So it appears that July 4th is some sort of holiday for these North American - Yankee types. They celebrate their freedom from the oppressive rule of their colonial masters (and betters)...
We were in a small town on the edge of the Olympic National Park - Port Anageles, so we had to go and see the parade;
The local mayor heads up the parade;
Port Angeles finest (although they're still waiting for delivery of their new fire trucks);
Traditional 4th July Llamas, who fought bravely in their battle for freedom;
Man strangling a cat (I though this had been legally restricted to Scotland);
Representing all the opticians who were freed to practice after their years of oppression at the hand of the colonialists;
Traditional 4th July parade watching costume (almost wore the same thing myself - glad now I didn't);
Not really sure what this is about;
Hells grandads;
Makes you proud to be 'meric'n.
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The other reason for the trip to Victoria was for afternoon tea at the Empress Hotel.
CAKE!
The last of the Battenburgs;
Yum... Almost as good as the afternoon tea at the One & Only.
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From our base in Port Angeles we took the ferry across the straight to Victoria, the capitol of British Columbia, Canada for the day.
Arriving in Victoria;
Note the water taxi (left) and the row of float planes;
J with the 'Knowledge' Totem;
Outside the Parliament building (reminds me of the Natural History Museum in London);
Looking back to America, from Beacon Hill Park, and the snow capped Olympic mountain range;
Chinatown;
Some very narrow shopping streets in Chinatown;
Not all was good in Victoria - Jakki was attacked by a Canadian Bear. Rather than helping her I decided it was safer to stand back and take pictures;
The return ferry gave us another great view of Mount Baker still more than 100 miles away.
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Found a lovely little vineyard on the way back to Port Angeles, Harbinger.
P quickly makes himself at home and assumes the position;
Along with some very nice wines they produce a quirky Raspberry wine, not sure I'd go so far as to call it a table wine but could go nicely over some vanilla ice-cream...
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So we finally made it... The end of America. The most North-Westerly point of the continental USA - Cape Flattery.
P on the wooden trail - very lush, very green, very wet...
J standing on the edge of America, a little windswept at this point (both J & America). There's a little island just behind Jakki with a lighthouse on it - just imagine if this was your posting - a very long way from anywhere...
Looking south-east.
View North-east
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