Sept 18/12
Sun shone down upon us once again. Hit downtown Port Townsend late morning. On the way, we spotted an interesting building on the hill and made our way there to check it out. Turned out it is the Jefferson County Court House. Looked just like the old municipal/court buildings you see in the movies - high ceilings; wide stairways with ornate railings; intricate tile floors; dark, beaded wainscoting; interesting masonry and beautiful woodwork.
Sun shone down upon us once again. Hit downtown Port Townsend late morning. On the way, we spotted an interesting building on the hill and made our way there to check it out. Turned out it is the Jefferson County Court House. Looked just like the old municipal/court buildings you see in the movies - high ceilings; wide stairways with ornate railings; intricate tile floors; dark, beaded wainscoting; interesting masonry and beautiful woodwork.
Downtown had lots of interesting little stores. Unfortunately, we only saw about half of what was on the main street, plus there was another couple of blocks of stores one block over, and the stores on the cross streets. We spent a couple of hours wandering around, and made a few purchases. Had lunch at a little family-run Mexican restaurant called La Isla. Pat and I had stopped outside, and a local woman walked by and said the food was really good. So we went and got the guys and headed in for a great, and very reasonably priced, meal. Then the hunt was on for some crab and groceries. Hit the Safeway for groceries – that was easy. However, it turns out crab season is just about over in these parts, so the first shop was sold out, but he directed us to another place with live crab. They killed and cleaned for us, and we headed back to the campground.
Robin and Smitty took a bit of a walking tour around the Fort grounds and hiked up Artillery Hill. They found an old brig, some interesting plaques (click on the image to enlarge and read), a time capsule and quite a view from the Northeast point of the Olympic Peninsula. Pat and I stayed behind to rest some aching body parts.
The crab feast was incredible. Lots of melted butter with garlic, a loaf of sour dough bread, some coleslaw and white wine. Yum, yum!! However, one of the crab claws “twitched” when we opened the cooler, even though the "body" had been removed. A bit unnerving, but the pot of boiling water soon put an end to any of that nonsense. We had four “small” crabs, and probably would have had enough with just two, definitely no more than three. So we have lots left for tomorrow. Good thing we don’t eat like this every night. A quiet evening around the fire (except for the jets flying overhead periodically).