The weather was gorgeous this morning as we left Langley and headed south to Poulsbo.
Langley Marina as we left our dock:
The water was mostly calm for the whole trip today:
I got a bunch of work done this morning in Langley before we left, so I was captain for this trip while Kevin worked on an article (sitting up in the pilot house with his laptop).
Approaching the Port of Poulsbo marina:
Our Nordic Tug in Poulsbo. Poulsbo is also known as "Little Norway on the Fjord" I think we'll fit right in! 🙂
Velkommen til Poulsbo!
Founded by Norwegian immigrant Jorgen Eliason in the 1880s, Poulsbo was settled in its early years by a large number of Norwegian and other Scandinavian immigrants because of its similarities to their native countries. In 1886 I. B. Moe, one of the early Norwegian settlers, suggested that the community should have a post office. Moe suggested the town be named Paulsbo (which translates as "Paul's place"), after the Norwegian village where Moe spent his early years. The community's petition for a post office was granted, and Moe became the first postmaster, but the authorities in Washington D.C. misspelled the town's name, probably because of illegible handwriting, and the community became known as Poulsbo thereafter. Poulsbo was officially incorporated on December 18, 1907.
Until World War II Poulsbo retained Norwegian as a primary language. However, during World War II, the military constructed about 300 residential units to provide housing for workers at the nearby Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, located in Bremerton, Washington. The population of Poulsbo almost tripled over three years, and the diversification of the population led to the dominance of English as the primary language.
On October 22, 1975, King Olav V of Norway visited Poulsbo as part of the celebration of 150 years of Norwegian settlement in the United States. [Thanks, Wikipedia]
We got settled and then walked into town for some lunch and a bit of exploring. The harbormaster recommended a spot called Sogno di Vino and gave us a 10% off coupon. We walked around and surveyed the options and it seemed fine so we gave it a try. When we asked the waitress what was good, she just gushed about pretty much everything. Usually, this means nothing, but every single thing we tried was fabulous. We shared a small caesar salad (delicious garlicky dressing), a chicken pesto panini with smoked tomato chutney on the side (amazing), and a 7" wood fired pizza called the "Caleb" which was topped with prosciutto, mushrooms, apple, fig, brie, mozzarella, and a drizzle of honey. It was fantastic. I don't think we'll be hungry again until tomorrow!
We walked around town more after lunch, and stopped at the highly recommended Sluys Poulsbo Bakery for a couple of sweet things (for later, way later):
Viking mural on the side of a downtown building:
The streets downtown have names like King Olaf Vei, Queen Sonja Vei, and the Norwegian heritage shows up everywhere. We're back at the boat working now, and not sure whether we'll stay here again tomorrow or head somewhere new.
This is what's so great about boating in the off season:
The entire guest dock is vacant (except for us). The weather was amazing here today…no jackets! And we sat on the top deck of the boat with an Aperol spritz and watched the sunset. What month is it??
Oh yeah, here's our track from today (35.4 miles):
