Update

Big change of plans. Got to AMTRAK to discover there would be a 6 hour detour in South Dakota which would cause us to miss our Chicago connection to Syracuse. Our van is in Syracuse. We canceled train and are at SEATAC airport waiting for a flight to Syracuse via Atlanta of all places. Not going to be a great next few hours.

Port Angeles – A day to regroup

There is little to report on today – this is the first day our our trip that we went almost no where! 

Port Angeles - at end of street is huge pile of logs

We returned to the Olympic Park Main Visitor Headquarters hoping they might have passport stamps for the locations that were not open.  No luck so I got a page to write a complaint on and ask for someone to send me passport stamps to put in my book. We watched the movie which did have some great views of the park. 

We ate lunch at the Cottage Restaurant – salad for Jane and soup for Ben.  Then ran a few errands – some rolls for tomorrow am at 5:30.  Ugh we have to be about 2 blocks from our hotel at 5:45 for a 6:00 bus to Seattle. The bus runs each day – 3 hours and will drop us right at the AMTRACK station.  We are going to find it interesting to compare the two train systems!

Second stop a gas station – if you returned your rental car without filling the tank you paid $9 a gallon for them to fill it!  Pretty good incentive.

Then Ben dropped Jane about 3 blocks from the hotel so she could look around in a few downtown shops.  Ben turned the rental car in and we both walked back to the hotel.All the clean clothes – I did laundry again today- are packed away ready to travel.

We ate dinner at Jasmine Bristo the Thai place we went last night.  Was going to take good photos but failed!  Main course was Coconut Fried Rice and Snow Peas, Mushrooms, and Pork in wine sauce. Great dinner.

Spring Rolls and Crab Butterflies

It WAS Lemongrass Creme Brulee

 I said not much to report!  I am told there is WIFI on the Empire Builder – our AMTRAK train from Seattle to Chicago. If no WIFI I will post when I can about the last part of our adventure.

Port Angeles – Drive to Cape Flattery

A surprisingly good breakfast here at our hotel – the Crab House is somehow associated with the Red Lion Hotel. They have about 10 different breakfast entree’s for the hotel guests at a reduced rate.  Ben had his favorite ham and eggs.  Jane tried the Granola Supreme.  It was fantastic not at all what was expected. Instead of containers of fruit, yogurt, and granola – I had what looked like an ice cream sundae.  It was really good.

Granola Supreme

 
After breakfast and some regrouping time we headed out towards Cape Flattery. This is billed as the most northwestern point in the continental US.  The drive was very interesting and for the most part beautiful.  Ben says his best description would be driving over Sam’s Gap on the “old” road – over and over again. The road follows generally along close to the US side of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca – separating the US and Canada. We drove as far west as you could go. Here the mountains rise directly from the sea and there are varying amounts of somewhat flat land where a river joins the sea.  In between these valleys are mountains – not really tall ones – maybe 1,500 to 2,000 feet but steep curvy road none the less.  Add to this that we were in and out of clouds and that the traffic was primarily huge logging trucks – think the coal trucks in SW VA on the older roads.  Got the idea?  It took us about 2 hours to drive the 70 miles to Neah Bay. 

Along Strait of San Juan de Fuca

We  passed through several very small towns and finally arrived at Neah Bay which is the main town on the Makah Indian Reservation. This reservation like the one yesterday seemed fairly  prosperous.  They charge a $10 per car fee to drive out to Cape Flattery and the beaches.  We ate lunch at one of the two restaurants open in town. Ben had an excellent French Dip sandwich and Jane just played it safe with a hamburger.  Both were good – Ben’s French Dip excellent according to him.

View of Harbor at Neah Bay - from restaurant

The drive on to Cape Flattery was about 5 miles through thick forest. We knew the Pacific was close but you could not see it or the Strait of San Juan de Fuca.  They meet here at Cape Flattery.  We parked at the end of the road and started down a trail. After going down a trail at a steep grade for about 200 feet we could see it was getting steeper and steeper – signage stating the trail was not for those with weak ankles, knees, or backs along with the increasingly steep grade convinced us to stop…so we were 1/2 mile from the actual cape – I say we made it in spirit!

 

Trail DOWN to Cape Flattery

We drove a little south to Hobuck Beach which was deserted but another beautiful view of the Pacific.  From here you could hike further south and be back in the National Park and an area called Shi Shi Beach which is said to have some outstanding sea stacks.  This area is certainly different from any beaches we are familiar with in the south but are equally beautiful.

Hobuck Beach on Makah Reservation

We stopped in the general store and Ben bought a tee shirt and some Gatorade.  We are really big spenders!
About 1/3 of the way back there is a road connecting the road we traveled on along the strait to the main road 101 that we had traveled twice. We knew it was a better road so we took that  way back.  Part of the trip back however did allow us to see the Strait of San Juan de Fuca with a clear sky as the sun had broken through and we could even see the Canadian Mountains on Victoria Island faintly across the water.

All above Strait of San Juan de Fuca

 A word tonight about the logging on the Olympic Peninsula., There are 19 logging companies on the Peninsula. There is a Nippon Paper Pulp Factory in Port Angeles and a Plywood Factory as well.  I noticed another company making special order wood products.  So the forests here are very important to the economy. There are signs telling what years an area is harvested, replanted, and harvested again. There are signs saying NO MORE NATIONAL PARK LAND.  I imagine there are quite the political battles over this and other environmental issues.  I include several photos of the trucks and wood yards here for flavor.

Back at the Red Lion we spent an hour or so watching the large ships coming and going from the port; and then walked to Jasmine Bistro for an excellent Thai dinner.  They had a tapa menu so we ordered several appetizers and then each had a small size dinner serving. Everything was good – Chicken Satay, Dungness Crab Butterflies (like Crab Rangoon), Pork Pad Thai, and Dungness Crab Fried Rice.  Forgot to take the camera but they looked as good as they tasted!

Watching the water, reading, and typing this blog filled our evening.  Maybe we can watch some TV. Tomorrow is catch up day and we turn in our car and get ready to leave a 6 AM on Wednesday for the the final part of our Anniversary Adventure.

Day Four Olympic National Park

June 1, 2014
Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary to us!   Hard to believe we have been traveling this great earth together for 50 years. We have always enjoyed seeing new places and having new experiences so chose to celebrate by taking a different type trip that would take us to many places we had never been before in a new mode of travel – the train . I can’t even imagine how many miles we have logged together and separately.  Today is the actual anniversary date  but we have been celebrating for the past two weeks and have one more to go!  Today was beach day!

We left Kalaloch Lodge about 9 AM we wanted to be to Beach 4 which was supposed to have great tidal pools for low tide at 9:30.  Beach 4 was similar to the beach a Kalaloch but the sand was much darker, almost black. Bigger rocks, lots of pools, and rocks and flowers and a steep trail down to the beach.  The pools did not contain as much sea life as yesterday. The beach was somewhat different and we enjoyed it – except for the climb back up to the parking lot!

Trail down to Beach 4 - more was steps!

Beach 4

Beautiful wildflowers on cliff

No we did not build it!

Starting back up to parking lot

Next we stopped at Ruby Beach.  We wanted some photos of what they called the sea stacks.  We got a photo but did not climb down to the beach.

Ruby Beach

 We then drove to Forks and from there to another area where there were two places to access a beach area. The southern side of the area where a river flows into the Pacific is on the Quileute Indian Reservation.  The beach and town called La Push.  It was indeed the most beautiful beach we had seen yet.  There was a large resort here with hotel, cottages, and a campground.  I could stay a week in that campground – if there is anywhere to eat…we had thought there was a restaurant but it was closed.  There were lots of folks in the resort and in the campground so there must have been somewhere. We ate fast food at the town store – it was good but I would not want to eat it for a week!

Two Views at La Push

Lot’s of sea stacks here and beautiful surf. The Quileute Indian reservation was one of the most orderly and clean we have seen in our travels. Seems most of the village is involved with the sea and fishing or crabbing. 
After walking around and taking several photos we drove back inland about 10 miles and drove down the other side of the river to the portion that is National Park Land – there was a campground here and Rialto Beach.  Of all the beaches we visited today I believe this one was our favorite. Much higher stronger surf and the same sea stacks we saw from La Push but from a different vantage point.  Hiking north along the beach would have been fantastic but our bodies were not up to the task!

The 3 above are at Rialto Beach

We considered driving back to Forks (about 10 miles) to spend the night but we both wanted to be sure we had good internet for catching up the blog. We had not had email or phone service for 3 days so decided to drive the 50 miles back to Port Angles.  The scenery is beyond description.

Crescent Lake

It has been a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s.  The Red Lion Inn had a room for us so we are here for 3 nights until we take the bus to Seattle early on Wednesday morning to catch our train back east. This means we have 2 days to explore the rest of the Olympic Peninsula and maybe do nothing for part of a day.

COHO Ferry that we came from Victoria on - view from our room

Dinner was only a block away at Kokopelli Grill,  Ben wanted a steak and he had one of the best he has ever had according to him.  Jane had a seafood pasta dish with a slight southwestern taste.  It was great as was the salad and lobster chowder.  Maybe some of the best food of our trip., 
Jane plans to get the blog caught up and we will both watch our first TV in 3 days.  We really did not miss the lack of TV, internet, and email; but we did think it was time to reconnect!

Day Three Olympic National Park

May 31. 2014
After the beautiful clear and sunny day yesterday we woke to cloud cover and mist over the ocean today.  But NO RAIN – we have been so lucky so far I am almost afraid to say that!  The forecast was for partly cloudy today so we shall see.

Rocks visible at low tide

 We walked over to the Lodge for breakfast and ordered buttermilk sourdough pancakes – a short stack (they were huge) – and an order of bacon to split.  They looked wonderful but were very tough and dense.  Not light fluffy at all – maybe the sourdough?  We should have split the pancakes too or had something else!

They Look Good don't they?

 It was low tide so we went down to explore the tidal pools and they were certainly interesting. Most colorful were the anemone and the starfish.  There were also many tiny whelks and other varieties of shells living among the mussels on the huge rocks.  Most of the rocks we explored are underwater except at low tide. There are also many small rocks that have been polished by the sea.  We collected a few and Ben got some driftwood – small pieces of course – space at a premium. 

Tidal Pool - Starfish and Urchins

Cabins from the beach

 

As the tide began to come in we retreated back to the cabin and got ready for a trip south to a second rain forest – Quinault. We stopped along the way at a Trading Post/Gas Station on an Indian Reservation and bought a few things to round out our lunch leftovers from yesterday and to pick up something for breakfast tomorrow.  Wish I had thought to get some things at the store in Forks yesterday as they had a good bakery.  Oh, well – found some packaged goods that are bound to be better than the pancakes!

A word about this area. It is very remote.  We are about 45 miles from Forks a small town and about 80 miles from Port Angeles a medium size town.  There are 3 or 4 small Indian reservations along the western (ocean) side of the Olympic Peninsula. From what people say it is just as remote on south – we noticed 80 miles to a town probably about the size of Forks. There has been no cell coverage to speak of – occasionally I see 1 bar when I turn on the phone to check but then it will be gone…so definitely spotty. We have turned off our phones since they just search and search for no coverage. The lodge here has pay phones for your use and phone cards like we used to use for long distance to purchase.  I think the Lodge here and the one at Sul Doc must have internet connections for business but there is nothing available for the visitors. And there are no places to stay except in the town of Forks and on one Indian Reservation that we will visit later that is near Forks.

About 45 minutes south and east was the second rain forest.  The Ranger at Hoh told us it was somewhat different because they do not have the strong elk population to keep the undergrowth under control.  We were unable to get the passport stamp due to the ranger being “on patrol” - so the sign said.  He/she did return in a vehicle while we were eating lunch but never did open the Ranger Station and we were there a total of 2 hours. 

Ranger Station - fantastic setting

We shared a picnic table with a couple from Belgium who were enjoying a visit here in Washington and Oregon for a month. While we were eating lunch the sun came out to brighten up the day.
The half mile trail was different from the one yesterday.  There was a creek that meandered through the area and there was lots more undergrowth.  Where there was primarily ferns in Hoh; here there were also numerous wildflowers. We saw so many that were similar to what we have at home – oxalis, houstonia (bluets), foam flower, saxifrage (coral bells), and buttercups.  There were huge groups of skunk cabbage that had just finished blooming.  There were also many more epiphidic (grow on trees) ferns on the moss covered trees.  Many of the trees here were maple and birch where nearly all were evergreens in Hoh.  Both were interesting hikes with Hoh probably being our favorite.

We headed back towards Kalaloch and walked around a bit, made a dinner reservation, and enjoyed just sitting in our chairs relaxing looking out over the Pacific.  The tide was high at 3:30 and all the rocks we explored this morning were underwater.

Dinner was interesting and good but not great.  Ben had Scallops and Jane had Seafood Manicotti.  Spent some time looking around the gift shop to find something to purchase – nothing really of much interest.  T-shirts, earrings, drinking glasses, indian canoes or organic brand of shampoo etc.  Can’t say much for their merchandise selection. However they have a fantastic gardener!  Below is one of numerous hanging baskets that are everywhere.

Soon after we returned to our cabin it began to rain so we turned on the heat and settled in for reading and blog writing! Good thing I got some photos of the sunset last night – there will be no sunset tonight!

DayTwo Olympic National Park

May 30, 2014
Wow!  What a fantastic day!  We woke to bright sunshine and ate a quick breakfast of some tasty apple smoked bacon and an English muffin.  Then we were off for a second dip in the hot pools.  Today we tried both the 102 degree which we spent time in last evening and in the 106 degree pool.  The second was indeed warmer but still felt very comfortable.  What a relaxing way to start your day!  The temperature of the freshwater pool was 70 degrees.  We skipped that one!  This resort was a wonderful place – perhaps more so because of the few people here.  We will add this to our top 10 places we have ever stayed. The season really does not start until mid June but you could not ask for a better day than we had today. We finally packed up and left about 10.

We drove back to the main road US 101 that circles the Olympic Peninsula.  Twenty miles south is the town of Forks. This is famous for the Twilight Books which we have not read; but evidently a very popular series.  We stopped in a market and Jane bought lunch goodies.  Smoked salmon, clam chowder, clam dip, some crackers, drinks, a pear and some cookies.  Needless to say she bought too much but we could keep all the leftovers except for the clam dip.

If ever in Forks WA this is a great little grocery

 Another 20 miles we turned back into the center of the peninsula to visit the Hoh Rain Forest.  The water comes off the ocean and it can’t get over the high mountains and falls as rain.  The drive about 20 miles along the Hoh river to the visitor center and picnic area was beautiful. We stopped several times to enjoy the views of the forest, river, mountains, and even a little wildlife.  A mama grouse was escorting her babies across the road.  We saw them scurry across – so tiny….but only caught the mama in a photo. The babies were lost in the grass by the time we could get a photo.

Mama Grouse

Road into Hoh Rain Forest

We enjoyed our lunch and then visited the Ranger Station for a passport stamp and some exhibits.  We decided to take the .8 mile hike through the oldest part of the forest – the Hall of Mosses trail.

Lunch

 The photos we have do not do the area justice.  Joyce Kilmer Forest in NC mountains is a rain forest with 80 inches of rain per year.  According to a ranger a forest must get 60 inches of rain to qualify as a rain forest – this place gets 142 !  Nearly everything is covered with moss.  First the phone booth and then trees etc. Ben says many of the trees remind him of the “ent” from Lord of the Rings.

Phone Booth at Hoh Rain Forest

While there was some climbing involved we – well Jane did fine – Ben has no trouble but long distances and climbing bother Jane’s back.  We made it fine with a few stops to rest along the way. It was an absolutely beautiful walk.

After the rain forest came another short drive towards the west – we followed the Hoh river (50 miles total length) to the pacific and then suddenly below high cliffs covered with fir trees was the great Pacific ocean.
About 10 miles south we found our home for the next two nights –Kalaloch Lodge. This is an old resort lodge built in the 1920’s and enlarged over the years with cabins added as the number of guests grew.  There are now a total of 60+ cabins and some rooms in the lodge.  There is a small store, a gas station, and a campground. This lodge was requisitioned by the coast guard during WW II and served as a lookout station for Japanese Submarines.  The family that owned the lodge lived in one of the cabins and the remainder housed the coast guard.  As with the other areas we have visited yesterday and today there is no cell coverage or internet.

Our cabin – # 10 is on a bluff with a beautiful view of the Pacific, the beach, and lots of logs washed about on the beach.  There are tsunami warnings posted everywhere. The sun is still shining brightly and although windy, we could not have more perfect weather.  There is a sheltered porch looking out over the Pacific – do not think it could be any better!  We have a wood burning stove, a refrigerator, and a microwave as well as a coffeemaker – if we had known we could have bought some breakfast goodies in Fork.

Our Cabin

Pacific Ocean near our cabin

We had a nice dinner overlooking the ocean. Seafood and salads and the only photo I took was of the ocean view!  We hope to be able to see a sunset about 9 PM - and we did!