A quick road trip north to Port Angeles

By Michael Fitzgerald
Honest Traveler

SEQUIM, Washington, USA - The trip from Vancouver, Washington included two brief stops - one in Centralia to visit briefly with amiga Tia Richardson and her daughter Macy, then on to Olympia where we had lunch with Keighly Marshall and her fiance David Wimett.

Macy, Sylvia, Michael and Tia

We ate at the Fish Brewing Company (LINK: Fish Brewing) where the beer was great and the fish platters excellent. Keighly and David are living in Tacoma and will be married in Valois next August.

And the weather was beautiful - warm and sunny.

But before you decide to leave your raincoat at home, Tia Richardson told us that today was only the 9th good-weather-day this part of the Northwest has seen since the new year dawned.

The 9th! That said, we'll take it.

We landed at son Dustin's house mid afternoon in the town of Sequim, a few miles from Port Angeles. And immediately we took a walk down the nature trail right behind his house.

Tres cool as the French say. Tres cool.

Also within walking distance is a country-version of a Whole Food stores where we found more gluten-free items than in any stores in California.

Well, except for the store across from Dr. Pam DiTomasso's dental office aptly called The Gluten Free store.

Sequim, Washington... when the sun shines

Safely landed in Vancouver, WA

By Michael J. Fitzgerald
Honest Traveler

VANCOUVER, Washington, USA - Sylvia and I pulled out of the driveway of amigos Pam and Steve's house in Sacramento, California at 8:10 a.m. Friday, landing in Vancouver, Washington almost 10.5 hours to the minute at our friend Teresa Martin's casa.

You come through the maze of Portland, Ore. freeways to get here, not a bad drive even in traffic as the waterfront is spectacular to look at.

Dok Koon's family and staff

But the reward is Vancouver itself, a quiet little place - at least what we have seen so far.

Our only foray upon arrival was to head out to a Dok Koon, a Thai restaurant within walking distance of Teresa's. (We drove, it was late.) Dok Koon website

And as is our custom, we ordered enough food for four, and barely ate enough for one. (We were tired.) But the fried rice and vegetables were delicious, shrimp and vegetables excellent and the egg rolls tasty and delicate.

The wine selection was limited to Columbia Crest, which our amigo Steve said is a good label, The cabernet certainly was.

Gasoline prices along the way varied from a high of $4.09 for regular grade to a low of $3.55. You can guess where we filled up.

And the Tundra's mileage? Just right at 20 miles-per-gallon. Not bad for average 70+ miles-per-hour with that rig.

On to Port Angeles, Washington tomorrow.

Back in Sacramento, ready to, well, travel

SACRAMENTO, Calif., USA - We created this website while still in Mexico and, like many travelers, were so busy getting from Point A (Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico) to Point B (Sacramento, California) that this page was neglected and not updated.

Plus, in real Backpack Journalist style, we had to upgrade our hardware.

So light, it might float away

Thus, this entry is being written on a spiffy new MacBook Air, or, as I like to call it, my own iMike.

Yes, it is as light as the photo indicates. That was the entire idea.

Our next sojourn starts either late Thursday or early Friday with a drive from Sacramento to New York with stops in Portland, Oregon, Port Angeles WA, Bainbridge Island, WA, Port Townsend and, and, and...

Eventually we will turn the Toyota Tundra east and make it back to Watkins Glen.

Look for dispatches about the trip on this associated website: Honest Traveler Dispatches

Ciao...

The Honest Travelers begin their journey

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - The idea came in a dream, a dream fueled by some excellent Pinot Grigio and with help from amigos Marc Mendelsohn and Marci McMillan.

The idea?

Provide real travel information, information that has not been spit polished by magazines and travel sites beholden to advertisers or that pander to subscribers, telling them of the wonders of places, but not mentioning that there might a scorpions (human and insect) lurking.

As this is just a test post of a brand new website, it will take some time to develop a string of authors, links, and selected advertising. Or perhaps we should say, selective advertising.

More on all that later.

As of Sunday, March 10, 2013, The Honest Travelers have begun their journey.

The beach at Nuevo Vallarta