If you need a place to stay on the west side of Hood Canal, you could spend a ton of money at the luxurious hotel-casinos in the area -- or you could save lots of money and be pretty comfortable here. Okay, this motel is obviously old, inside and out -- but it’s solidly constructed and does the job. The ground floor of the building is the community center and senior center for this tiny town; the second floor up the stairs has the motel rooms, front (highway and wide view of Hood Canal) and back (grassy field and forest).

It’s right smack across the road (Hwy 101) from the beautiful Hood Canal and has an expansive view of the water and opposite land. I took a bridge chair from my room and sat on the veranda which goes the whole width of the second floor, and watched the Bald Eagles, Ospreys, swallows, ducks and lots of other birds wind up their day against sunset-colored clouds over the water. Lots and lots of frogs live at the water’s edge, having vast conversations which... more