Dateline August 16, 2019, Across to Whidbey Island
The Apple Capital. Our destination for the day was Wenatchee, known as the Apple Capital of the World. Crossing what they call the Inland Empire, you cannot help but marvel at the huge farms growing wheat and so much else; last year we had spent time at Grand Coulee Dam and learned what that project meant for irrigation, and you can read about the Columbia dams from that trip. The results out here are simply amazing.
Washington's rich soils and big-scale irrigation make it one of the most productive growing regions in the world. The state has something like forty thousand farms raising close to three hundred specialty crops, and it leads the whole country in apples, sweet cherries, pears, grapes, red raspberries, and hops; it is the second-largest wine producer in the nation, with more than seven hundred licensed wineries. We spent the night at the Wenatchee County Park, a wonderful campground right on the Wenatchee River.
Over to Whidbey. In the morning we enjoyed a fine drive up over the Cascades through Stevens Pass and down into Everett, where we caught the ferry at Mukilteo for the short crossing to Whidbey Island and the little drive on to John's brother Will's house.
Entertainment ought to be Will's middle name. We had a different style of cooking every night.
Cathy has a large, warm family, and it was a pleasure to spend time with her sister Beth, who had just bought a home in Langley out on Whidbey, and her brother Mark, who came out to visit from Bellevue.
Port Townsend. Will took us over to Port Townsend for a walk around the town. We rode the ferry across from Whidbey to Port Townsend, on the northeast corner of the Olympic Peninsula, leaving the car behind and walking on; the crossing runs about forty-five minutes, and the views are just great. Looking at the map we saw the town had an "uptown" and a "downtown," and when you step off the ferry you understand why, for uptown sits literally on a cliff five hundred feet above downtown. We wandered the shops along the way, Janice found a butter bowl she had to have, and we stopped at the Pizza Factory for a couple of excellent slices. On the way back the senior round-trip fare was a pleasant surprise, three dollars and twenty cents for two forty-five-minute boat rides, not bad at all.
