Rose Festival

The Portland Rose Festival is long finished, but the show in our garden is going strong. The old Blaze rose in the masthead has been blooming for a month and now the Jackman clematis has joined it.

We just completed hosting the neighborhood garden tour and the climbing Altissimo (rt.)was also spectacular.

On the Flikr page you can also see Cecile Bruner, Cocktail, New Dawn, Ellen's Joy, Mozart and Bonica views.

L., Ellen's Joy R., Mozart

Break Time

It was time for a break from the to-do list at home, so we took a week off for a trip. I'd never been to the Olympic Peninsula, so we went on a loop out to Astoria, up the west coast to Kalaloch beach and the rain forests, then to Victoria, B.C., and back down along Puget Sound.

We started with a visit to our friends the Wentworths in Astoria. Wonderful hosts, with a house overlooking the Columbia River, we enjoyed the local farmers market, attended a play, wandered the downtown sights, and kicked back with their dog Lily and friendly cats. We got to stay in 'Ellen's Annex' (formerly known as 'Maureen's Suite'), and look forward to more stays in their home.

Next we stopped at the coastal enclave of Kalaloch, in the Olympic National Park. With no other community nearby, it feels very wild on the beach. The seastacks and tidepools proved great for exploring. We hiked the beaches, up the trails into the rain forest, and visited Lake Quinault. There lots of eagles perched on coastal trees, and gigantic trees (and stumps) in the forests).

If you follow the signs to "Giant Spruce Tree" on the road, the first thing you see is this stump. Just beyond is an enormous tree, big enough to hide in. There were lots of wildflowers blooming on the trails including bog lilies (skunk cabbage). It's clear there is much more to explore here, but the area is vast, and remote. Most of the area is either National Park or Indian reservation, and access is limited. We finished up this part of the visit with a ramble through Port Angeles, WA, where the ferry departs for Canada.

We took the passenger ferry over, as we can stay central to the harbor and did not need a car to sightsee. Victoria is a charming city, wrapped around the central harbor. The neighborhoods are known for their gardens, and the city is bike and pedestrian friendly. Our next trip, we'll bring our bicycles over, and ride the many bike paths through the countryside. We can bring our bikes over on the ferry with no trouble and no reservation. There's a also a lot of kayaking to be done, but we generally go further north for those trips. This time, we just walked, and walked. The Empress hotel, on the harbor, is one of the grand Canadian Pacific Hotels and the landmark of Victoria. It shares the site with the Parliament buildings and the Royal British Columbia museum. We skipped Afternoon Tea at the Empress ($60) and instead had tea and scones with clotted cream at Murchies (tea purveyors to the Queen). Quite lovely. We also visited the exhibit of native totem poles at the museum, many of which are outside. Others collected starting in the 1820's are in an indoor display, and show a great variety in the native cultures. Upon visiting the harbor area again we found a native carver from Tofino working on a carved canoe paddle including orca, eagle, salmon and moon signs. If you visit us, you can get a better look at it on our living room wall.
After getting our now heavier and more numerous bags packed, we headed back over the Straits. Picking up the car, we also visited Port Townsend, WA and headed for home. It's Rose Festival time in Portland, so of course the cool, wet weather has returned. On the plus side, none of the plants baked in the sun, and I still have time to plant tomatoes.