We hadn’t been out of the house much as we now have to travel with our dog our find someone to care for her. So, we approached this trip looking for something very dog friendly. We also knew we wanted to be on the water, so we narrowed it down to the Washington peninsula. First, we narrowed it down to a hotel that was on the water and was also dog friendly, so we decided to stay at The Red Lion on the harbor.

The Red Lion is an older hotel, but they are starting to upgrade some of the waterfront guest rooms. We were on the first floor facing the harbor which was amazing, but we found that the walking path that went behind the hotel made for a lot of barking from our dog watching other puppies walk by. The best part of this hotel is the walkability of things to do, places to eat, and little places to shop.

Our first restaurant was Nextdoor Gastro Pub. Note this was on Thursday night, but the wait was still almost an hour for a table. This was somewhat of a theme at many places driven by lack of staff and that it was also post-tourist season. Overall the food was good and the vibe was cool, so just plan ahead. The next night we dined out at 48 Degrees North which was in our hotel. Lovely view, but the restaurant needs some updating. They were very understaffed and it took way too long for two people to eat dinner. The final dinner was at Kokopelli Grill. There is usually a pretty long wait here too, but arrived really early and got in pretty fast. This was probably the best service we got and the meal was excellent.

We also ventured out for breakfast for several days. We did both New Day Eatery and First StreetHaven Restaurant. New Day had amazing service, great bakery items, and plenty of tables. First Street Haven was more standard breakfast fare, but very very small and had only a handful of tables. We were curious to try the Belle Creperie, but it was closed the entire time we were there.

Outside of eating our way through town, we took the dog on a great walk through the Port Angeles Fine Art Center which has art installations throughout the forest. Another little gem we found during shopping was the Northwest Fudge & Confections which was a fun quirky shop with a bunch of old-school candies and plenty of fudge. Most people who come to stay in Port Angeles are usually headed into Olympic National Park to go up to Hurricane Ridge. Unfortunately, the road was closed for construction, so our drive-up was cut short, but check it out if you can.