Sadly, time to leave. We have had a great time here visiting again; I like to visit places at least two times. The first time you are always busy trying to see everything and get a feel for the place, or at least I am. The second time you come back to a new place you can concentrate more on simply being there, and really enjoying the nuances and nooks and crannies of it.
The plan is get a rental car, pick up our friend and erstwhile warm shower host Todd (see Molly's post from our penultimate day of biking, as we climbed Snoqualmie Pass), and then drive to the Olympic Peninsula.
Step one: Get car. How do you get from one end of Fremont to the other to pick up a car, when you don't have a bike or car of your own, and are too cheap to get a cab? You run, of course. Which makes you feel even more superior to all the suckers stuck in traffic on a Tuesday morning trying to get to work.
So I guess Seattle isn't all rainbows, puppies, and cheap/free beer. There is evidently pretty bad traffic most days during rush hour. Well, that's why we bike, I suppose.
After a little shuffling back and forth through Seattle with our new found wheels, we acquire a free case of Fremont cans, pick up Todd, and make our way to the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Once there, we will drive along the edge of the peninsula. So first, to the docks. And look, the clouds are clearing a bit!
Todd is a quite accomplished photographer, so I start to try to do whatever he does. If he takes a low angle photo of a seagull, I do the same, and hope it turns out pretty good. This wasn't too bad, I suppose.
Our boat approaches.
Okay, this isn't the most moving of pictures, but I thought the dock looked cool, and somehow Molly's sandles and Todd's shoes just worked.
The ferry is large enough to hold several dozens of cars and trucks, and made this quite substantial tug little pretty tiny.
The day starting shaping up pretty nicely. Mostly clear skies, great views of the city.
And the Puget Sound, too.
I love the way that boats leave trails in the water, even log after they have passed. Something about the way the water churns from the screws seems pretty cool to me. Both very chaotic and regular at the same time.
I also just love being on boats.
The light on the water, the feeling of adventure. And the fact that we are going someplace we've never actually gone before, and that we get to ride a ferry to get there. We've made ferries more of this time of travel than we expected, which has been an unexpected bonus so far.
Molly, bundled up against the wind. She may not be quite as enamored of Seattle and boats as I, but is still definitely pro both.
Bainbridge: Still very Northwestern, but because of its fishing and logging roots, feels much more New England than Seattle. The small towns, and piers and docks help, too.
Okay, about to dock. Where did we park our car? Oh right, behind the tree truck. The junipers did smell pretty nice, and since they weren't full of pollen, didn't bother my nascent juniper allergy.
Todd knew a little bakery in the town of Paulsbo that has Doughboys. They are risen donuts, in the shape of a gingerbread man, iced with maple and decorated with chocolate. Not too shabby, Todd, not too shabby. The town itself is pretty awesome, again its the Northwest crossed with New England to form a great fishing/tourist village.
And then, into the Olympics. Greenery and mountains. Have I mentioned I love trees and mountains? I really do.
This is Todd. His photos are so much better than mine.
I'm sure his version of "Sun just over the top of the mountain" was ten times more awesome and "Oh my God that mountain has a thermonuclear reaction just on top of it" that mine was. But he's still cool. He's biked around the area so much he acted as an informal tour guide.
This is a cable crossing car over the Elwha River. We've seen a few of these over the last few months. You sit in the car, and hand over hand it across the cable.
The river was only 30-40 feet wide, but with its speed, and the banks being that high, it was really the only safe way to get across and stay dry. The river itself was the color of grey paint. It had been dammed for many years for hydro-electric power, and only very recently had the now not very useful dams been removed. The river is currently flushing itself of 50 years of built up silt, but according to Todd, salmon have already begun to spawn there again.
Crescent Lake, up in the mountains. The sunsets out here are just fantastic. *Ominous Cello* Huh?
*Ominous Cello* Wait, what's that?
KILLER DUCK!
ANOTHER ONE!
A WHOLE HERD OF THEM!
Fortunately, we managed to sic them on a group of tourists further down the beach. It wasn't pretty, and I'm sure getting these blood splatters out of my shirt will take a few washes, but at least we survived.
In any case, the lake, and its reflection, were lovely. Glacially formed, so supposedly rather deep. Todd made the point that using puddles and water, and low angled shots of them makes the reflection more stark, and thus makes your photo look better. I'm going to try that more often.
I'm also trying for low angles looking down objects. We'll see how much success I have.
A few more sunset pictures, as we drive on to the Rainforest Hostel.
We found this hostel because it was a suggested donation of $10 a person plus a small chore in the morning. Pretty good for travelers on a budget. It was a little disheveled when we showed up, and Jim the owner was beyond a little bit preachy (plus we had to listen to several long speeches about the Illuminati, crop circles, astral projection, and how all the bad things in his life were connected to government conspiracies). But he had a kitchen, a few beds, and it was much dryer than staying in a tent in the middle of a true temperate rain forest. He wasn't the first, and surely won't be the last slightly off person we'll meet.
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