oh washington

in the olympic mountains

as a bonus, the flight from san jose to seattle offered me a spectacular view of crater lake in oregon, then a series of volcanic peaks in the cascades that i couldn't identify, and finally the two really big ones: mt. ranier and mt. baker. the plane circled over puget sound and there was one of the iconic washington state ferries making its way across. i could see the space needle and the black glass columbia tower, the tallest building in seattle, where i once had a drink of the very top floor with a slightly amorous colleague. i was happy to be coming back to this beautiful part of the world.

i was headed for port townsend on the olympic peninsula to visit friends peggy and pamela. port townsend is an attractive old town right at the north end of the sound.

downtown port townsend

there is a small but interesting marine science center

which houses at the moment a young giant pacific octopus. it sounds silly to say this, but i watched her for a long time and felt she had a real personality. one of the volunteers pointed out so many amazing things about her abilities, and her anatomy, including the fact that her brain is in a ring shape so it can be compressed as she moves into narrow spaces. we watched while she moved around her tank and then tried to get a half-digested clam away from a large starfish. she will be released soon and eventually have a tentacle spread of 20 feet.

port townsend has some lovely beaches and bluffs

and a fine farmer's market

with carrots in colors and fabulous wild mushrooms

and also a very strange festival that speaks of its past as a place for hippies and freaks. it's called the "kinetic sculpture festival"

home-made vehicles driven only by human power must race on land, in water, and through a mudpit. the space cow bus was one of the largest, with about eight people peddling frantically inside.

the winner was zorba the zucchini,  a much smaller contraption driven by a woman from california.

{more to come...}