DAY SIX
This was the start of the roadtrip proper. We picked up our hire car in the morning and discovered we were going to be driving a huge SUV for the next 3 weeks — we had asked for a smaller car but this is the US so no small cars were available!
Before heading off on Highway 101 round the Olympic National Park, we had one very important place to visit in the Seattle area — Twede’s Cafe in the nearby North Bend, otherwise known as the diner from Twin Peaks!!! It is a traditional American diner serving burgers and fries, but we made sure that we asked for cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee.
We then took the ferry to Bainbridge Island and were pleased to be briefly off the road as we were still adjusting to driving in the US. It took us a good few hours before we even found the handbrake — when one of us needed to pick up something from the shops, the other would sit with their foot on the brake in the car… Fortunately, by the time we were on the ferry we managed to get the handbrake working and both of us could then take a break together and watch Seattle recede into the distance.
We then drove up to Sequim (pronounced Skwim) to check-in to our accommodation for the next two nights — a cute wine-themed railway caboose called the ‘Grape Escape.’ Packed with wine-related items (everything from old retro signs through to a hand-picked selection of DVDs including Sideways and The Grapes of Wrath), it even had a luxurious copper freestanding bath on a heated tile floor.
It was the perfect place to relax after our first drive on the American freeway.
