The newest gallery in our online store proudly features images from the Olympic Peninsula. For the sake of non-Washingtonians, the Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle and contains Olympic National Park. It’s bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the east by the Hood Canal.
The featured image – aptly named “Old Pier” – was located in Sequim. I’m using the past tense because on my last visit, the pier had deteriorated significantly. When I think of the Olympic Peninsula, the word “wet” usually comes to mind. That’s because its western portion is home to temperate rain forests, including the Hoh and Quinault, which annually receive as much as 14 feet of rain. (For a prior post on the Quinault Rain Forest, click here.) Sequim (pronounced “skwim”), on the other hand, is a climate anomaly. Overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca, the town lies within the rain shadow of the Olympic Mountains and averages under 16 inches of precipitation each year, or about the same as Los Angeles. In short, its nickname as Washington’s “banana belt” is certainly well-deserved.
While the French region of Provence is known globally for its lavender production, Sequim – the self-proclaimed Lavender Capital of North America – has bragging rights too. Thanks to its mild weather which creates the perfect climate for lavender to thrive, there are tons of farms in the area that make it their specialty. Every July, Sequim hosts a giant lavender festival that welcomes tourists from all over the world to come and frolic through the fields and purchase lavender-infused products to take home. 
While I won’t admit to any frolicking at the time, I did happen to take the side image while visiting one of the annual festivals in Sequim, which is an easy day trip from our home on Bainbridge Island.
If you’d like to see our Olympic Peninsula images firsthand, please come visit us at our Bainbridge Island gallery. Like most other local businesses, we are “covid-19 safe” and adhere to the guidelines of Gov. Inslee (e.g., mandatory masks, use of hand sanitizers, and occupancy limits). Not to worry, we will also have our usual wide selection of other landscape, urban, and travel images, including an excellent assortment of metal prints, canvas prints, custom-framed black-and-white prints, and fine art acrylic prints.
As always, in these trying and stressful times, we hope everyone is staying healthy, safe, and strong!
Ciao for now,
Andrew (Andy) Bergh