We decided to to explore one more area of Washington State that we have not visited yet over the past 30 years…

and decided to check out the Hood Canal area. We stayed in the Hoodsport area.

At first glance, on Google Maps, it looks like it will be a easy 90 minute drive from the Seattle area, but with the summer travel season, post pandemic, it took almost 4.5 hours to drive to an AirBNB rental.

I have to admit the cabin options are incredible and are fantastic escapes from the crazy high tech/fast paced culture of the Seattle area. The cabins along the water are so relaxing and comfortable at fair rental prices.

It is a very rural and simple area, so many big city folk may need to change their expectations a little…overall it is a friendly town with no stop lights. The local restaurants are limited, but you can get a good pint and some pub grub at the local sports bar to watch the Seahawks the same as the big cities 🙂

But you must be patient during peak times as small restaurants may only have 1 cook and 1 server, and when waves of people come in from out of town and are renting places with a demand to eat out only…it take 1+ hours to get service in some cases. The town culture is different than you would see in the Seattle area…

One of the highlights of the area is to go exploring with kayaks around the area.

One fascinating historical site near our cabin is an old float plane dock and shelter.

The local stories say that back in the 1930s, this was one of the favorite stops that Charlie Chaplin flew in and out of when he was visiting the area on vacation/holiday.

Another popular activity and food choice is Oysters! You can find them easily when the tide is low and they are plentiful and large.

Here is one cool one where three oysters are bonded together from all the barnacles. If you were harvesting them and cooking them cup side down, not sure you would be successful in getting this one to be easily grilled on the BBQ…

All the locals go out and check their crab traps at night too. The boys made some friends playing who could grab each other (claws) and not get snapped. Believe it or not, this picture was taken in the dark and using the Pixel NightSight mode, it almost appears like daylight. You can see the landscaping lights in the background which are on.

The best place to east the Oysters is Hama Hama Saloon which is so popular on the weekends you MUST make reservations to eat the famous roasted oysters and climb on the mountains of shells that are piled after the constant harvesting of oysters from this massive farm.

The risk is not the local draft beers, but the local root beer. The bees crave it so much, they will swarm you and take it over in minutes.

If interested, here are some other of the great explorations we have checked out in WA state over the past two years of travel lockdown and restrictions:

• Semiahoo
• Cougar Mountain
• Lake Quinault
• Gold Creek
• Wallace Falls