Vacation 2005: Fort Worden’s Marine Science Center, Coastal Batteries, and Beach

2005 Summer Vacation – July 31th – Day 2

Our plans for the first day was to visit Fort Worden and see as much of historic Port Townsend as we could.

Fort Worden was just half a mile from our campsite at the Jefferson County Fairgrounds and is located on the northeastern tip of the Olympic Peninsula.

Our first stop at the fort was the visitor center where the helpful volunteer suggested some things to see and started a short video about the history of Fort Worden.

We then visited the Port Townsend Marine Science Center out on the pier. The center includes critters from the surrounding waters in salt water aquariums and in open touch pools which provide a hands-on aquatic petting zoo.

Admission also includes the Natural History Exhibit located across the street. It includes interactive displays regarding the areas geology, paleontology, shoreline ecology, and ornithology.

While Von & Kirsten went to the beach, the three boys and I went to explore the coastal batteries which were part of the Iron Triangle coastal defense system. The volunteer at the visitor center had suggested we bring flashlights to explore the batteries — and she was right!

The boys had a blast exploring inside the dark batteries and especially the long maze like tunnels that connected different parts of the batteries that were pitch black. It was quite a walk up to and then through the batteries but the boys continue to talk about the fun they had going through all the tunnels.

We were ready to cool off so back to the beach we went. The kids had a lot of fun playing in the sand and water. The water temperature was ten degrees colder than cold! I got in up to my knees but my feet began to hurt due to the cold almost immediately.

Finally it was time to go. We wiped off as much sand as we could and drove to downtown Port Townsend to do a driving tour of the historic buildings.

Photos:

• Fort Worden Photos
• 2005 Summer Vacation

Reference:

• Seattle and the Olympic Peninsula for Dummies
• inside out Washington: A Best Places Guide
• Washington Discovery Guide
• Olympic Peninsula – Insiders Guide