Thursday Travels

As I have mentioned I grew up in southeast Washington.  However, mostly because our extended family lived in Oregon and California, our vacations usually headed in that direction.  So I think I have only been to Seattle area twice in my life (prior to Tosha moving there).  During one visit, we camped--I think--at Olympia National Park and wanted to return there again as an adult.  During my research, I discovered that it is one of the only (maybe only) national park that you can't drive through.  There is a road around the outside edges and roads into specific parts of the park and then you had to come back the same way you went in.  Olympia National Park boasts three distinct ego-systems--rainforest, mountain, and beach, so we chose a route to see on three during the day.

And to add to it, we started at the beginning of Hwy. 101 which starts in Tumwater, Washington, and you may have guessed that driving the entire length of Hwy. 101 is one of my bucket list items.  We didn't complete it on this trip but made the start following the route around the park and then down to Astoria, OR.

Good to his word, Gary woke up earlier and we headed down I-5 until we got to Tumwater and got on Hwy. 101.

Heading north now and dawn is breaking to the east.

It was a beautiful drive along the west coast of the Puget Sound and as a bonus several bridges along the way.

 Outside of Pt. Angeles we turned south into the park....

and climbed to the mountain tops of Olympia National Park.....again, glad I was not driving as the views were amazing, but the cliffs on the side of the road were deep. Scary driving.

Gary enjoying the view

Each of the mountains have a name and many have stories.

Wildflowers were everywhere.

As noted, this is higher than where we live in Utah and we were at 32' above sea level when we left Pt. Angeles just an hour before, you know what kind of driving we did to get here.

I took a little hike up a hill across from the Visitor's Center and got this view of the Salish Sea and Canada in the far distance.

We took our lunch break here and enjoyed this scene while we ate.

Going back down the road to catch Hwy. 101 and continue our journey.

And even on vacation in the middle of a national park--traffic and road construction.

a lake along the road side....

You known that poem by Robert Frost--The Road Not Taken.  I love that poem and we had one of those literal moments when we decided against taking a road and I have had a bit of regret about it.  Along the way, we noticed a sign for Cape Flattery, the most north west point of the 48 states.  I looked on the map and saw it would be a bit of a journey to reach that point and then come back and I decided that we didn't have time.  However, I almost immediately regretted it.  After all, it might be fun to see the most north east, most north west, the most south east and the most south west part of the 48 states as part of the bucket list.  We are likely to never drive this part of road again and the chance was lost as we drove past the only turn.

So we did make that decision and instead we were able to enjoy different places instead.  We can't see and do everything.  We make choices every day, every trip, and every adventure and in making some choices, we miss others.  And that is okay.  At dinner later that night, Gary looked up the whole group of north-west, south east, etc. as well as the furthest north, east, west, and south part of the 48 states.  While it was a fun discussion and a fun list, but that time of the day, I was glad that we didn't choose that road, because we had some great fun on the road we did travel.  Cape Flattery, I am sure you are something to see, but not for me.

On to the rainforest!  The Hoh Rain forest.  Again there was a long line of cars, but this time it was just to get into the park.  We were fortunate to find a parking spot where we could fit the RV and hike into the visitor's center (only to discover another parking lot made for RVs, closer and with many empty spots.  Oh, well.

They normally get about 136 inches of rain at this location which leads to it being a rainforest.  This year, it has been very dry and they have only reached the amount that they normally have by April and it was July 26th...still more inches of rain that Jena is tall.

 There were some big trees....

Mosses and ferns were growing everywhere.

And we are off again...this time heading to Ruby Beach, a part of the National Park.  There lots of streams and rivers along the way.

Unfortunately,  Beach Ruby had no place to park our RV except way up the hill.  I took this picture of the waves from a view area along the road and we headed down the road to another beach.

This is the view from the parking lot of Beach #4 where we were able to park and hike down (and I do mean hike down) to the beach.

There was a stream along the path to the beach and this amazing drift wood bridge crossing over it and some major rock formations.

The bridge only took you so far and then you had to make your way down some rocks to get to the sand.  It was not an easy journey and not one you could do with a stroller, but it was well-worth the trip.

No, Scott, you can't have the drift wood.  This is a national park.

There were a few fisherman catching some small fish which were running down the coast line at the time.  We saw one fisherwoman with a whole bucketful.  Also, why the sea gulls were there in full force.

The important--"We made it to the Pacific Ocean again" selfie.  I love the ocean.

Several remains from clam baking parties along the beach--either by people or by seals along the coast.

We hiked north to an area to show Jena some tide pools and found these creatures.  They were so neon green that I told Gary I thought they were fake at first.

After the hike back UP the hill, Jena decided to take a break at this bench near the top of the trail.

As we were crossing one bridge, we could see this other bridge which had been moved so that a barge could go up the river at Aberdeen, Washington in Grey's Harbor.

When I was booking our trip, all of the state parks and national park campgrounds were full which took reservations.  I was a bit worried about that but found a Walmart that allowed overnight parking in Aberdeen if needed.  Thankfully with Google maps and a search for "RV parks around me," we were able to locate one about 12 miles south of Aberdeen on Hwy. 101 which was pretty and had clean showers.

It was a bit of an adventure checking into this place as the check-in was inside a bar on the site.  The person was new at her job and very colorful in her conversation.  Add that to the dogs roaming around the kitchen of the bar and the other guests at the park flirting with her and it made an entertaining 10-15 minutes to just check in.

And we were done for the night in a random RV park off of Hwy. 101.  If you are ever near here, I would highly recommend traveling around Olympia National Park.

Historical note for those who are interested in such things:  from Wikipedia

U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101) is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as El Camino Real (The Royal Road) where its route along the southern and central California coast approximates the old trail which linked the Spanish missions, pueblos, and presidios. It merges at some points with California State Route 1 (SR 1).

Though US 101 remains a major coastal north–south link along the Pacific coast north of San Francisco, it has been replaced in overall importance for transport through the West Coast states by Interstate 5 (I-5), which is more modern in its physical design, goes through more major cities, and has more direct routing due to significantly easier geography over much of the route. US 101 is a major parallel route between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and is an alternative to the Interstate for most of its length. In 1964, California truncated US 101's southern terminus in Los Angeles, as I-5 replaced it. The old road is known as County Route S21 (CR S21) or Historic Route 101 in northern San Diego County.

The nearly 1,550-mile-long (2,500 km) highway's northern terminus is in Tumwater, Washington: the route remains along the Olympic Peninsula's coastal perimeter west, north, and east; the northernmost point on the highway is in Port Angeles. The southern terminus of US 101 is in Los Angeles at the East Los Angeles Interchange, the world's busiest freeway interchange.^[2]