A Weekend of Mushrooms with Paul Stammet (part 1)

A lovely Lion's Mane (Hericium erinaceus) mushroom.

This weekend I went on my long awaited Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms course at Fungi Perfecti in Washington State with Paul Stammets the author of many fungi texts and especially Mycelium Running. Paul is renowned as one of the World's leading Mycologists and has given TED lectures, supplies mycelial products to institutions all over the World and has one of the largest mushroom spawn libraries.

The empress Hotel in Victoria.

A seaplane following us as we left the harbour.

The James Bay houseboats with the Olympic Mountains in the background.

The Coho Ferry. 

I left on Thursday afternoon and spent the night in sleepy old Victoria and got up early the next day to catch the 10.45 Coho ferry to Port Angeles. The day was lovely and sunny, and ideal day for crossing the Straights of Juan de Fuca to the USA.

For some reason or other this couple decided to get married on board . It was all rather odd but sweet too.

A photosynth pic of the ferry seating.

The North view from Mnt Walker to Seattle and Mnt Rainier.

Looking East down towards Olympia.

The South view overlooking the Olympic Mountains.

From Port Angeles the trip is down the Olympic peninsula to Olympia the capital of washington State. The scenery is lovely with the road snaking through mountains and along heavily forested coastal Sounds/ inlets. I took a side road up to Mnt Walker which gives a lovely view of Mnt Rainier and Seattle on the North side and the snowy peaks of the Olympics on the South. Because the day was so nice I had the sunroof down and the music loud. Not a good situation for the first suntan of the year......arrived redfaced at the hotel that night.

That night I took a walk around the very quiet, old town part of Olympia. Nothing much goes on in this city. The shops only open at about 10am and close before 5pm. Night life is concentrated on 4th Avenue. I stayed at the Governor Hotel which is opposite the main central garden but I had a view over the Capitol Lake and the State buildings.

You can see the tall windows of the Urban Onion Restaurant at the far end of the city garden. 

The capital Dome overlooking Capitol Lake.

 Most evening I ate at the Urban onion which had some nice vegetarian fare and is in the converted grand ballroom of an old hotel with tall windows overlooking the central gardens.