Saturday, November 12, 2011

Dungeness Recreation Area and Port Gamble

Ever since we ate at the Oak Table Café in Sequim this past July, my husband has talked about how much he wants to go back there. They served the best breakfast he ever ate in his life, and he wanted to get one last taste before we leave.

So we headed to Sequim this morning. I figured we might as well make a day of it. We have less than two months to go, and this may very well be our last trip to the Olympic Peninsula.

First stop: Dungeness Recreation Area and National Wildlife Refuge

Dungeness National Recreation Area

This was a nice little detour, and I’m glad we did it. The GPS actually took us to a different area than the one I was trying to get to. But that’s fine, because I was actually able to get a picture of the lighthouse from there. It was really far away, so the picture turned out fuzzy, but the lighthouse was much, much further away from the viewpoint we had a little later on.

Dungeness Lighthouse

Using the GPS for the car and the one on my phone, we found the main entrance to the Dungeness Recreation Area off of Kitchen-Dick Road (I guarantee you won’t forget this name, but it is, apparently, difficult to find on a GPS).

After driving through the entrance and stopping for a bit to walk on the scenic bluff trail, we drove back to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. From the parking lot, it’s about a 3/8 mile walk through a wooded area to get to an overlook where you can see Dungeness Spit (you can walk down from there to the spit, if you want, but we opted not to).

After admiring the view for a few minutes, we turned around and walked back. It was pretty chilly (and I left my gloves in the car…oops!) and we were both getting hungry.

Next stop: Oak Table Café!

Breakfast for lunch was perfect on a gray, chilly Saturday. I got Eggs Benedict with potato pancakes (applesauce and sour cream on the side) and some fresh-squeezed orange juice. Absolutely delicious. I believe these were the best Eggs Benny I ever had. Lance got the same thing he ordered last time – a puffy bacon and swiss omelet (oven-baked) with three buttermilk pancakes.

Seriously, if you’re in Sequim around breakfast or lunchtime, eat at Oak Table Café. I promise you can’t go wrong. The food is exceptional and the service is great. Lance mentioned that he wants to sneak one more trip back here before we go. I have my doubts, but we’ll see.

After our meal, we didn’t really have any plans. However, I missed a chance to go to Port Gamble back in August and it was only a slight detour, so I suggested that we stop on the way back. Good plan.

Last stop: Port Gamble

Port Gamble General Store

A bit about Port Gamble: it’s a mill town – founded in 1853 - that’s now a National Historic Landmark. Browse the shops, which are located in historic buildings. The General Store was my favorite. Even though I think it’s too early for Christmas, it was so festively decorated and they were playing a cheerful mix of holiday tunes. Plus, they offered us free cookies when we came in. What’s not to like? They have a café in the back, as well as a museum. If you go up the stairs, they have some sea life displays that are interesting to look at. Even though we weren’t in Port Gamble for very long, we spent most of our time here.

They were doing a wine tasting too, but I didn’t partake, sadly. It was a bit crowded there. Looking at their website now, I guess they had a holiday open house. That would explain the crowds.

We spent maybe a half hour there, but the weather was looking threatening, so we decided to head home. The skies opened shortly after we left.

All in all, a great day. I didn't take as many photos as I would've liked, but here's my Flickr set.

Links:

- Dungeness Recreation Area
- Oak Table Cafe
- Port Gamble