Thirty-four years of marriage deserves a celebration! So that’s what we did recently. We collected our snacks, packed our bags, and headed for the Edmonds Ferry. We were off to the Olympic Peninsula.

The Cascades from the Edmonds Ferry

Don’t let the sunshine fool you. The fountain at the Mexican restaurant was a pretty good thermometer for our get-away!

We stayed at the Port Gamble Guest House. It was a beachfront home, well equipped and delightfully decorated.

The town is very small, but cute. (Cute is good!) We walked from our house up the hill, past the cemetery, and into town. The General Store was built in 1916. Household items, clothing, and gifts fill the store these days. On the second floor mezzanine you’ll find the Sea and Shore Museum. Our dinner in the cafe was tasty and satisfying.

While studying the map, Tom discovered a river called the Dosewallips. That intrigued us. An 8-mile road ran along the north side of the river. Looking south on the map we found the Duckabush River with a road of the same name. Bingo! We had our plan for the afternoon.

The Hood Canal Bridge is just past Port Gamble. After crossing the bridge we began to gain elevation. The distant trees seemed to have been dusted with powered sugar. The nearer trees were wearing thick icing.

The Olympics from the Hood Canal Bridge

Dosewallips River with Mount Mystery in the distance

Time for the requisite trip selfie!

These two river roads lead to hiking, camping, and fishing for hearty outdoors folks. We’ll have to up our game of walking through the neighborhood before we would consider hiking these trails!

Here are some random photos from Port Townsend where we hung out for a while before catching the ferry to Coupeville on Whidbey Island.

in 1885 this was a clam cannery

Fort Warden Lighthouse & Boathouse

The Cascades from Port Townsend

Time to go home. The snowy Skagit foothills greeted us on Hwy 20. Barns replaced the water scenes. And the river names seemed less exotic.

Ir was a low-key trip. Just what we needed to refill our tanks and make sweet memories.

I didn’t identify who took which photo, but there are some from both of us here. Tom drives. I keep my phone ready to snap what is whizzing by! We pooled our pictures to fill out the post. It’s fun to share the photography bug with my favorite travel partner.

Blessings,
Ginger and Tom

P.S. In case enquiring minds want to know, here are the meanings of the two river’s names.

The name Dosewallips comes from a Twana Indian myth about a man named Dos-wail-opsh who was turned into a mountain at the river’s source.[5] There are also several Klallam legends about the “Great Changer”, Doquebatl, who transformed a mythical Klallam chief into a mountain at the headwaters of the Dosewallips River. In another story Doquebatl changed a woman into Mount Rainier and her son into Little Tahoma.[6]

The name “Duckabush” comes from the Twana placename /dəxʷyabús/, meaning “place of the crooked-jaw salmon”.