We hit a Northwest wine bar - with belly dancers. Really

By Michael Fitzgerald
Honest Traveler editor
PORT ANGELES, Washington, USA - We went to downtown to Port Angeles tonight to a place called Wine on the Water (LINK: Wine bar) where we tried a few wines and listened to music.

Note the ladder to the left

Quite a cool evening and several tasty new wines added to the list of wines I can't afford but drink anyway.

It wasn't the usual wine bar fare when it came to music - though at first there was some pop-fusion something that was giving me more of a headache than the sulfites in the vino.

The music that eventually dominated came from the adjacent room where a group of four belly dancers were putting on a show.

And the room was packed with their fans while they went through a series of quite provocative moves. (A brief video is below.)

Tomorrow our travels will take us to Canada... Still looking for my passport, though.

On Vashon-Maury island for a visit

VASHON-MAURY ISLAND, Washington, USA - Some personal journalism business drew Sylvia and I from our temporary quarters in beautiful Sequim, WA to this island, a stone's throw (if you are a giant with a huge throwing arm) from Seattle's shores.

The only way onto the island with a car

The only way to visit is by ferry, a short hop coming from our direction (north), at a cost of about $20 for a roundtrip voyage, car included.

Our visit coincided with the only rainy day we have had since arriving last Sunday but even with the rain it was great visit. For one thing, it proved that my new Columbia rain jacket is up to the task of, well, repelling a pretty hard rainfall.

We paid a call at the local weekly newspaper - The Beachcomber - then headed for lunch at The Hardware Store Restaurant (LINK: Hardware Store), a wildly popular place that favors meat eaters but has vegetarian options. We had crab cakes and fish - both delicious. We did pay island prices - the total bill came to about $30 - but it was worth it.

Ray Pfortner

Photo/beeswax art

The island is home to many artists, writers and tons of other creative people. At the restaurant we ran into former New York resident Ray Pfortner who does really interesting photos-on-beeswax art. (LINK: Ray Pfortner's website) He was just putting up a display as we were getting ready to leave.

I asked him about the beeswax - would it melt on a hot summer day? Only if the temperature hit 200 degrees Fahrenheit he said.

His artwork will be quite safe even with global warming, it seems.

With an hour before the next ferry, we did a rainy-day tour with stops at various places include a coffee roasting outfit that had a young lady out front playing an accordion.

And then we made a maritime pilgrimage to the Port Robinson Lighthouse where I peered in but didn't get a chance to thrown any light switches or buy any postcards...

Maybe on our next visit.

Vashon Island woman rocks on the accordion

Port Robinson Lighthouse on Vashon-Maury Island

Dispatches, a place to, well, show dispatches

NUEVO VALLARTA, Nayarit, Mexico - The sun is out, the breezes are mild and I am sitting here creating a website so people can find places where the sun is out and the breezes are mild.

Ay chihuahua.

Enough for today.