Though my heart will forever lie in the desert Southwest, my head tells me that western Washington and Oregon is...even better? Why? Recency bias? Why can't I love both for what they are? Waves of red sandstone vs waves of crashing surf. The hot desert oasis vs the frigid glaciated peaks.
When I retire, I'm buying a shack on the Olympic peninsula and a shack in Southern Utah and becoming a "rain" bird. I'll spend most of my days outside anyway. :)
When we moved to Washington, we knew that even though we would be living on the "dead" side of the state, we would have ACCESS BABY to some of the most pristine landscapes out there. So we planned out a timeline of trips that would allow us to experience as much as possible and hold ourselves accountable, because life can get in the way if you don't plan these things well in advance:
Oregon Coast - Summer 2015
Olympic Peninsula - Summer 2016
North Cascades - Fall 2016
Banff/Alberta - Summer 2017
Alaska - Summer 2018
Already ticked two off the list and ready for Ragnar Trail in Loup Loup, WA in September! But now for a recap of our early summer adventure - the Olympic Peninsula!
We were fortunate to have Layne's sister and brother-in-law Shannon and Derek along with us for some of the trip. They met us the night before we all set out and we plotted our converging courses for the next few days. We would go west to the coast and meet them in Port Angeles after they spent a night in Seattle.
Tuesday morning we hit Mt. Rainier in a good mood (both us and the mountain).
Ate lunch at Fifth Avenue Sandwich Shop in Olympia (this lady is my hero)
After six hours of driving, we finally made it to the coast. Kalaloch Campground in Olympic NP takes reservations from early June through August, but we got there before they were required and landed a tidy spot close to the beach.
Our little camper! She has become so good at sleeping in her "kindercone" sleeping bag. We love that the stuff sack stays attached to the bottom and you can use it to close off the bottom portion to help make the rest of the bag warmer.
The next morning, we headed north a few miles to one of the beaches for tidepooling and had the place to ourselves for these gems:
Our next stop was Hoh Rain Forest. You'd think that after you've seen one part of the Pacific Northwest, the rest is pretty much the same and to some extent that is true. The rain forests, however, are a world of their own. It's like comparing any other female swimmer to Katie Ledecky. Yeah, they're all in the pool, and yes, they are all world-class. But Ledecky is on such a different level it's hard to say you've seen her swim by watching heats of other races. The rain forest is PNW times 100, and well worth the time.
We rented a Port Angeles house through VRBO and wow did it impress! Sharing the house with Shannon and Derek was perfect, the bedrooms were on opposite sides of a large living room and the kitchen was stocked with everything we needed to cook. That helped us get out to eat at Kokopelli Grill overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. Layne loved his Southwest style salmon (with Argentine chimichurri!).
The next day we decided to explore towards the west and stopped at Tongue Point for some more tidepooling. The views were spectacular, but it felt a bit trampled compared to our little beach on the coast. We were there at low tide, just didn't find as much diversity as the beach.
From there we took winding, twisting, stomach up-turning Hwy 112 out to Cape Flattery. While the drive was tough, I could spend weeks at the Cape. We absolutely lucked out with weather the entire trip, and this was no different. Sunny skies, blue water, and comfortable temps were our good friends the whole trip.
I can't count the different species of birds (including a couple bald eagles) we saw. Cape Flattery was so unlike most of what we had seen up to that point and is worth so much more time than we gave it.
Layne and I went on a hike/run that night above Port Angeles, much needed time together working a beautiful trail in our unshoes. McKenzie got a new pair of Pah Tempe Sleeks and I had my original Pah Tempe and true to form they held up perfectly over the miles. One thing we've noticed about the minimalist sandals is that while they take some getting used to, our feet aren't as sore after a hike as with more structured boots. You know when you get back to the car and the first thing you want to do is get rid of your shoes? These guys take care of that! Check them out at unshoesusa.com.
The next morning we set out for a couple days in Seattle! We were the last ones on the Bainbridge Island ferry with seconds to spare and were treated to these views as we crossed the Puget Sound:
The Space Needle is a Seattle must right?
We also toured Pike's place and had some classic fish and chips, plus clam chowder:
Wren's favorite spot was definitely the Aquarium. We arrived in time to see them feed fish in a large domed area underneath the water. Michael, a volunteer diver, put on a good show and three months later Wren still remembers his name!
The ferris wheel seemed "tourist-trappy" to us at first, but we thought it was better than the Space Needle at giving you a good vantage point to view the city. If you're up in the air about going to the needle and don't care about whether or not you can say you've "been there", this hits the spot.
On the way back home we hiked down to Snoqualmie falls. It was a short but steep hike that Wren handled well with some shoulder rides. We've since figured out that setting our watches to walk 3 minutes and ride for 5 works well for her little legs and lets us get in 2-3 miles.
This last picture pretty much sums up our 5 day trip. Thank you Shannon and Derek for putting up with us!
