Olympic Peninsula, WA

For our journey to the Olympic Peninsula in the NW of Washington, we drove just north of Seattle and put the MH on a Washington ferry for a 30 min crossing of the Puget Sound. This saved us 3 hrs. of driving time. We then drove across the Hood Canal Bridge--a floating pontoon bridge made in sections. It is closed when winds reach 40 MPH or more, but it was okay today. Next summer it will be closed for repairs, then people who need to get here, will have to drive further--can you imagine? We checked into our RV park in Sequim just 15 miles from the main visitor center of Olympic NP. Sequim was a unique town of about 5,000 but had lots to offer--good BBQ brisket at Jeremiah's, whole Dungeness crab at 3Crabs, and a yummy breakfast at the Oak Table--the best pancakes ever!

We then headed to the visitor center and to the 17 mile drive up Hurricane Ridge to view some of the glaciers in the park. It has 60 and they look like snow-capped mountains. The ridge we were on was 1 mile high. Since we have 4-wheel drive in the Jeep, Fred always wants to take some dirt back roads--Beautiful scenery, but I just hang on and close my eyes as we speed down or up the cliffs. Nothing like being married to an ex-cop who has been to driving school to learn to chase bad guys.

The next day we drove to the other side of the mountains to the Hoh Rain Forest where we walked the hall of mosses trail. This area receives 12 feet of rain a year. Very green and lush and whole trees are covered with moss. From here, we drove over to the Pacific Ocean at Realto Beach--finally, I hoped to see the ocean. Just about a mile from the coast, it got so foggy that we could not see a few yards away. The beach was littered with huge logs that float down the rivers from the mountains during storms and floods, and then are washed on shore by storm waves. We had to climb over piles of them to get to the beach--huge waves but couldn't see much for the fog. It was an unbelievable sight!!

On our last day in Olympic NP, we went to Sol Duc Hot Springs where I soaked for a couple of hours in the hot pools. (88-105 degrees---I preferred the 100 degrees) It was sooo relaxing--I could have fallen asleep in there. On the way back, we stopped at Salmon Cascades to walk by the rushing water and enjoy the huge boulders that the water was spilling over. Today was Cowboy game day so we hurried back to watch the game--5:00 Washington time. What a victory! How 'bout them Cowboys?

Next we are off the the Oregon Scenic Coast.