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Washington State

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We left Long Beach, WA on Saturday morning and drove north along the coast to Grayland, WA. We stopped briefly in the small fishing town of South Bend where the world’s largest oyster was caught! Here is a photo of it - if you can believe it!!!


Then we continued on to Grayland where their annual cranberry harvest festival was taking place. The area around Grayland is home to a multi-million dollar cranberry industry. Over a hundred years ago, farmers identified that the confluence of ocean sprays and marshy land would be perfect for cultivating cranberries. 

Most of the berries were harvested at this stage but we did see some of the cranberry bogs. 



We also stopped at a pumpkin patch where locals were buying pumpkins to decorate their houses for Halloween. 




Then we drove to Westport for the night and on to Olympia the following morning. On our way, we stopped and visited Millersylvania State Park where we went for a lovely walk in the forest. 



Olympia is the state capital but it doesn’t have the feel of a very large city. The weather was dull and wet at times but we did manage to fit in a lovely walk around Tumwater Falls, in a suburb of the city. 




The State Capitol building was completed in 1928 and is a very impressive building. Its dome at 87 metres high is the highest of its kind in the USA and the fifth tallest in the world. 



The grounds of the Capitol campus contains fountains and many pieces of sculpture. 




On Wednesday we drove to the charming town of Winslow on Bainbridge Island. The downtown area has many quirky independent shops to browse in and just a short walk away is the Eagle Harbor Marina with lovely views of sailboats and the still waters of the harbour. 






The following day we headed to Everett, our final stop before returning the car and heading to Seattle for the last four nights of our trip. To get to Everett we took the ferry across the Puget Sound to the quaint town of Edmonds. 

On Saturday we drove north along Chuckanut Drive, one of Washington’s scenic byways. It took us along the Pacific Coastal Highway and through some forest roads with beautiful autumnal colours. 





On Sunday we drove south to SeaTac to return the car. Our road trip was over and we headed to Seattle where we will spend our final 4 nights. 


Comments

  1. Anonymous23 October 2023 at 10:27

    Hi Therese and Sylvia, beautiful autumnal colours. Thank you for the blog , wonderful commentary and photos all the way.
    Enjoy Seattle.
    Mary

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous25 October 2023 at 10:46

    Hard to believe your road trip is over, enjoyed reading about it . Looking forward to seeing you both in a couple of days & hearing more about your adventure. In the meantime enjoy Seattle.

    Bernadette

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous25 October 2023 at 14:17

    It's been great to follow your adventures and your illustrated tour! Thank you for the wonderful photos all along the way. I hope that you really enjoy the last few days in Seattle and have a safe and pleasant journey home.
    All good wishes, Rosaleen

    ReplyDelete

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