Peninsula capped with a couple nights in Port Angeles, a friend’s wedding in Bellingham, and a Mariners game and dinner in Seattle. The best vacation I’ve ever taken–perfect weather, incredible mixture of kitsch and nature and fun city stuff.
Paul, your vacations and the accompanying travelogues are the best. Thanks for another first-rate account.
Years ago a last minute illness meant I missed out on a trip you made to Seattle and the associated unigathering near UW – excited you came back for a deeper dive!
Wow! We live part time by Brady’s Oysters and part time in Tacoma by Lemay’s Car Museum! This travelogue was an unexpected surprise! Long time reader, crazy how worlds collide.
Great travelogue, seems like a neat trip. I’ve been to Washington but
…really only greater Seattle and north.
Great way to document your trip! I shared your travelogue with my son, who moved to the Seattle area from Anaheim last month. He plans to follow your footsteps as he explores the area. In fact, he’s heading to Tacoma tonight to see his first Rainiers game. His only disappointment was learning you didn’t come through Bremerton on the Kitsap Peninsula. He’s got so much pride for his newly-adopted hometown!
Related story: I just returned from a short visit to Minneapolis. While there, I met up with a friend in the suburbs. He was shocked when I told him I was staying downtown. I think his media portrays the city as the reincarnation of Detroit 1968.
Great travelogue!…I know why I like this community so much in that I’d find myself just as excited to see some of the old motel signs and other roadside treasures as you were. Thanks for sharing your trip with us.
Has anyone done a piece on biker vests? It just struck me scrolling through and seeing your bud Moose. Uni’s of their own right?
Enjoyed reading. We were there a week before you and your days 4 and 5 were very similar to ours.
Welcome back, Paul! That’s some beautiful scenery, and the stone-skipping picture is *amazing*.
Great trip, great description. This is an engrossing read with very nice pictures. Especially Second Beach and those weird and old road signs, wow!
I wish I could properly express the joy I got out of reading that whole thing!
Paul I’m glad you enjoyed your time here in Washington! I can’t believe you ended up at the Eaglemont Rockery, I was obsessed with that as a kid. You missed the NW corner of the state but so much to see, so little time. I learned about a few places to go to in my state!
About the seafood. It’s strange I know. I think it’s because towns the were established by a large fishing community wanted anything but fish when they got off the boat. Also a lot of it is fished for by recreation or bought through markets. Washington seafood is generally fried or slathered with butter and garlic. Which is delicious, but lacks in creativity. Next time get on a ferry and maybe check out the San Juans!