A Month in Sequim, WA, Week Two

We're about halfway through our month in Sequim, WA and enjoying ourselves immensely. We've done and seen a lot of things but also had time to relax at home too...that's the beauty of a month in one place.

We rode a portion of the (ultimately) 130 mile long Olympic Discovery Trail. This paved, multi-use trail, when completed, will run from Port Townsend to La Push, WA, but currently has over 50 miles of completed segments. We chose to ride from Sequim's Railroad Bridge Park (home of the Dungeness River Audubon Center) to the convergence of Old Olympic Hwy and Hwy 101, about 7.5 miles, before we turned around. This was a lovely segment that took us through a mixture of pretty rural properties and forest.

Former railroad trestle bridge, now part of the Olympic Discovery Trail.

You can see fog lingering over the Strait of Juan de Fuca in the distance.

Happy cows get to look at the Olympic Mountains all day!

We'd seen these unique bird house creations at the Saturday market, then rode by the home of the artist.

From Sequim it's 15 miles to Port Angeles, then about another 20 up to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center in Olympic National Park. The visitor center sits on the edge of a hillside facing the heart of the Olympic Mountain range with a view to take your breath away.

The Hurricane Ridge Visitor Center has an impressive view,
and this photo shows only a small part of the mountain range.

We chose to hike the Sunrise Ridge Trail, mostly because it boasts big views and smaller crowds than the Hurricane Hill trail. The views along the trail were wonderful and it probably did have fewer people on the trail but we felt we could have knocked off the last mile of trail (from where it drops down a steep canyon before heading up to the base of Mt Angeles) and been just as happy with this hike. The "Y" trail junction mentioned in the trail link is not a worthy destination in itself, it has no view.

Sunrise Ridge also has an impressive view and steep drops too!

Taking a siesta under the trees.

We saw a family of Blue Grouse and I managed to catch a shot of this youngster,

Another day we did some exploring on Miller Peninsula, the Peninsula enclosing the East side of Sequim Bay (we are staying on the West side of Sequim Bay). First we drove past a local oddity: Troll Haven. I learned about this place from Roadside America, and though we could not enter the property it was fun to see some of the funky details as we drove by.

Guarding the gap in the fence.

Dozens of uniquely carved fence posts surrounded the property.

A unique venue you can rent for your own event!

A little further onto Miller Peninsula we came to the hike of the day, our trail to Thompson Spit. The State has owned a chunk of land on the Peninsula for about 10 years and is still trying to fund the development of a new state park. Fortunately the State has not banned access to this land and we took a lovely 4.5 mile RT hike here.

The first mile of trail is nice, but the last mile is extremely pretty.

Good camouflage!

We popped out of the forest here...

And came out on to the Strait, face to face with this wonderful view of Protection Island with Mt Baker just beyond it.
We had this lovely beach all to ourselves!

If you like farm-to-table restaurants, Nourish is a lovely place for a tasty meal. There is seating in the garden or the greenhouse and the food is thoughtfully prepared with the highest quality ingredients. We found it to be a little expensive, but worth it for a splurge lunch.

Lavender and herbs scent the air in the garden.

Seating in the greenhouse. The tables are made from pallets.

We've also discovered our new favorite grocery store in this area: Sunny Farms Country Store. Located on the West edge of Sequim, right on highway 101, this store has bountiful produce and all the usual items you'd find at a health food store. This is an especially good find since the Sequim farmers market is decidedly lacking in produce.