County #7 Jefferson
It was an early morning ride down to Pt. Townsend where our GPS programs led us to the wrong address. Eagle eye Angela spotted the vintage courthouse on the hill above the downtown business district.
County #8 Kitsap
Leaving Pt. Townsend we motored across the Hood Canal Floating bridge and south on WA3 and around the Naval Station Bremerton mothball fleet where we found the courthouse up on the top of a hill in a modern building.
There was also a photo opportunity for a framed photo through a large circle.
County #9 Pierce
We rode WA16 east to Tacoma and dodged some construction and closed freeway off ramps and found ourselves in the congestion of downtown Tacoma where we double parked in a handicap zone for a quick photo and we were out of Dodge. There was way too much congestion for my taste.
Bonus #1
Since we were heading south for Chehalis to bag Lewis County, we took the opportunity to stop at the State Capital in Olympia. We borrowed some reserve parking spots for a brief photo opportunity.
County #10 Lewis
A short 25 mile jaunt down I-5 to Chehalis brought us to the Lewis County Courthouse where we were able to get a couple different views of this courthouse.
County #11 Thurston
After a quick McDonald's lunch in Chehalis, we headed back up I-5 to find the Thurston County courthouse. This one was again on top of a hill but it looked like a low level office building. Fortunately it was well marked. Quick pictures were taken in a bus zone, and we were off to find Shelton and Mason county courthouse.
County #12 Mason County
Arriving in Shelton, we found the courthouse and it was under some significant construction to put in handicapped access. A county worker who was also a motorcyclist engaged us in conversation and we really enjoyed our chat with him.
County #13 Grays Harbor County
The ride to Montesano was via a wonderful back road (Satsop - Cloquallum & Shelton, Matlock Roads. These two roads were a refreshing change from the multi-lane highways that we spent time on today. While taking our pictures at the nice little Grays Harbor courthouse, a lady engaged us in conversation and volunteered some nice road construction information about US101.
County #14 Pacific County
The ride to South Bend was generally without much traffic until we hit road construction on US101. Arriving at the courthouse which is on top of a hill, I was totally in awe of this one. It's being re-roofed and refurbished and will be a crown jewel.
County #15 Wahkiakum County
This rather unpopulated county has its county seat at Cathlamet. Before we arrived at Cathlamet, we rode down to the last covered bridge in Washington state (bonus #2) for some photos and chatted with some locals who were enjoying some cooling off time in the river under the bridge.
Leaving the covered bridge, we shortly arrived at the very small courthouse for Wahkiakum county. It was nice and neat.
County #16 Cowlitz County
It was only another 25 miles until we picked up the last county seat of the day in Kelso.
Kelso was the city my maternal grandparents lived in. We decided to call it a day and found a motel room at Motel 6 near the freeway.
We're now just about 50% complete. Tomorrow we head for Vancouver, WA and then start riding up the Columbia River to pick up the counties on the southern part of the state.
Stay tuned for more.
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