Hello Port Angeles

We pulled into Port Angeles on a gorgeous Friday around noon o'clock.  Just like our apartment in Longview, we were entering our new establishment for the next 3 months on blind faith.  We set our standards pretty high, please don't smell like cat piss (reference to Longview apartment). We crossed our fingers as we opened the door to our new place, held our breathe, then sucked in the air.  What we received in return was crisp clean air.  As we walked up the stairs, to our upper floor duplex, our view opened to a huge open space with natural light flooding the entire floor.  To the south a view of Olympic National Park and to the north a partial view of the harbor.  We fell in love with Port Angeles right away.  I remember when Martha told me we had Port Angeles as our next assignment, I was not happy at all, it did not sound appetizing.  I am slowly learning to stop judging a "book by its cover." While unloaded our car and settling in, we met our lower 89 year old neighbor, Paul.  I asked Paul if he is enjoying being retired, he kept saying that he is not retired, but retarded.  I definitely believe that he is not retarded but he keeps insisting he is, oh Paul, you so silly or retarded.

View from our duplex

On Saturday, we decided to drive to Sol Duc Springs resort to go swimming in the natural hot springs.  On our way there we passed a SUP rental place and decided to stop in to check it out.  The rate was $12 for an hour or $40 for half day, so we changed our plans from soaking in hot springs to SUPing for an hour..... We strapped two SUPs to our roof and drove ten miles to Lake Crescent East Beach.  The sun was blazing, the water was clean, the day was beautiful.  While on Lake Crescent, Martha decided to fall off her board into the water.  It was a crisp shock of coldness as she frantically attempted to remount her board.  It was our first SUP casualty ever.  To make Martha feel better I joined her in the water, my turkey was done, ping.  We ending up boarding for about 4 hours, so it was quite an expensive first day, so I implemented a Ramen diet for the next week to make up our lose.

What SUP!

On Sunday, we went with our original Saturday plan to the Sol Duc Springs to soak in the hot springs.  As we pulled near the resort, a strong scent was lingering in the air, a smell that are usually in my nightmares, the smell of eggs.  I was told by Martha, the doctor (aka the smart one) that it is the smell of sulfur, that is how the springs are hot, due to geothermal reaction.  I never really thought how the hot springs were hot, but thank goodness for her, cause I was about to turn the car around.  It was another eventful day of chillaxing and it was a great introduction to our new home, Port Angeles.