After a breakfast of a doughnut from Seattle`s finest, I went for my last anticipated geek-trip: I visited Microsoft over in Redmond. While it was cool to be on their campus, their visitor centre was not very good. At all. I was expecting a history of the company, and perhaps a peek at their future, but in reality their visitor centre was just the bastard offspring of a time capsule and a mobile/cell phone shop. Their company time-line was really just a series of 70s, 80s and 90s memorabilia, with no real relation to Microsoft. Their exposition of their products included a look at "the next version of Windows, Longhorn" (codename for Vista, released about 2 years ago). They really needed to update this display, I thought. I did buy a teeshirt in the company shop, though; and then gatecrashed the main campus. It looked a fun place at which to work, since just like at Google no-one was doing any work: they were all queuing for burgers on the playing field. Hungry geniuses.
I then caught the ferry across the Sound to Bremerton, on the Olympic peninsula. I anticipated that this would feel like another world, or at least another country, but of course it was no different to the rest of Washington.
Near Port Angeles I went to the National Park and drove up to the top of Hurricane Ridge, where I saw stunning and very Alpine views of Mount Olympus, framed by conifer forests and grazing elk. The glaciers were clearly visible, as were two blankets of clouds at different levels (in different valleys).
I drove on past the glacier-scraped Lake Crescent to the Sol Duc hot springs. These are stinky volcanic springs set in a Turkish or Budapesti style (they were very overpriced, and at $17 for entry, towel and locker I opted just for the first). My skin felt slimy as I sat, and upon exiting I did not feel any more youthful or invigorated. I`m not sure that the elixir of life would smell like rotten eggs.
Finally I went to a hostel near Forks, whose street address was a whopping "169312 Highway 101." It was another home hostel, run by a very pleasant and kind man, whose house was very reminiscent of Layhams, and cost just $10 and 15 minutes of chores in exchange for a room for the night.