After shopping, visitors can relax with high tea at the Tea Room (360-297-4225), which offers a multitude of sinful delicacies along with a wide selection of only the most proper teas. Upstairs in the historic General Store Building, you’ll find the Of Sea and Shore museum (360-297-7636; www.ofseaandshore.com), showcasing an impressive collection of shells and other natural history relics from the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

The Fort Gamble Historic Museum (open May through October and at other times by appointment) is downstairs in the same building. There you can see the original land grant deed, a re–creation of a 19th century Victorian parlor, and many heirlooms and artifacts from the early 1800s.

One of the best times of year to visit Port Gamble is late July, when the Kitsap Arts and Crafts Festival (360-297-2490; www.kitsapartsandcrafts.com ) comes to town. The annual three-day event features hundreds of vendors and craftspersons, drawing art collectors and decorators from across the region. Held outdoors along the bluffs of Gamble Bay, vendors display and sell their wares from open air tents, making it one of the few outdoor shopping experiences available to Pacific Northwesterners—all thanks to the rain shadow, of course.

The company-owned town of Port Gamble was created in the 1850s by timber barons from Maine.

Port townsend

Perhaps even more than Port Gamble, nearby Port Townsend feels like the town that time forgot. Originally settled in 1851, Port Townsend rose to regional prominence as a key port from which shipping companies could easily move goods east and west. The Union Pacific Railroad announced in 1888 that it would construct a rail link from Portland to Port Townsend, leaving trading rival Seattle out of luck. Eager to capitalize on the rail link, Port Townsend’s city fathers initiated a building boom to meet the increased demand for goods and services. But when plans for the link evaporated a few years later, so did the town’s dreams of becoming a major player in Pacific Northwest commerce.

But luckily for today’s visitor, the stately commercial buildings and elegant residential homes from Port Townsend’s heyday remain on display for all to see. The town’s main drag, Water Street, looks like it was taken right out of Seattle’s Pioneer Square, but here the brick warehouse buildings back right up to wharves on Admiralty Inlet, the ocean link between the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Puget Sound. Commercial trading no longer dominates the town’s economy, and the hospitality business rules the roost. The many restaurants and hotels lining Water Street in downtown Port Townsend keep up their 19th century appearances quite nicely, while grand Victorian mansions dot the uptown bluffs.

Some of the more notable eateries in Port Townsend include the historic Belmont Restaurant and Saloon (360-385-3007; www.thebelmontpt.com), located right on the waterfront, where diners seated in lace-shaded booths or on a deck overlooking Admiralty Inlet enjoy regional seafood delicacies; the Silverwater Café (360-385-6448; www.silverwatercafe.com), which serves up creatively prepared local cuisine in a more modern setting; and the Parisian-influenced Sweet Laurette & Cyndee’s Cafe & Patisserie (360-385-4886; www.sweetlaurette.com/cafe), where breakfasts, brunches and lunches complement a diverse assortment of fresh-out-of-the-oven pastries and cakes.

No visit to Port Townsend would be complete without at least strolling by some of the historic Victorian mansions built by the region’s kings of industry in the 1880s. It seems that keeping up with, if not trying to surpass, the Joneses was all the rage back then. One of the more impressive examples is the Ann Starrett Mansion (800-321-0644; www.starrettmansion.com), uptown on the corner of Clay and Adams. Besides taking a tour of the house, visitors can spend the night in one of the well-appointed Victorian bedrooms.

Outdoor and history buffs alike enjoy visiting Fort Worden State Park in Port Townsend. Fortifications, many of which are still in place, were constructed on the site between 1897 and 1911 in order to protect Port Townsend and Puget Sound from attacks by enemy armadas, none of which ensued. While Fort Worden is no longer a military installation, it does serve up enough hiking trails and rocky beaches to keep hikers happy for days on end. The park is also home to the Port Townsend Marine Science Center (360-385-5582; www.ptmsc.org), which features ongoing natural history and marine science exhibits, including the popular long-running display tracing the million-year history of salmon in the Pacific Northwest.

Port Townsend’s protected harbor offers lots of opportunities to get out on the water. Paddlers can rent and launch kayaks from PT Outdoors (360-379-3608; www.ptoutdoors.com). The Wooden Boat Foundation (360-385-3628; www.woodenboat.org) rents new and restored traditional wooden rowing boats to willing oarsfolk by the hour or day. The foundation attracts thousands of wooden boat enthusiasts to the shores of Admiralty Inlet each year in early September for its renowned Wooden Boat Festival.

Meanwhile, Puget Sound Express (360-385-5288; www.pugetsoundexpress.com) offers summer whale-watching and winter bird-watching excursions on its passenger boats departing from Port Angler (360-379-3763; www.ptangler.com), and also sign up for a class, workshop or guided trip in the streams and tidelands around town and beyond.

sequim

Meteorologically speaking, Sequim (pronounced “skwim”) is the Olympic rain shadow’s ground zero, usually getting just 16 inches of rain a year. Sequim makes sure to draw attention to its vaunted position as the driest spot on the Olympic Peninsula by hosting an Irrigation Festival ( www.irrigationfestival.com ) in early May every year. While it may seem like a joke to those on the wet western side of the Olympic Mountains, the festival was first held in all seriousness 112 years ago by pioneering settlers in the region to celebrate the construction of an irrigation ditch to bring water from the Dungeness River to the “brown and parched prairie” of Sequim. Today the tradition lives on, and is marked by a series of events including parades, arts and crafts displays, design contests, royalty pageants, logging shows, strongman competitions, and other classic Pacific Northwest festivities.

But not only are the soils productive in Sequim these days. Birdwatchers and fisherfolk take note: the estuary of Sequim Bay, where the Dungeness River empties its glacially silted fresh water into the salt water of the Strait of Juan de Fuca, is known as one of the most biologically diverse spots in the Pacific Northwest, with migrant and resident avian and marine life feasting on a veritable cornucopia of nutrients. Human seafood lovers will particularly enjoy a visit to Sequim’s famous beachfront restaurant, the Three Crabs (360-683-4264; www.the3crabs.com), where locally caught crabs, clams, and oysters titillate the taste buds.

Where do locals go to walk off a big seafood lunch at the Three Crabs? The Dungeness Spit, of course, a 5 1/2 mile-long natural sand spit extending north into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The spit itself is only a few dozen feet across at its widest, and the eastern side is off-limits to hikers as it is a part of a national wildlife refuge. More than 250 species of birds, 41 species of land mammals, and eight species of marine mammals have been recorded on or around the spit. It also is an important stopover for birds during migration. The 11-mile out-and-back hike to the end of the spit is one of the Pacific Northwest’s classic hikes, but even a short jaunt a few miles onto the spit is well worth an afternoon.

There is a lot more to do in Sequim, whether it’s getting face-to-face with wildlife at the Olympic Game Farm (360-683-4295; www.olygamefarm.com) or playing a hand of blackjack at the S’Klallam Tribe’s 7 Cedars Casino (360-683-7777; www.7cedarscasino.com). Many Sequim fans plan their visit for July, when the town comes alive with the color purple during its annual Lavender Festival (877-681-3035; www.lavenderfestival.com). Tens of thousands of lavender lovers descend on Sequim to tour farms and enjoy the festival street fair, noshing on Olympic coast cuisine and ogling crafts from Northwest artisans. Could there be a better way to spend a weekend?

Indeed, while many tourists speed right by the Olympic rain shadow towns of Port Gamble, Port Townsend and Sequim, those who stop will never forget the sights they see and the gracious hospitality they are sure to encounter. And best of all, they can leave their umbrellas in the car.

Northwest Travel January/February 2007

When You Go

GETTING STARTED

Obtain more travel information about the Western Washington rain shadow area by contacting the many organizations ready to welcome visitors:

Kitsap Peninsula Visitor and Convention Bureau (800-416-5615; www.visitkitsap.com), Port Gamble Web site (www.portgamble.com), Port Townsend Visitor Information Center (888-365-6978; www.ptguide.com), Sequim / Dungeness Chamber of Commerce (800-737-8462; www.visitsun.com), Greater Poulsbo Chamber of Commerce (360-779-4848; www.poulsbochamber.com)

ROAD TO THE RAIN SHADOW

Towns in the rain shadow can be accessed via Hwy 101 from Olympia or from Port Angeles. Ferries also take passengers from Seattle to Bainbridge Island and the Kitsap Peninsula. A ferry also departs from Edmonds to the Kitsap Peninsula. (206-464-6400; www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries)

A STOP AT POUSLBO

While on the road, be sure to stop by Poulsbo. The Norwegian-inspired town has a heritage dating back to the 1880s (360-779-4848; www.poulsbochamber.com).
Grab a cup of coffee and a bite to eat at the Poulsbohemian Coffeehouse, where you can check out the many events and activities hosted at the coffeehouse.

You may get to participate in creating the world’s longest scarf, or just sit and relax with your pooch on the Smoking Doggie Patio. (360-779-9199; www.homepages.donobi.net/pbch)

PORT GAMBLE

Discover the National Historic Landmark district of Port Gamble on a walking tour. Historic houses, a church, a stable, businesses, and even water tanks that date back from the 1850s to the 1920s line Hwy 104, Talbot Street, and Rainier Avenue. (360-297-8074; www.portgamble.com)

Treat yourself to a little bit of heaven at the Spa at Port Gamble, offering Champagne hydro baths, body wraps, massage therapy, and aromatherapy. (360-297-8889; www.spaatportgamble.com)

The Dauntless Bookstore’s cozy red building with white trim beckons booklovers to peruse its shelves for the perfect winter read. (360-297-4043; www.dauntlessbooks.com)

PORT TOWNSEND

The Castle Key Restaurant & Lounge, located within the elegant Manresa Castle, serves international fare with Pacific Northwest fresh ingredients. Crab cakes, coffee-roasted rack of lamb, and the chocolate nemesis are not to be missed. (360-379-1990; manresacastle.com/dining.html)

Enjoy the rain shadow’s pleasant weather along the Larry Scott Memorial Trail. The 3-mile trail skirts Port Townsend Bay and is open for biking, hiking, and horseback riding. The trailhead is accessed at the Port Townsend Boat Haven. (www.ptguide.com/
maps/map_trail_larryscott.html)

SEQUIM

Tigers, bears, wolves, and buffalo are among the many animals that make their home at the Olympic Game Farm. The farm is open for driving tours. (800-778-4295; www.olygamefarm.com)

The climate conditions in Western Washington’s rain shadow mean that golf can be played year-round. Two public courses, Dungeness Golf Course (800-447-6826; www.dungenessgolf.com) and SkyRidge Golf Course and Learning Center (360-683-3673; www.skyridgegolfcourse.com) are a golfer’s dream.