Category: Day Trip

Fancy flights

I’d heard that the Port Townsend Aero Museum was worth a visit. Last week I finally made it there and was delighted that I did. I’m not an aviation enthusiast but this place is exciting, filled with interesting and gorgeous aircraft.

Visitors are surrounded by planes, on the floor of the museum and in virtual flight. About 20 1920s to 1940s vintage aircraft are on display. There are also hundreds of models in display cases.

Everything gleams with love and the museum is a visual delight. The beauty above is a 1937 Staggerwing Beech (Model C-17B, if you really want to know).

The museum is focused on youth mentorship, including job skills training through restoration, maintenance, and operation of the museum’s antique aircraft. Tomorrow I’ll share more of what I saw.

The pirate

Port Townsend is a great place to find interesting characters. We followed this fellow down a pier, hoping to get a decent shot of him. “How far can he go?” said DH. Then he disappeared down a stairway to a floating dock and climbed into an inflatable boat. A puff boat? How pirate-like is that?

He motored out to a rather nice sailboat anchored out. Never did get a complete shot of his getup which included just about everything except a sword, eye patch, and parrot on his shoulder. The boat is named Free Spirit.

Let’s do lunch

Our gang of buddies did some retail grazing recently in Silverdale, a city that boasts so many stores, large and small, that it’s frankly not for the faint of heart. In my case that’s why I travel in a gang. There’s also an abundance of restaurants. But Silver City stands out. And I did some happy grazing on this offering. There’s a salad underneath all this yum.

Northwest coastal living, 2 of 2

I suppose if you’re going to the effort and expense of building a house in the San Juan Islands why settle for a humble cabin? We saw some fine dwellings on our Puget Sound Express trip. Some would be nice on any sort of site.

Others took advantage of the rugged landscape

If you’re going to go so far I suppose you may as well have room for a crowd.

No quick stroll to a grocery store or theater from these spots but I expect there are plenty of other diversions if you can pull off a house like this.

Northwest coastal living, 1 of 2

Lest you think the San Juan Islands are uninhabited, I’ll share images of some of the beachfront housing we saw on our trip with Puget Sound Express.

Beachfront property? Beautiful, remote island setting? Spectacular water view?

What’s not to like?

The settings are incomparable.

Sucia Island

One of the many highlights of our trip through the San Juan Islands with Puget Sound Express was a visit to Sucia Island, a Washington State marine park. The island is a gem. Parts of the landscape have the mood and beauty of a large, perfectly composed Japanese garden.

There are beaches and picnic tables. Walking trails circle much of the island.

There were brief light rains while we were on the island and we had the island entirely to ourselves after the only other boat departed. Weather in April is unpredictable but it means that many popular spots are uncrowded.

Other birds

Though I sadly missed shots of many smaller birds on my San Juan Islands excursion with Puget Sound Express last week, I didn’t miss them all. Cormorants posed on piers, driftwood, and rocks as we passed.

Occasionally they took flight.

I spied great blue herons now and then.

We saw lots and lots of rhinoceros auklets and even though these are small I have to post a tiny sample since these are such pretty specimens. Auklets are alcids, common residents here during spring and summer. They’re the chubby black birds with white markings in the center of the shot. There are shorebirds on either side of them, along with a duck. Auklets generally hang out in deep salt water and dive for fish.

Late note: I’ve incorrectly identified the rhinoceros auklets. These are in fact male harlequin ducks. My mistake. I’m certain they were correctly identified on our journey. My memory is at fault. For more details click on today’s comment section and see the comment from Paul from Powell River, a superb blogger and knowledgeable birder.