A Hike and A Concert On the Olympic Peninsula

How could the day be anything short of spectacular when it starts with this amazing view from the ferry ride to the Olympic Peninsula.  My Saturn car and I are sailing on the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston.  That's Mt. Rainier towering in the background over Seattle, and the Seattle Space Needle.  I'm yearning for another hike on Mt. Rainier, but not today.  Today I'm headed for a hike and a concert in Quilcene at the Olympic Music Festival

We're talking a 2:00 afternoon concert in the barn.  This is the thirty-second amazing music season.

In 1966, Alan Iglitzin and other members of the Philadelphia String Quartet moved to Seattle to become the University of Washington’s Quartet-in-Residence, a position it held until 1982. During its 30-year tenure, the Quartet performed throughout the world and recorded extensively.

In 1984, Alan Iglitzin fulfilled a lifelong dream by founding the Olympic Music Festival on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula. While he originally intended the Festival to be a summer retreat for the Philadelphia String Quartet, Alan soon discovered that Northwest audiences were immediately drawn to the idea of experiencing music in such an idyllic setting.

Since its opening season, the Festival has grown from three weekends to eleven. Today, thousands of people attend performances every summer, many coming from as close as Seattle and as far as Asia and Europe. During the summer, Festival performances are re-broadcast by Classical KING-FM.

I recommend you arrive early and enjoy walking around the beautiful 55 acre grounds.  There are open areas, and trails as well that you can enjoy before sitting down for an afternoon concert.  Beautiful birds and butterflies all around.

Enjoy the Northwest wildflowers.  In this case daisies and paintbrush.

The grandeur of the mountains and the forest juxtaposed with the gorgeous hedge of piper's bellflower, found only on the Olympic Peninsula 

Can you smell them from here?  Actually, they have no scent.

Visiting the horses that live on the grounds

Friends, waiting for the music to begin

The exciting time to head back to the barn and enjoy the concert!  Looking for a wonderful souvenir?  The volunteers who are so friendly and do such an amazing job in many capacities including the souvenirs are happy to help you.  I recommend the wonderful recordings they make of the performance you attend.  They mail it to your address.  I really treasure my cd of the performance I attended.

Inside the barn as we all begin to take our seats.  There are still 4 weekends of performances remaining this season.  And I can't wait to see what next summer will bring.   You can keep apprised of their schedules on the Olympic Music Festival site.

You can choose your seating from chairs, to wooden benches, to straw.  Lean back and listen to the enchanted sounds of summer.