We summer on the Olympic Peninsula and Salish Sea, in Port Townsend, Washington. Spectacular cool, sunny, and dry summer weather, highlighted by a serendipitous connection with the relaunch of the beautifully restored Western Flyer, John Steinbeck’s boat. Bouy (dog) startled and chased a cougar on a forested beach dune. Bouy turned tail and retreated as the cougar he chased ran into a mother raccoon and a terrific fight ensued. We depart in mid-September as the weather turns, head down the Pacific coast, east up the Columbia River basin, along Clearwater, Salmon and Snake Rivers, across Idaho, into Montana and south back through Idaho and Nevada to return to the Sonoran for winter.
