On To Edisto Island

The 80 mile drive from Hunting Island to Edisto Island took about 2 hours.  We did stop for about 15 minutes in Beaufort for Ben to make several phone calls. The phone service on Hunting Island this  year was not very good with ATT.  We had camping neighbors with Verison that seemed to have service all the time….I remember we had good service last year…who knows.

Edisto Island is quite different from Hunting Island.  It is a much larger island and has a “town” that Hunting or even St Helena Island does not have. We stopped at the Sea Cow Eatery and had a  hamburger which was OK.  Then found the campground.  It was about 1:15 and they would not allow check-in until 2 so we toured around the island and arrived back at the campground a little before 2 and got checked in. Nice campground with brand new bathhouse which is just across the road from our site.  The campsites have some undergrowth around them and we are really only close to one other site.  We are not going to put up our table tent as we will only be here the one night.  There are two area of campsites in this park - ours is in a wooded area about 1 mile from the second which is near the beach.

Our Site

Bath House across Road

Not too sure what we expected but so far I am not too impressed with Edisto. There are probably 10 or so restaurants, lots of rental houses, a golf course, one grocery, a gas station or two and a couple little convenience/gift shops. We walked around the campground, read a bit and at 5:30 drove back to the restaurant we had picked out as the “best” from our drive around tour.  We chose the Old Post Office Restaurant and it was upscale and very nice. Small with great service and good food.  Jane had Shrimp and Grits which was very good. Ben had Crab Cake and Beef Medallions.  The beef medallions were excellent but the crab cake left much to be desired. Too much seasoning to taste the crab.  Jane even remembered to take a photo for Margaret who enjoys the food photos (not very good photo but we remembered)! 

Blurry Shrimp and Grits

Back at camp it was cold – well not cold but 72 so it is either get out the jacket or get inside the Sprinter and watch TV kind of weather…..I have written the blog so it is going to be get inside ! We watched a couple more old TV shows and an old movie.

Another good thing about this campsite is the 3-G phone service is good and I can get a bit of news and such on the phone….they also have an ice dream truck that just came by – too cold tonight for ice cream!  Not sure if we have WIFI here so this may not get posted until we get home!

We did drive through the beach campsites and they are close to the water and seem nice - it is much smaller than the wooded area we were in. We finally saw some shore birds here - they have been scarce on this trip.

No WIFI at the camp so I am posting when we got home.  We left camp about 8:30.  Had breakfast in Walterboro and lunch in Hendersonville. We listened to Brian Kilmeades - George Washington's Secret Six (spy ring of the Revolutionary War).  We were home about 4:00.  Sunshine and pleasant drive.

While we saw little sunshine at the beach, it was a pleasant relaxing trip.

Still cloudy and moving on

Wednesday afternoon continued to be cloudy, rainy off and on, and very windy.  We closed up camp about 5:00 and drove back into Lady’s Island for dinner.  We chose the popular seafood restaurant – Dockside.  This is a two restaurant chain with sites in Beaufort (really across the bridge on Lady’s Island) and in Port Royal. We enjoyed a bowl of hot She Crab Soup – hot as in temperature not flavor!  The thermometer said 65 and we were chilly.  To our dinner we added salads and split a Seafood Platter.  All the food was excellent but we forgot to take photos.  In fact the food was so good we are considering going back for a second night! 

We drove back to the campground – 16 miles from the Beaufort bridge to Hunting Island.  There are several restaurants about halfway – and we have eaten at several of them.  We have not been to a bad restaurant here to be honest.  It was getting just dusk at 7:00 as we got back to camp. 

The evening was quiet and cool so we again did not need the air conditioner for a pleasant night’s sleep.

For some reason camp was very quiet this morning and we did not even wake up until 8:00.  We had been expecting the cloud cover to break today but as I write this at 3:00 it was still very overcast – no blue sky at all.

We took two long walks on the beach today – one at high tide and one at low tide.  The beach is very smooth and gently slopes out to sea.  There have been many oak, pine, and palm trees downed as the beach has eroded  The root structures on all are very shallow. The surf comes within a few feet of the campsites that are nearest to the beach.  Our campsite is about 200 yards back from the beach.  We can hear the waves but due to a shallow hammock of trees we can’t see the surf from our site.  There are 4 campsites down the short road between us and the beach.  There really are not any bad sites here – they are just a bit closer together than we prefer.

High Tide

Low Tide

Walks, reading, a bit of computer work, and lunch have occupied our day.  We are going back into civilization to eat dinner tonight.  We will only have made two trips back into town and one across the bridge to buy seafood.  Last year we explored Port Royal and Parris Island and did not see much reason to go back. 

One young deer came right into our campsites this afternoon. A neighbor lady fed it pieces of an apple and that kept it close around for everyone to get great photos.  I really think it might have taken the apple right out of her hands.

We made it back to Dockside for dinner and enjoyed the great She Crab soup and scallops again.  Another good night's sleep and we broke camp and are headed 80 miles north to Edisto Island and State Park for one night.  Want to scope it out for a future trip. Hard to believe it can be better than Hunting Island but we shall see.

Excellent She Crab Soup at Dockside

Deer, More rain and cold!

Tuesday was a rainy day with a stiff breeze from the north.  Reading and a little computer work was all we accomplished.  We did both walk over on the beach a bit between showers.  The surf which is normally very calm was rough with waves breaking far out into the water.  We had seen shrimp boats on Monday but none today. 

Ben worked on reading several emailed documents from the North Carolina archives regarding his Great Path Grant research.  The documents handwritten in the 1780’s were difficult to read to say the least. Jane accomplished only writing the blog and completing book two of a 5 book series about WW2 in South America.   

Near dusk we had a group of 7-8 deer visit our campsite. They were within 20 feet of our site. Most of them small  We are near the end of the campground so they had come out of the woods.  Always when we have camped here before we have had numerous racoons; but so far this year none.

Supper was flounder, shrimp and hush puppies along with slaw. Good day for getting the skillet out and frying since it was cool.  We did not run the air-conditioner at all last night (Tuesday) and it was 61 upon rising.


There was still rain on WEDNESDAY morning but gradually it stopped and just remained overcast.  The surf remains rough but perhaps if we continue to have no rain we can walk the short distance to the WIFI hotspot near the camp store for a little internet this afternoon.   That means I can post this blog.  Not much exciting happening but a very relaxing time away from everything.  Certainly glad I packed some long sleeve shirts and my fleece jacket!  I had been telling myself that when I got home from the beach I would be ready for fall....guess I am ready now!

View to North

Hunting Island Light to South

North Carolina and on to South Carolina

We left home Friday about 10:00 headed for the annual North Carolina State University H Square reunion.  First stop was in Mount Airy where we thought we might have lunch at Snappy’s.  Too many people had the same idea so we ate at an old time lunch counter down the street.  We ate a fairly good hamburger and were soon back on the road. 

We arrived in Durham just as Daniel got home from school so we had a good visit and got caught up on all the recent Pokemon and Cub Scout doings.  We ate a very good dinner at a BBQ joint which was a family run business.  BBQ pork, brisket, pork chops, ribs, catfish and all the southern sides you can think of…we all ate too much. In fact we put half of our meats in the refrigerator in the Sprinter for another night.

Saturday -After a good night’s sleep we visited a bit, packed Jeff and Daniel off for the cub scout camping trip and headed to Raleigh and Ben’s college friends reunion.

A great lunch and visit was had by all.  There were a few sad moments as the group discussed the members who had died this past year.

About 2:30 we loaded ourselves back into the Sprinter and headed south towards Charleston where we planned to spend a night and then visit Fort Sumpter before heading on towards Hunting Island. We continued listening to our book on CD and arrived in North Charleston about 7 PM.  Since  we had eaten a late lunch and we had a microwave in our room; we ate our leftovers and a few items from our camping food.  We were both too tired to think about hunting a good restaurant.

Sunday - Sleep and we were up for breakfast at the Waffle House next door to the hotel.  The Pecan Waffle was very good as were Ben’s eggs, bacon and hash browns,  We had not been to a Waffle House in years…it was a good quick breakfast.

The boat to Fort Sumpter left from Patriot’s Point in Mt. Pleasant to the north of Charleston.  It was an easy 10 miles there and we looked around a bit before time to load the boat.  It was a beautiful day and the ride over (30 minutes) was smooth.  We had visited Fort Sumpter when we lived in Charleston – 50 years ago – since this was our first home after we were married. The only memory of the visit was the metal cannon we bought there – we still have it!  Jane wanted to get a passport stamp for our book so we needed to visit again.

Tour Boat to Ft. Sumpter

Inside the Fort

Looking Back to Charleston

We have visited several if not all of the costal forts along the southeast coast.  Most are much better preserved than Fort Sumpter – the others probably did not have the constant bombardment that Fort Sumpter received during the Civil War.  We could see the 3 miles back to Charleston.  We were on the island for about an hour and it was adequate time to see everything.  There was a small museum which told their story well.  The ranger also gave a short talk.  Back on the boat for the 30 minute ride back to Patriot’s Point.
We decided to skip Fort Moultrie and found somewhere to eat lunch.  Ben was hungry and not willing to spend time researching for a good restaurant – which takes all of 5 minutes – so we pulled into J B ‘s .  It was OK but certainly we could have done better with a bit of research on Trip Advisor.  Jane had not charged her phone so could not research without plugging into the car power – reason for no research on trip back to shore.  We had OK po-boy sandwiches – Jane shrimp and Ben oyster. 

Huge Cooper River Bridge

Back in the car we headed south to Hunting Island – right through the center of Charleston on US 17.  We passed about a block from where we lived. Nothing here resembles what Charleston was like 50 years ago.  We ate lunch near where the Lori-Lei was – on the Mount Pleasant side of the Cooper River.  The bridge is new, large apartment buildings, and much built up where before was only marsh.  The hospital where Jane worked covers many blocks now and it was one large building then – Medical College of South Carolina Hospital.  The Navy base where Ben worked is completely gone now – closed a number of years ago.  There is a submarine base somewhere near Goose Creek but we did not see it.  There were Navy ships up ad down the Cooper River then – now container ships. I assume the Battery remains the same as it was even 100 years ago but we did not drive there.

About 2 hours south of Charleston we turned east towards Beaufort and Hunting Island. Here nothing had changed since last fall when we camped here.  We found our campsite (19).  We are camping on the original side of the campground this year.  Usually we are so late getting our reservation we have to stay on the newer side which is a bit further from the beach.  This side of the campground is more open with no undergrowth.  The high pines provide shade but there is more breeze and less bugs. 

The down side of this part of the campground is you are much closer to your neighbors.  We have 3 campsites right on top of each other. It is barely 6 or 8 feet to two of our neighbors and maybe 20 to another.  We just adjust.  Later this fall I will make our reservation and get a better site. I can’t seem to remember it until spring and by then the good sites are gone.  Reservations are 11 months ahead only.

 
Weather was comfortable but a bit warm for sleeping so we were glad to have our air conditioner. We were lazy and settled for listening to the waves crashing on the shore and watching from afar and did not venture out to walk on the beach.

Monday - Morning brought perfect blue skies with a bit cooler weather than Sunday.  This trip to the beach was to be a do nothing but relax and eat seafood trip.  The phone service and internet service is helping us do nothing since both are fairly non-existant at our campsite.  Occasionally we have 1 or 2 bars of phone – enough for a call to come in and then frequently cut off.  Ben had one business call that took 3 tries to complete.  We did stop at the wifi hotspot near the campstore to check the weather.

Ben went to the beach for a little sun – Jane continued reading her book.  Mid afternoon we headed to Gay’s Seafood to buy shrimp and fish to take care of meals for 2 days.  The shrimp as usual was excellent – however the price has gone up from last year.  $9 for a pound of large shrimp.  I think it was $7 last year.
Jane cooked Shrimp Scampi for dinner and it was very good – the unusual 2 pot meal.  Most of our camp meals are 1 pot meals with perhaps a veggie cooked in the microwave.  Not much desire for dish or pot washing for this camper!
The rain called for has still not arrived but we closed down the table fly expecting the rain during the night.

Ben had put lots of TV shows on his hard drive so we watched a couple old shows and read.  Tonight we watched Northern Exposure and Jag.

Tuesday- There was little rain during the night but it began about 8:30 just as we had finished breakfast – not a thunderstorm but a slow gentle rain that looks like it might last most of the day.  At least that was good for Jane to get herself off the lazy streak and write up the blog.  There just was nothing much exciting to say – but we must maintain the historical record of our travels.

The Rest of the Story…..

After 11 hours of sleep we got up and felt almost normal!  Not too much to report about our travel down I -81. The weather was nice, we stopped near Harrisburg at a Cracker Barrel to pick up a book on CD.  All the ones I had gotten from the library were way too long.  Usually they are too short for our travels – this time they were all too long – I got the only decent one that was less than 8-12 discs and off we went…

Clear weather and lots of nice farms along I 81

We stopped for gas once and for lunch at a Taco Bell.  Only time on our trip and we had one of Ben’s favorite travel foods – Taco Loco.

Taco Bell

About 3 PM we reached Lexington Va where our long time friends Steve and Margaret now live.  We have been good friends for longer than the 50 years we have been married so we had planned a little celebration with them. After lots of catching up on life – we had a great dinner that Margaret prepared and celebrated with a champagne toast!  Thanks Jenny and Nic for the champagne!

Steve popping the cork

A toast

and a great dessert

Good friends, good food, good conversations and memories, good nights sleep, good breakfast and we were ready for the last leg of our journey.

Saturday was a great travel day with fair weather but a little overcast – good for driving.

We reached home about 3 PM.  One good thing about traveling light as we did this time there was little unpacking to do!  A quick trip to the grocery was in order if we were to eat.

Only bad thing was the power had been off at least once and kicked our modem out; so we had no internet.  Too tired to deal with that we watched a little TV and went to bed early.

It is now Sunday AM and internet is back up, Jane is finishing the blog and we will enjoy a day of catching up around home before we get 3 weeks of mail tomorrow – not as bad as it was years ago since most communication is on line these days.  Guess that is also on the “to-do” list – reviewing the emails to see if we missed things during our off again on again coverage over the last weeks. Ben for sure has lots of work email to review.

This was a fun trip and quite different than most of our adventures.  We need to consider a bit before planning another trip that is dependent on primarily all public transportation. One comment of mine is my photography started out OK but did not hold up very well near the end!  Luckily the old Dell made it through the trip.  Now back to my learning curve on Windows 8!

Port Angeles WA to Pine Grove PA

This will be hopefully a somewhat accurate report on our 33 hour travel day from Port Angeles Washington to Pine Grove Pennsylvania.  This is not our intended plan for travel back to the east from the northwest – but it is what it is.

Sunrise from Red Lion Hotel

We left the Red Lion Hotel at 5:30 AM to check out, walk about 1 1/2 blocks to the bus stop for the Dungeness Coach Line.

Dungeness Coach Bus

This company runs a twice a day run between Port Angles and several other towns on the Olympic Peninsula, several downtown Seattle Locations (including the AMTRAK Station) and SEATAC Airport that is located about midway between Seattle and Tacoma. Bus was there on time and we left with about 10 other individuals on a small maybe 20 passenger bus.  We traveled through numerous small towns, across the Hood Canal in a long bridge, took a 25 minute ferry ride across Puget Sound, and down I-5 into downtown Seattle.  Puget Sound was really a continuation of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca that we had crossed when we came back into the US from Victoria..  Seattle is a huge city – we saw the Space Needle, lots of Starbucks and Seattle Coffee shops, and it looked like it would be fun to explore.  The AMTRAK station is right downtown.

Puget Sound from Ferry

Upon arrive about 9 AM at AMTRAK we got a phone call about another change in our travel on the Empire Builder.  We talked to the ticket agents and it seemed the mudslide of last week was not completely resolved. We would have a detour in North Dakota that would make us 5-6 hours late getting into Chicago.  Since there is already an issue of perhaps being late due to lots of oil transport in the North Dakota area.  We would most certainly miss the connection with the Chicago to Syracuse train meaning finding a hotel in Chicago and waiting another day until 9 PM at night to leave Chicago for Syracuse.  All in all it was not worth the effort and trouble so we did what we had considered when AMTRAK first called – we canceled the train and made reservations on a plane.

Ben working on Plane Reservations at AMTRAK Station Seattle

Waiting Room at AMTRAK - beautiful but few services - no food at all

I really wanted to see what the AMTRAK travel was like – to compare with the excellent service on VIA Rail in Canada.  Well I hate to judge all of AMTRAK on this experience but they sure did not measure up too well in our limited experience. Ben used the internet on his new Kindle to work out air travel home.  Most flights east leave early morning or are what is known as “red eye” flights – leaving in the late evening…so that is what we ended up with since it was now about 11:30 and we had missed the morning flights.  While this sounds crazy – the best available  connection was through ATLANTA!

If we had known this a bit earlier we could have just continued on our Dungeness Coach on to SEATAC airport!  About a block from the AMTRAK station was a Seattle Light Rail station. We found we were near Chinatown!  I suppose some might have taken the opportunity to explore downtown Seattle but we had our luggage and to be honest were a bit frustrated with the situation. We hopped on the Light Rail and before we knew it we were further south along Puget Sound and arrived at the huge SEATAC Airport. We got tickets for light rail from a kiosk; since we did not have the correct change we used a $20 bill and got 14 $1 coins for change! We must have walked at least a mile finding Delta, getting our tickets from a computer, finding a place to eat lunch, and then a place to read, charge up kindles and phones, and people watch.

We spent the afternoon near an arrival area and it was interesting watching people. One group of about 20 people was welcoming their family member home after his retirement from the Army – he had served 20 years.  They had quite a celebration.

About 5 we checked 2 of our bags and made our way through security, took a train to our gate, and spent the evening reading and people watching from inside the security area near our gate.  We had dinner and enjoyed the down time – but it was a lot of sitting, walking, and watching!

At 10:45 we boarded our 4 hour and 10 minute flight to Atlanta.  Instead of gaining 1 hour each day on our way west – we lost the 3 on this one flight – arriving in Atlanta about 6:20 AM. I realized too late that the small TV screen at my seat could have shown me where we were. It was very clear and since I did not sleep well I saw lots of cities – only one I identified for sure was Houston. Also saw a nice sunrise.
Having flown seldom in recent years – by choice – things were different than we remembered.  Mobile phones, tablets, etc and all kinds of technology were integrated into the travel. The airport food was better than I expected – not great but certainly good. Both this flight and the one from Atlanta to Syracuse were 100% full.  The Delta staff were very helpful and pleasant.

Sunrise from plane near Atlanta

In Atlanta we were lucky – came in to Gate 25 and left from Gate 20 – or the other way around! So we did not have to hurry from one part of the airport to another. We had 2 1/2 hours between flights – just enough time to drink some coffee, eat a muffin, and sit a bit more.

Our flight to Syracuse left Atlanta on time at 9:15 and were in Syracuse  by 11:15. The Syracuse airport is not huge like Atlanta and SEATAC – we picked up our checked baggage, got the van out of long term storage lot  and were on I-81 headed South in 45 minutes!

Leaving Syracuse Airport

 We were both tired – Ben slept more than Jane.  We were going to drive until Ben felt too tired to drive and then we would stop.  We ate lunch in a small town in rural New York.   Our book on CD that we had listened to on the way to Syracuse still had 2 CD’s so we listened to them. We stopped about 4 in a very small town just north of Harrisburg PA.  We laid down for a nap and woke up 2 hours later to eat dinner at a recommended Pennsylvania Dutch Restaurant – The Red Lion !  (name of our hotel in Port Angeles).  This small town had 4 chain motels, a few fast food restaurants, a mobile home factory, a school, some churches, grocery, and a few shops.  Lots of homes that appear much as they must have when the town of Pleasant Grove was founded in 1832. Then a few miles on the other side of the town was the Red Lion.  It was good food but way too much of everything.

Made final arrangements to visit friends in Lexington VA – they have been so flexible with our ever-changing schedule.

Not a very exciting day or two days – but we sure used lots of types of transportation - small bus, ferry, Seattle light rail, light rail at SEATAC airport, 2 airplanes, and finally our Sprinter.  We sure covered a lot of miles. Not how we planned to end our trip but we are nearly home and have had a fantastic time.  Even this travel did not end up being as difficult as I had thought.  Tired though - going back to sleep!

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!