HOME OF THE BRAVE

Day 4. – Port Townsend
50 km

A very nice ride down Whidbey Island to the Port Townsend ferry. Crossing Hood Canal we saw sea lions, jelly fish and even a salmon. Port Townsend has preserved its Victoiran past – virtually all of the buildings in the main part of town date from the late 19th century. Obviously a tourist town, but also apparently a capital of counter culture. Walking the main street felt like being on a movie set, with “characters” everywhere. A youngish woman dressed in baggy clothes played a monotonous new-agey tune on a home-made wooden recorder. Four young guys sitting next to the sidewalk were “jamming” with a couple of guitars they barely knew well enough to strum.

From our campsite we can see a US Navy installation of some kind across Hood Canal. And we can still hear the occasional muscle-flexing rumble of fighter jets from the Whidbey Isl air base. For that matter, we’re camped at Fort Townsend, an old military fort from the 1850s, of which nothing now remains but weathered signage marking locations for the officer’s quarters, etc. From this spot It’s hard not to notice how large a role the military plays in America.