PORT ANGELES — The Port Angeles Underground didn’t quite rise to the top of a national top 10 contest, but it will be featured as one of the 10 best underground tours for the next year online and in the “USA Today 10 Best” travel edition.
On Monday, Port Townsend remained in the race for the “10 Best Coastal Small Towns,” with one week of voting remaining in the 10Best Readers’ Choice contest put on by USA Today.
Port Angeles’ subterranean tour finished eighth at the end of voting April 11.
“I just couldn’t believe it,” said Don Perry, founder of the underground tour and part-time tour guide.
He really hoped for a first-place finish, but a top-10 finish against big tours like the Seattle underground is pretty good, Perry said.
“A little town like Port Angeles went up against some of the biggest cities in the nation,” he said.
Perry noted that Seattle didn’t make the top 10.
“I’m pretty proud of our community,” he said.
The Port Angeles Heritage Tour’s underground tour was created in 2000 by Perry, and two months ago he agreed to sell it to Black Ball Ferry Line.
The business was officially taken over April 1 by Black Ball and a contractor-operator, Bruce Erlwein.
Perry, who was owner of the business when he was contacted in late February by USA Today for inclusion in the contest, said he is confident the new owners and operators will take the tour to the next level.
Online voters selected the Forestiere Underground Gardens, Fresno, Calif., as the best of underground tours, for the series of grottos, underground homes and sunken gardens built by a Greek immigrant.
Other tours that beat out Port Angeles were: Havre Beneath the Streets, Havre, Mont.; Queen City Underground, Cincinnati, Ohio; Consolidated Gold Mine, Dahlonega, Ga.; Old Sacramento Underground, Sacramento, Calif.; Lackawanna Coal Mine, Scranton, Penn.; and Bunker at The Greenbrier, White Sulphur Springs, W.Va.
Hidee Gold Mine, in Central City, Colo., and Soudan Gold Mine, in Soudan, Minn., rounded out the top 10.
Port Townsend is still in the running for a top-10 finish in the Best Coastal Small Town category of the USA Today contests.
It is currently seventh out of 20 coastal towns, with voting remaining open until Monday, April 25 at http://tinyurl.com/PDN-seatown.
As of Monday afternoon, Port Townsend was ranked in seventh place.
The top choice will be featured in a USA Today travel section story.
While USA Today doesn’t make numerical results public, it displays the current rankings. Users can vote in each category once every 24 hours.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 56250, or at arice@peninsuladailynews.com.
