Harborside

We stopped in Port Townsend, WA overnight and ended up staying two nights. Even though the room was directly next to a marina wherein loading and unloading of boats took place from sunup to well beyond dark...It was very enjoyable. An enclosed deck gave us a breathtaking view of the bay. The town is a quaint victorian themed area. The thought that it was to be the west coast "New York" was held by the town fore-fathers back in the 1880s. However, when a depression ensued and the railroad fell into receivership, many homes were totally abandoned and beautiful enormous downtown buildings in the middle of being built were never completed. The town literally stood still until the early 1970s when it was rediscovered. Most places were well preserved and brought back with slight renatovations to now house shops, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment. On the bluff of the town, lies an enormous garden park. Originated by the uppper class women in the 1800s, they wanted a park of great reputation as in larger cities. Once housing gazebos, band concerts, and amphitheatre. We walked through flower gardens, an archway of blooms, and then down to the shoreline to observe the ferry docking, and see the lighthouse at the far end of the point. We visited the Port Townsend museum, 2nd floor temporarily located in a vintage building with a decidedly rolling and slanted floor! Young Parents! Take note!-I do NOT want to listen to your squalling, squealing children while paying a premium price to visit a museum. We had barely been there 5 minutes when this unfortunate incident happened. The mother of this child decided that she would follow ME around the museum. Wouldn't attentive parents have discerned the reason WHY this poor child was screaming? It so happened that it was about lunch time and obviously the baby needed to be fed and napped... But these rude people thought only of themselves and not a jot of ruining a quiet, idle time for others to browse a very interesting musuem of history. Our museum tour then took us to the Rothschild Home; a perfectly preserved home of the local merchantile agent who committed suicide in 1886 after the town went bankrupt. He left behind his wife, 3 sons and 2 daughters. The youngest daughter became a librarian, staying home for the rest of her life, becoming a spinster to take care of her elderly mother. Everything that was in the home from the 1800s is still there, ALL the furnishings, ALL the floor coverings, ALL the clothing. Very eerie stepping back into time. Partaking of a hotdog street vendor that had been in business since 1981, we returned to our hotel room to take a brief nap and recover from our extensive walking. After a brief respite, we then walked around the local boatyard and talked to the locals about the services & vessels being repaired there.