ONP

A few years ago, Steve asked me why I had never taken him to Olympic National Park despite him visiting Washington with me for years. I didn’t remind him that it took 8 years in California before I got to Yosemite and almost 9 before I got to Big Sur. Well, probably I did remind him of that. Nevertheless, he’s been lobbying hard to go to ONP for a while now, but we just haven’t had time since the longest he has been in Washington since moving to Boston is 4 or 5 days. So this was the trip. I have to be honest and say that I did not think this was the time to go given that we are moving to the west coast and will have ample time to visit when Grace is a little older. We decided to go anyway, invited my mom to join us, and booked the last cabin at Kalaloch.

We had a terrific time! We took the ferry from Whidbey over to the peninsula on Monday morning, and then drove to Hurricane Ridge to picnic. It was sad to see so little (almost no) snow on the mountains, but the views were still spectacular. We hiked up Hurricane Hill and could see north across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island. It was pretty foggy, so we couldn’t see much of the San Juans, but we could see Mt. Baker above the clouds.

Next we drove down to Kalaloch on the coast. Yes, we stopped in Forks for dinner, but no, we didn’t have the Bellasagna or Edward and Bella’s wedding soup. That town is cashing in! It was a lot of time in the car for Gracie, but she only really lost it toward the end of the drive and was delighted when we got to our cabin and she could hear and smell the Pacific Ocean. Gorgeous view from the bluff.

The next morning we walked on the beach and then drove over to the Hoh rainforest area. We took a few short hikes and picnicked. Then, we headed back to the coast, stopping at Ruby Beach. The tide was high and the surf was wild. Wednesday, we left early to go to Sol Duc. We hiked down to the waterfall, then went over to Crescent Lake for another picnic. We made a quick stop in Port Townsend for ice cream before catching the ferry back. The rainforest, beach, and mountains were spectacular, the weather was perfect (sunny in an area that gets over 100 inches of rain a year). The mini trip was wonderful. Good thing Steve is so often right.

Atop Hurricane Hill.

At Sol Duc Falls, which you cannot see here.

By the Hoh River.

The beach at Kalaloch.