Port Townsend
My day started off in quite the nom-licious manner as I followed up a wonderful breakfast with one of the pieces of chocolate from Fran's. This piece, a smoky, salty caramel coated in rich chocolate, may or may not be from the collection allocated for my guys.
We left a bit early to reach the ferry which would take us across Puget Sound, and though there was a bit of a wait, it was nice enough out to let the windows be open and enjoy the air. The ferry can carry 122 cars across the water and were always filled to capacity. During the trip across you can wander around the decks to grab a bite to eat or stand outside for pics. This panorama is from our return trip, but it'll give you an idea of how nice the day was.
While being shuttled across, another ferry runs counter to our course, and we can just barely see others mulling about as we were. Personally, I like the pic as it shows just how pronounced the clouds were.
Suddenly, my Monkey Sense was tingling, and I turn to see rlegters and tdjohnson chuckling at something. Clearly, they were plotting against me in some maniacal fashion which could only mean one thing: COFFEE.
Port Townsend is a nice town. More modern than Astoria, but it does maintain its historic importance at the same time. Lots of little shops and cafes line the streets, we heard bagpipes being played, numerous jugglers, and other festivities were being held, which we think was tied into Memorial Day celebrations. The town was lively, but not crowded, which suited me quite well.
One of the stores we ducked into was a Native American crafts store, and I found this little crab amongst the plushies. The face on the back of the crab reminded me distinctly of the Heike Crabs from Japan, where the shells of the crab have an uncanny resemblance to the scowling faces of the samurai masks. This ties into the end of the Tale of the Heike, where the Taira clan were forced to fling themselves overboard to drown rather than being caught and killed by the Minamoto forces, and those drowned souls were believed to have been reincarnated as these crabs. The crabs are real, mind you, and I was probably droning on and on at R & T about the story.
After having lunch at a cafe, we stepped outside to find ourselves accosted by a tiny white dog. This little guy was hopping on his back paws while his front ones bobbed up and down in the begging motion, all complete with a truly pathetic whimper. He got *everyone's* attention, but we had just enough sense not to feed him.
The return trip was uneventful, though quicker than the outset as we didn't have the wait at the ferry port. The breeze was much cooler, so our meanderings were cut a bit short. We're home now, relaxing and being entertained by cats. I think I'll teach R & T how to play Zombie Fluxx later tonight.
We left a bit early to reach the ferry which would take us across Puget Sound, and though there was a bit of a wait, it was nice enough out to let the windows be open and enjoy the air. The ferry can carry 122 cars across the water and were always filled to capacity. During the trip across you can wander around the decks to grab a bite to eat or stand outside for pics. This panorama is from our return trip, but it'll give you an idea of how nice the day was.
While being shuttled across, another ferry runs counter to our course, and we can just barely see others mulling about as we were. Personally, I like the pic as it shows just how pronounced the clouds were.
Suddenly, my Monkey Sense was tingling, and I turn to see rlegters and tdjohnson chuckling at something. Clearly, they were plotting against me in some maniacal fashion which could only mean one thing: COFFEE.
Port Townsend is a nice town. More modern than Astoria, but it does maintain its historic importance at the same time. Lots of little shops and cafes line the streets, we heard bagpipes being played, numerous jugglers, and other festivities were being held, which we think was tied into Memorial Day celebrations. The town was lively, but not crowded, which suited me quite well.
One of the stores we ducked into was a Native American crafts store, and I found this little crab amongst the plushies. The face on the back of the crab reminded me distinctly of the Heike Crabs from Japan, where the shells of the crab have an uncanny resemblance to the scowling faces of the samurai masks. This ties into the end of the Tale of the Heike, where the Taira clan were forced to fling themselves overboard to drown rather than being caught and killed by the Minamoto forces, and those drowned souls were believed to have been reincarnated as these crabs. The crabs are real, mind you, and I was probably droning on and on at R & T about the story.
After having lunch at a cafe, we stepped outside to find ourselves accosted by a tiny white dog. This little guy was hopping on his back paws while his front ones bobbed up and down in the begging motion, all complete with a truly pathetic whimper. He got *everyone's* attention, but we had just enough sense not to feed him.
The return trip was uneventful, though quicker than the outset as we didn't have the wait at the ferry port. The breeze was much cooler, so our meanderings were cut a bit short. We're home now, relaxing and being entertained by cats. I think I'll teach R & T how to play Zombie Fluxx later tonight.