Olympic Peninsula and Seattle Washington

Today we were sad to say farewell to Bend/Sisters area, but we had to keep heading north to Gig Harbor, WA and its Gig Harbor RV Resort. We crossed over the famous Tacoma Narrows Bridge, which was first built in 1940, but collapsed just months after it was completed, and Gig Harbor was isolated from Tacoma and Seattle by Puget Sound until 1950 when the second bridge was built. In 2007 a $1.2 billion project added a second span to the bridge. Gig Harbor was incorporated in July, 1946, and is the Gateway to the Olympic Peninsula. After we settled into the RV Resort, we went into the quaint town of Gig Harbor located on the shores of Puget Sound. We enjoyed a fabulous dinner at Tides Tavern on the water with amazing views of Mt Rainier.

Olympic National Park

Saturday we spent the day exploring the Olympic Peninsula, and the Olympic National Park where we drove up to Hurricane Ridge, with a panoramic view of the glaciated mountains, dominated by the peak of Mount Olympus at 7,965 feet. The air was so crystal clear you could almost reach out and touch the snow capped mountains. We took a short walk enjoying the views and some of the wild life in the park, such as the black tailed deer. Then it was onto Port Townsend on the northeast tip of the Olympic Peninsula, noted for its Victorian houses and significant historical buildings remaining from its late 19th century heyday. It was the “City of Dreams” because of early speculation that it would be the largest harbor on the west coast of the U.S. We had lunch at the Hudson Point Cafe outside on the deck with great views of the town and harbor.

The next day we explored Bainbridge Island and took the ferry across to Seattle. We spent a great day with Jason and Mya Harrison and family as well as our beautiful grand daughter, Harper, and Ericka and Kevin. The highlight of our visit was going out on Jason’s boat and seeing the houses along the shores and a great lunch at the Salmon House.