Still on the Olympic Penisula

Still here, still wondering why we came.

Monday, June 24 - We wanted to see Hole In the Wall rock at Rialto Beach. The sky was gray, but no rain.  We parked the car and walked a few feet when the rain arrived. We waited a few minutes and the rain went away and so once again we headed down the beach. My new sandals are great - my feet don't hurt and I walk well in them. The sand on the beach is dark gray and there are enormous trees that have washed down the rivers and up on the beach over the years.  We started our walk and I had a goal of how far I thought I could go. Remember, no matter how far you hike, you have to return the same distance. I had a couple of rest breaks, as suggested by my physical therapist, Brian.  We noticed the gray sky, but it didn't look like rain so we kept walking. Once we reached my destination, we turned around. The gray sky contained lots of blowing rain. Luckily we had our rain jackets with us, but I had on jeans - yuck, wet jeans!  It continued to rain off and on all day as the weather forecast said it would.  

Forks is where a series of novels called Twilight were set. It was made into a TV series. The towns tax revenue went up 25% the first year of the series and has held at that level due to teenage girls with a crush on the vampire coming to Forks to swoon. There are several shops that sell series related items and even van tours to locations mentioned in the novels.

No Vampires Beyond Treaty Line

I posted the pictures for our daughter. But, I don't think she takes the time to read the Blog.

Tuesday, June 25 - Before we left Forks we had several stops to make. We had a 40 mile drive that took us 1.5 hours. It is a very curvy road to Lake Ozette.  We are camped with a view of the lake, but can't put the kayaks in because there are whitecaps on the water. The advantage of being here instead of Mora is that the site is open to the sky and the trees have leaves. The translation of that is it isn't depressing because it's so dark and we are not tracking in wet spruce needles every time we go out. There are many parks that we can return to time and again - this isn't one of them.  We're glad we came here and we are doing the whole loop, so we get to see the whole park. We will go to Neah Bay tomorrow.

Coming out of Mora we saw several exotic cars, Aston Martin's, AH 3000, Porsche, etc. even one with a prancing pony badge, What were they doing on a back road to nowhere on a Tuesday morning?

The last picture is heavily photoshopped. It was very gray day and everything in the original picture was gray. But through digital magic, it appears like there was some color to be seen.

Wednesday, June 26 - Left the CG around 8:30 and drove to  the Makah Indian Reservation on Neah Bay,. We wanted to see the Makah Museum which is a very informative archeological center of the Makah Indians. The village was buried in a mudslide in the 1500's and was excavated in the 1980's when a storm uncovered the village. Many artifacts were recovered which are on display in the museum. No camera's allowed inside.

More photoshop magic. Weak green are now vivid.

We stopped at a smoked salmon place where I bought two packs of smoked salmon. I should have bought more because it is nothing like what you buy in the stores at home.

We are now "camped" at a RV park in Port Angeles waiting out the rain and weekend.  Most of the time that we have spent in Washington is not the way that we normally travel.  After this trip, I can safely say that we have "done" Washington.  Weather wise, this has been a wet trip. Our first trip in 2006 was rain free for eight months and 15,000 miles.

Remember the herb encrusted salmon in the last post?

Thursday, June 27 - I woke up sick.  I don't know what was wrong, but I had severe chills but it was not the dreaded stomach bug. I had my sleeping bag and a fleece throw over me and Don put another one on me and I continued to shiver.  I slept intermittently for 12 hours. I rallied for lunch and we went out foraging. When we returned, I took a nap and then did nothing but lie around and doze the rest of the day.

Friday, June 28 -  I felt a lot better, thank goodness.  We went looking for a place to spend the next few days. Salt Creek CG looks good. Only $32 for a county park.  Washington state is expensive for RV's. In the afternoon, I did laundry and Don washed Koko and Pelli. We drove to Hurricane Ridge for sunset. Great views of the Olympic mountains. A little froggy to the north. No clear view of Canada.

Saturday, June 29 - We went kayaking this morning on Lake Crescent, which is a very clear lake, but right on busy US101, so the trucks can be heard on the lake.  I still can't paddle very far and our adventure was only one hour.  And it was an adventure because I fell into the lake getting in the boat and again getting out of the boat.  Actually, I was just testing the water to see if it was cold and it wasn't too cold. The Ridge is over 4,000 feet high and the wind was blowing 15 so it was damn chilly even with fleece on. A herd of deer live at the VC and two Israelis' with camera lens that looked like tank rocket launchers were taking pictures of the deer. I did not know that a lens with that sort of focal length could be used within 10 feet. We dodged deer all the way back down the mountain. What is about people and "wild" animals? Have they lived in an apartment too long? 

Trying to find a place to stay for the week of the 4th was getting extremely stressful. We want to go to the Japanese Gardens in Portland and this will be our last chance.  We called many places within a 25 miles radius, but everything is full.  I sent an email to my friend, Mary Ann asking for suggestions. She said that they were going to the beach, but suggested we park in her driveway!  We have "camped" in many driveways so we can add one more to our list. This has taken a load off our minds!  We thought you could always get in a private park, but they are full, so are the state, city and county parks.  People go to Portland for the holiday. Why? It's going to be great to see our friends again.

We have decided to try to find a place near Port Townsend for Sunday and Monday, then go south to the Hood Canal and spend two days there and then to Portland.

Sunday, June 30 - Straight line distances to most destinations on the Olympic Peninsula are short. However, travel times are long. This morning the GPS showed it was 22 miles from Port Angeles to Port Townsend. It also predicted it would take 62 minutes to drive there.

Port Angeles is the end of the rain forest. Sequim which is only a few miles east of PA is in a rain shadow and you could tell it as the grass along the road was brown.

We are parked at the Port Townsend fairgrounds. It's open grass field, very quiet, about 1/3 full and it's $17 for W&E. That's half what we paid the last few days so we could  use the Internet. Our "wi-fi" resets tomorrow so we will be online wherever. Terrible addiction. I guess it's like text messaging.

I know Canada is just across the water, but why are there so many Border Patrol here? Are the Canucks trying to sneak across the border to get Obamacare?

Monday, July 1 - I paddled around the Port Townsend. We did the tourist walk in town. Bought some seat back for the yaks at Pygmy Boats where gorgeous wood yaks are sold. Perfect weather, much cooler than yesterday.

Tuesday, July 2 - On the Hood Canal. More later.