Monday night - 9/11 - Sequim, WA

It’s late Monday evening and I had trouble getting to sleep so I thought I’d toss off a blog since I missed yesterday.

One of the northwest US phenomena is the ubiquitous coffee shop on every corner and in every parking lot; at least it seems that way. I wanted to get a photo of one of the many drive thru espresso / java shops that dot the area, but never found exactly the right one. Yesterday during a drive over to Port Angeles, we saw one – still not exactly representative of the drive-thru coffee joints – but the sign said “Espresso – Guns”. Seemed like a lethal combination: legal stimulants and deadly force! So we drove around to the other side and got the full story. Still would like to find one of the stand-alone stands in the middle of the hardware store parking lot. Only in the northwest – home of Starbucks!

The good weather continues to last in Sequim. Highs in the low 70’s and evenings in the mid 40’s. But Fall is supposed to arrive Thursday with rain and lower temperatures. We are planning to leave town Wednesday and get through the Seattle traffic before inclement weather arrives.

We’ve been fortunate on this long journey to have not driven in heavy rain. The only “bad” weather was serious wind in central Washington. Of course there was the tornado that just missed us in northern Texas, but that was in the evening while we trying to sleep! It went on to kill 3 folks in a town we had driven through earlier in the day. Wayne’s Weather Word: don’t drive in the mid-West in early Spring or early Fall. I think we’ll try to avoid it by going a more northerly route home.

Margaret continues to improve and gets more feisty every day. In other words, more like normal!

Tomorrow we’ll wrap up with some last-minute provisioning at the local Costco and other shops. Tend to some last-minute fine dining at a local restaurant and tie up some business loose ends for heading out.

Shell and Lynn have been great hosts during this stopover in Sequim. Their home and home-site continue to be beautiful with views of the Olympic mountain range, the Straits of Juan de Fuca and Canada (Vancouver Island). We have also been treated to rare views of Mt. Baker – a long way inland and close to the Canadian Border – another in the string of dormant volcanoes stretching from Canada into northern California. Of course, Mt. St. Helens upset that dormancy back in 1980. The string of large volcano cones include: Baker, Rainier, Adams, Hood, St. Helens, Lassen, and Shasta. On a really clear day it is possible to all of them from an airplane (at altitude). It is quite impressive.

More tomorrow if possible. Otherwise, I’ll write from the road – hopefully in central Washington on the east side of the Cascades.