PORT LUDLOW — After 13 years as manager of the Olympic Peninsula Gateway Visitor Center, Jutta Gebauer plans to retire at the end of January.
“It’s really time to play,” she said.
“I just want a little time to myself.”
Over the years, Gebauer has greeted many people from behind her desk at the junction of state highways 19 and 104.
She’s heard countless stories of people’s travels and says she enjoys talking to those who stop in with a question, to seek advice on what to do on the North Olympic Peninsula or to request a map.
One time, Gebauer recalled, a couple from Germany came in — Gebauer is from Hamburg — who were riding their bicycles from Canada to the tip of South America.
The couple had a Web site that tracked their progression, and Gebauer said she would often check up on the couple to see how far they had biked.
“I followed their whole trip,” she said.
Ready to relax
Once her last day comes on Jan. 31, Gebauer, 62, plans to spend a lot of time at her house on a four-acre property in Port Hadlock.
With her free time, she plans to garden, pursue photography, clean out stacks of paperwork in her home office and welcome company that she previously didn’t have time to host.
“I would like to sit down on a nasty day and read a book,” she said.
“Instead of reading only a couple pages at night.”
