Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Olympic Wow-insula!

There have been some crazy things going on in our lives recently - possibly moving sooner than we thought, me changing jobs, finishing up the school quarter... So, we decided to take a quick break - just 48 hours, and do something we've been talking about doing since we moved up here - visiting the sights of the Olympic Peninsula.

The goal was to beeline it to the Hoh Rainforest... but Lake Crescent was too tempting

 It's the bluest lake I've ever seen! The water was soooo clear!

Only a few minutes later, back to driving to the Hoh Rainforest - a 3.5 hour drive from Silverdale - and yet an entire world away.

 Every tree was covered by moss, lichens and ferns.

 Walking along the 'Hall of Mosses'

Quick lunch by the Hoh River

Then we headed to Forks, to check into our motel - no, it wasn't Twilight themed (though it could've been).

Then, because a friend of mine said, we absolutely had to, we drove out to La Push, to see a real Washington coast line.

 I'd never seen islands like this, dotting a rather rugged coast.

The weather had turned rather ugly...

Back to Forks (For a beer of course).

The next morning we headed out to Cape Flattery.... epic fail... we should've brought the Jeep. We'll see the most western corner of the contiguous US next time... Luckily, we had made a stop at a random beach along the Juan de Fuca Strait - perfect way to start a day!

 There were tide pools and so many crabs that you could hear the 'chatter' of them scurrying around when you got too close.

As much as we like to pretend the Colbalt is an off-road vehicle.... its not....

Next, was Sol Duc. The plan was to first hike to Sol Duc Falls, then relax in the hot springs.... but... the 1000 little screaming kids turned us off to that idea. So, just the hike - the falls totally made up for the kids!



Then, we made an unexpected, re-stop at Lake Crescent, to hike up to Marymere Falls.



And, in a nutshell of course, that was our trip to the Olympic Peninsula. Next time we will stay longer and add a night or two of camping. Also, we're gonna try again for Cape Flattery, along with Hurricane Ridge and the Dungeness Spit. There is so much the OP has to offer! And we can't wait to go back!!

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