August 15, 2001...

Port Angeles to Neah Bay.

The route to Neah Bay and Cape Flattery (the most northwest point in the contiguous United States) is only a few miles from Port Angeles as the crow flies.  But the crow doesn't travel over windy, twisty, two lane roads with lots of road construction.  Forty nine miles turned into two hours travel time.  Of course, we stopped a few places like Pillar Point which eleven years ago had a campground host and sold ice-cream.  No host and the ice-cream shack was closed up tight.

There are a few parking spots that offer access to the beach but there is a lot of private property here.

You travel along the coast for the most part, until you get to the Makah Indian Reservation.  A stop at the Museum is a must.  You can see the bones of a whale compared to the canoes the Makah used to kill whales.  Frighteningly small and flimsy compared to a whale.  No pictures are allowed in the museum.  If you plan to continue on to the reservation and the hike down Cape Flattery, you must buy a pass which costs $10.00 and is good for a year (which won't do us much good).  There is a nice gift shop with native art in the museum.  At Cape Flattery there is a medium to hard hike down the side of the cliffs to observation platforms built by the Makah.  From them, you can see the lighthouse on Tatoosh Island, and sea life that you might never see anywhere else.  We saw Tufted Puffins on our last trip.

There are several really nice beaches on the reservation along the road to the Fish Hatchery.  If it weren't for the huge pine trees, you would think you were in Hawaii.

On the way back to Port Angeles, we passed several tree farms that had been harvested.  This looks awful right now but this land will be leveled, cleaned up and replanted.  They no longer leave huge patches of dirt where the trees were cut down, in twenty five years, trees planted here will be harvested again.  I've called this the land of logging and lavender.  Sequim is known as the lavender capital of North America.  Apparently they have a perfect micro-climate and less than 20 inches of rain - lavender thrives in those conditions.

By the time we got back to the room it was time for dinner and back to the Kokopelli Grill.  While we were eating we saw groups of people with lawn chairs pass in front of the restaurant and head down to the water.  It seems there is an orchestra that plays on the pier on Wednesday nights and we listened to big band music from our balcony.

The band is at the end of this pier on the left side.  Tomorrow Carl is going out on his own and I'm going to stay and veg.  So, I will share pictures of all the beautiful flowers I have taken pictures of - from the Oriental Lilies in Lacey, Washington to the blossoms on the berry bushes.  From Port Angeles, have a great night.