Hop-on Hop-off Tour - Portland OR

RATING: ♦♦♦

We find that the best way to discover a city is to take a tour, preferably a hop-on hop-off tour, if there’s one offered. We’ve spend most of the summer so far hovering around Oregon as we wait for a part for our motorhome jacks. It was time to explore the state’s main city, Portland!

It was Saturday, and one of the stops along the way was the huge Portland weekend outdoor market by the river. It was fabulous! So many wonderful local craft and food vendors. We ended up spending most of the morning there.

The second thing we wanted to be sure and do was take the Portland Aerial Tram. It’s a gondola that carries commuters between the South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University campus. The tram travels a horizontal distance of 3,300 feet and a vertical distance of 500 feet. It was just high enough to get a great view of the city, and we could see Mt. Hood and Mount St. Helens in the distance.

After the tram ride up and down, we walked a couple of blocks to Portland’s famous Blue Star Donut shop. After eating our share of wonderful donuts, David needed to straighten his back and take a quick nap on the picnic table.

We stayed on the trolley for the rest of the tour, as it was getting late. But we had a fun driver/tour guide who gave us lots of history of the area. If we ever make it back to Portland, we will definitely take time to go to the International Rose Test Garden. That was one of several stops we would have liked to have seen.

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Olympic Peninsula - Jefferson County WA

RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦

Evergreen SKP Coho Park in Chimacum provided a great home base for us to explore the Olympic Peninsula. We explored as much as we could over our week stay in the area. Our two favorite places were Sequim and Port Townsend.

Sequim (pronounced “Squim”) is located at the tip of the peninsula on the Strait of Juan de Fuca, with the Olympic Mountains to the south.

Sequim enjoys the ideal climate for growing lavender, and over the past 20 years, it has become “America’s Provence”.  The small downtown area is home to three lavender shops. The light posts and benches are painted lavender, and the local lavender farms draw thousands during lavender season.

It was hard to decide which farms to visit, as they are all different and unique. We chose Jardin du Soleil, a 10-acre certified organic farm, and Purple Haze, a 12-acre farm also certified organic. Both farms invited visitors to wander through the fields, take pictures, and experience the wonderful color and fragrance of lavender.

At Jardin du Soleil, the lavender harvest was in full swing. The plants reach their peak bloom in July and August. Workers were cutting the flowers and tying them into bundles to sell. Some of the cut flowers would be made into bath and body products, aromatherapy and herbal products, etc. to be sold in their gift shop.

The fields at Purple Haze seemed a bit more formal, with rows alternating colors of lavender and yellow. There was a designated area where visitors could cut their own lavender. In addition to the fields and gift shop, the farm included an ice cream stand and beverage stand, as well as bunnies, chickens, and peacocks.

The Sequim Lavender Festival and Lavender Weekend are held annually at the end of July.

We also visited the beautiful Railroad Bridge Park and Dungeness River Audubon Center that are nearby.

Port Townsend was just a few miles from our campground, so we visited several times. The town’s official website describes it perfectly as having a “maritime heritage, artist spirit, and a touch of urban chic.” It is charming. We would say it ranks as one of our favorite places we’ve visited in our travels.

There was early speculation that the city would be the largest harbor on the west coast of the U.S., and many beautiful Victorian homes were built during the late 19th century. The port was large and could accommodate overseas vessels. Shipping of goods and timber from the area was a major part of the economy.

But then the depression hit, and the railroad that was supposed to end in Port Townsend, instead ended on the east side of Puget Sound. This contributed to the rapid growth of Tacoma and Seattle. For Port Townsend, the boom was over.

Over the decades that followed, Port Townsend maintained its economic stability in a variety of ways, including the development of artillery fortifications at Fort Worden. The area is now home to the Navy’s primary munitions handling dock on the Pacific coast.

Since the 1970s, new residents, including many retirees, have moved to town, building new homes as well as restoring the Victorian buildings that had been preserved for nearly 100 years. The waterfront retail district has unique local restaurants, shops, and galleries.

Fort Worden is now a state park where festivals, concerts, and theater performances are held. It is a popular place during the summer. Many people like to mention that the movie “An Officer and a Gentleman” was filmed here. There’s also a wonderful sandy beach out on the point, which is a perfect place to watch the big ships pass by.

The Port Townsend Historic District is a U.S. National Historic Landmark District.

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Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument - Castle Rock WA

RATING: ♦♦♦♦♦

If there is a theme to our last few weeks of traveling, it should be volcanos. Our route has taken us along much of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, which has included stops at Lava Beds National Monument, Crater Lake, Newberry Volcano, and now Mount St Helens. We hope to also visit Mt Rainier.

Mount St Helens is best known for its explosive eruption on May 18, 1980. An earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused the eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain’s summit from 9,677 ft to 8,363 ft, leaving a mile wide horseshoe-shaped crater.

We drove for about an hour and a half along a winding mountain road from our campground to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, which sits on a bluff about 5 miles from the crater. From there, we had incredible views of the mountain and much of the 1980 blast zone.

Outside, there are ranger talks and hiking trails in addition to the wonderful scenery. Inside, there is a small museum with displays and eye witness accounts from eruption survivors. After watching a historical film, the screen goes up, and the curtain opens to windows overlooking the mountain. Dramatic!

The long drive to and from the observatory was well worth it. There are many places to pull over and see the mountain from different angles. And it’s amazing to see how the landscape has regrown. Trees are tall, thick, and green as far as the eye can see. Flowers are everywhere.

Website: Mount St Helens National Volcanic Monument

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