Washington State Odyssey Leg #2: Port Angeles to
Westport
Our mission was to see as much of western and central
Washington as possible without driving more 130 to 170 miles per day; the drive
from Packwood to Snoqualmie Pass neared 200.
Port Angeles appeared to me to be a very proud city that
loved to educate people of its rich history and development as the main city of
the Olympic Peninsula. The city
has documented its past with a complex of attractive public murals and invested
in a lot of public art that produces a visually interesting pedestrian
experience.
Location: Historical marker sign describing watershed
and electricity development.
Location: First mural in a series depicting how the
first settlers, the Klallam Village I-enn-nus lived.
Location: Second mural depicting the arrival of white
settlers in 1889.
Location: Third mural showing growth of city by 1914; a
number of buildings dot the hills above the waterfront.
Location: Fourth mural – by 1914, the waterfront and
port have developed and are connected to the railroad.
Location: Fifth mural illustrating the coming of the
ferry and quick connection to Seattle and places beyond.
Some examples of
public art
Location: Waterfront statue of Cormorants on pier and
attached sign.
Location: Waterfront statue of octopus decoratively
dotted with local stones.
Location: Marine Life Museum sea creature sculpture
above front entrance.
Location: View of the Straights from the hills above
Port Angeles.
Port Angeles has a number of good restaurants and pubs along
the main drag and waterfront. We
enjoyed ourselves so much that we forgot to take photos of them.
Our next stretch of Rt. 101 was along the northern peninsula
rim to the Pacific Coast and down the coast to spend the night in Westport in
the Breakers Inn, a cute, quirky place with limited services but is the only
motel in US that has a go-cart track; seriously.
Location: Elwha River that washes into the Straights
of Juan de Fuca.
Location: Crescent Lake view from road.
Location: Wildflowers and thick vegetation dot the
roadsides of the Olympic Peninsula and western and central Washington.
Key moment: First sight of Pacific coast and beach.
Location: Rt. 101 South, Pacific coast, beach and an
island with a lighthouse are behind me.
Location: Patty Morrison with beach, island with
lighthouse behind her.
Location: Rt. 101 South, Pacific Coast Highway beach
view.
Location: Lake Quinault, Quinault Reservation
Location: Aberdeen, Washington, mural depicting growth
of town and port from the railroad and lumber.
Port Angeles survived the decline in the forest products
industry by thriving from tourism; Aberdeen has not thrived so we naturally
stayed on the coast in Westport, a cute and friendly beach town with a number
of good restaurants.
Location: Westport Beach and trail way for walking and
biking.
Location: Westport, fence near pizza restaurant
adorned with School of Fish metal sculpture.
If you don’t expect too much from Westport, you will be
nicely surprised.