Our 24 hours in Port Townsend felt a little like that.
We had a rocky start, arriving to find the historic campground booked out and every hotel room in the town full of happy travelers that were not us. Our only in-town option was the County Fairground, which kind of felt like we might get murdered in our sleep. Stressed, cold, and tired, we looked at options C-E (the fairground being option F). Option C was Oak Bay Campground, a county-operated park 20 minutes from town. It ended up being heaven on earth and was only at about 15% of its capacity. It was possibly the most beautiful campsite we have stayed at so far: our site was at the very edge of Oak Bay in Puget Sound and was surrounded by trees, providing us with a fairly private little enclave for the grand price of $25 for the night.
The accommodation box ticked, we Yelped nearby dining options. We found a delightful local restaurant, Scampi & Halibut Seafood Grill, where we had a few drinks and stuffed ourselves to the gills with delicious fresh seafood. Happy, warm and full, we climbed in the back of the ‘roo later that night and fell asleep listening to the waves lapping the edge of the bay.
We woke up to the sun rising over Puget Sound and drank our coffee whilst marveling at our little corner of the universe and musing that we would spend a week in that exact spot if we could.
From there, we went into Port Townsend. Months earlier, we had booked to make our wedding bands under the guidance of boutique jeweler Stephanie at With These Rings. We knew from the outset that making each other’s rings was the right option for us, but we didn’t expect it to be such a rewarding experience, or to be so thrilled with the outcome. We left feeling happy, in love and rather accomplished at having just smithed wedding bands out of raw gold.
Stephanie gave us a hot tip to stop off at the Finnriver Cidery on our way out of town. Not quite ready to leave the Olympic Peninsula, we decided to stop in. The place was vibing with happy locals sitting in the sun, drinking cider, munching pizza and listening to a live bluegrass band. We managed to get a free cider tasting board with a token Stephanie had given us (combined with some sweet talking in an Australian accent), ate a remarkably good kale pizza that had been cooked in an old buoy (side note: Americans pronounce this ‘boo-ee’, Australians pronounce this ‘boy’), and I even had my first taste of apple cider donuts.
As we pulled out of Port Townsend and drove along the beautiful Washington coastline it occurred to me I may have just had one of the best days of my life.
This is utterly lovely. Miss you guys. (But you’ve clearly spent too much time on the West Coast if you describe a place as “vibing”.) Seriously though, trip of a lifetime, very jealous, can’t wait to catch up next year 🙂
Awww. We miss you guys, too! Can’t wait to see you all again! I’m putting ‘vibing’ in every one of my posts from now on, just for you… Lucky the next one is about Portland, so it’s a good fit.