Washington — Samish Island — and Chuck and Charlene

But first you gotta leave Oregon and see where Lewis and Clark wintered in 1805-06 just south of the Columbia River a couple of miles inland from the Pacific. It did not look like they had a good time.  Here is a view from Astoria OR, looking at the bridge across the river toward Oregon.

And on to Chuck and Charlene's home on Samish Island, looking onto the Puget Sound that is part of what is now called the Salish Sea. The first evening's sunset was, well, pretty nice, huh, Julie?
Chuck and Charlene are friends from Peace Corps days in Thailand and with whom we had visited in Washington DC years ago prior to their career in various parts of eastern Europe and Asia.

Ferries are like taxies here and we took one to Whidbey Island and again the cloudy, rainy northwest proved to be just myth for us.

In Port Townsend on Whidbey there was a Steam Punk festival. And, yes, I am seriously considering becoming a Steam Punk aficionado (check next photo).

Steam Punk is a genre of science fiction that features alternative history of 19th century England and to a lessor extent western US history that incorporates steam power and industrial capacity of the 19th century. 

Port Townsend also has nice beaches, replete with the washed up logs that populate northwest beaches.

Including a nice log on which to perch and take in some sun.

The old bridge, and only bridge, over Deception Pass off Whidbey Island is striking as are the exceptionally strong currents under the the bridge. Also a good place to view eagles. Seeing bald eagles is something we did several times with Chuck and Charlene, including seeing a fledgling in a nest. We also just plain had a great visit picking up right from old times.

In the far distance are the San Juan Islands and beyond them is Vancover Island. We were close to Canada and one day the four of us went to Bellingham, WA just a few miles south of Canada. Brisk would describe the weather.

As much fun as this trip up the west coast has been it is time to return to Colorado 

And some grandkids.