J and I went away for a few days last week. I wished that we had a real vacation but I had to take what I could get. It was challenging finding a place to stay. The Olympic Peninsula is very popular and there aren't a lot of towns to stay in. Even in Port Angeles (which is a bit grubby) the Super 8 wanted $200 a night. Most people camp but my camping days are over!
I found a place in Seiku which is right next to Clallum Bay. About an hour west of Port Angeles on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Port Renfrew, BC is on the other side.
My review of Curley's (where we stayed for two nights).
I had thought it was a cabin (from the photos online) but it was basically a large motel room. One bed in the main room with a kitchenette and TV. Another bedroom. We could've brought the boys! We weren't sure if we could find breakfast nearby so we brought things to cook. By the Bay Cafe was a very short walk and had good breakfast options.
The motel room was very dark due to wood paneling. I wasn't able to sew there. We sat on the dock for a bit one evening so I would have better lighting. The walls were super thin. Jonathan had trouble sleeping one night since a neighbour had left their TV on at 2 am. The TV had streaming services (Amazon Prime) so we could find something to watch.
We left home on a Tuesday. We took the Edmonds ferry to Kingston. It was cloudy and cool when we left.
We stopped for lunch in Port Gamble General Store. I noticed a quilt store in Port Gamble and I'd like to visit it some day. It has a fun name - Quilted Strait. Port Gamble is very charming with lots of old houses and a beautiful old church on the main street.
There is a museum above the cafe with an amazing collection of shells and other sea life.
After we settled in at Clallum Bay/Seiku, we ate supper at By the Bay in Seiku, outside with this view.
Seiku is a fishing village. Most people are there to fish. A older couple staying at our motel was set up at a table outside dividing salmon into vacuum sealed bags for taking home.
We asked our waitress about a good place to see the sunset and she told us about a spot by the lightkeeper's house. The view was amazing.
The waves were quite high. Very quiet. We only saw one man there fishing. We saw a sea otter eating a fish in the water. An otter came out of the water, up onto the beach not far from us and then went into the tall grass.
Wednesday we had breakfast at By the Bay. It was much busier than the night before. Our wait was quite long since they were understaffed. We drove to Lake Crescent. You see lots of logging trucks on the Peninsula.
I had hoped that we could use our inflatable kayak on the lake but we realized that the weather wasn't conducive. Rainy and windy. The hotel wasn't renting boats like it normally does, due to weather.
We had lunch at Lake Crescent. I had a salmon chowder which was very good.
We had a bit of a dilemma about what to do in the afternoon.. One of my other ideas was going to a wild beach on the coast but one of the main ones is closed for road construction. We decided to go to Cape Flattery.
Cape Flattery is located in Neah Bay. It is on a native reservation. You have to purchase a recreation pass for 20 dollars. Sort of like a national park.
There is a short hike required to get to Cape Flattery. The path is quite narrow in parts so many times you have to step aside to let other pass by (going the other way).
The funny thing about Cape Flattery is that the last time that J and I were there was pre-kids (probably in 2001) and this time it was without our kids! Cape Flattery is the most northwestern point of the contiguous US.
It is a beautiful place. You can also see Tatoosh Island from the end of the trail. There is a lighthouse there.
Wednesday night we had supper at Breakway Cafe in Clallum Bay. I was disappointed. There weren't many choices. I had clam chowder. It was alright but not that exciting. I thought maybe I could supplement my soup with something from By the Bay but they were closing when we arrived. There are only 2 places to eat in the area, at least that we could find.
We stopped in a fish tackle shop across the street. It was a good idea since we learned that the current catch is salmon and the man inside told us that they can sometimes be seen jumping out of the water in Seiku bay!
I found this on the beach on Thursday morning.
On our way out of town on Thursday we stopped at one of the few shops in Clallum Bay. It was labelled an antique store but it had a variety of things. We learned a lot about the area from the lady behind the counter. She told us about history of the lightkeeper's house. J wants to buy the house (maybe with some other people) and turn it into a restaurant or a B&B or a retreat centre. The Coast Guard owns it right now. It has a lot of potential. One drawback is the windy road that takes you to Port Angeles from Clallum Bay. I didn't take a photo but I found these on the Internet.
The house isn't being properly kept up. The local people complained that the flag was in tatters and the grass wasn't mowed. It really needs painting and doesn't look as nice as the above photo.
We stopped in Sequim for lunch. We ate at the Oak Table and that was a good choice.
The views from Seiku were tremendous.
The lady we met in the store has an Air BnB on the Strait and we might look into staying there next year. It has a pretty high price but she says it holds up to 8 people so perhaps we could share it with another couple.
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