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After a week of rain and colder weather seeing the sun high in the sky and blue skies is better than winning the lottery! I realize I already complained about this last time, BUT i would just like to say one more time, for the record, that I got stuck in THREE down pours in one day, where I was more than two miles away from the car or tent. Everything I owned (well, not everything, as I brought enough clothes to never really need to do laundry) was wet and/or smelled like camp fire. But as I started out saying, blue skies were here today!
May 27. Saturday.
After leaving the Florence, OR we drove up the coastal highway. Even with the rain it was incredible. The road is so close to the ocean and curves against the rocks and the cliffs. We made a few scenic stops along the way, not many as I was too annoyed with the rain to want to venture out of the car and be a real tourist. We stayed in Portland, OR on Saturday night, in a lovely Holiday Inn. Since I was no longer restricted to space from the little I
get in the car, I brought EVERYTHING I own in the hotel, just because I could. Two beds, a TV, a couch, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, and a full length mirror! I was in heaven! We wanted to go out and see the big city, but with the option of TV neither one of us could be pulled away from the room! haha. But a good night’s sleep has well needed.
May 28. Sunday.
We drive to the Colombia River Gorge. You drive along a "scenic byway" and there are soooo many waterfalls and amazing views along the way. It was defiantly high tourist time, as every time I tried to take a picture I had to wait for random people to get out of my way! The waterfall was really breathtaking. We also drove down to see Mt. Hood. We couldn't see it on most of the drive, but the sun cleared up just enough for me to see a good part of it, and get a few photos. I was more than sad being that close to the mountain and not able to go snowboarding! From there we finally left the state of Oregon. I say this
only because I felt like we were there forever!
We drove into Washington and stayed at a LOVELY campground there! There is a good story about this actually. Laura picked out the first campground which we didn't end up staying at. The sign at the door said to go to "lot b-5" for assistance. Well, we found B-5, but I didn't see anyone outside or mulling around, and as I’m not familiar on the proper etiquette on approaching a trailer, I didn't know what to do at the door! Do I knock or ring a door bell? Is there a door bell?? Laura found this all very amusing and didn't understand how to go about this either, so we left and went to Castle Rock. Well, the campground was called "Paradise Cove", but it should have been called "Paradise Lost". Needless to say, it was less then lovely and a lot of white trash! I was psyched on the cost; Laura was less then psyched on the bathrooms, and well the whole place!! Due to the bad experience Laura had she only allows me to now refer to it as the “Place that Shall Not be named”!!!
May
29. Monday
We left Paradise COVE and drove north toward Port Angeles, WA, Port Angeles in on the northern coast of the Olympic peninsula. Oddly enough people refer to it as PA, being from the east coast when I say or here “PA” I think of Philadelphia, some confusion was had from this! That was the town that the entrance to Olympic National Park was in. The day started off rainy and cloudy and ended that way too. We didn't get to see the mountains, but we did get to see some more beautiful waterfalls. We actually stayed on a Native American Reservation. It was right on the beach. I have never slept ON the beach before and it was soo cool! There were rocks and islands in the distance, St. James Island to be exact. We had a great time there. We hung out with some of the local guys from there. We randomly met some people our age who work for a snowboard company out there (Lib tech) and got to talk about things other than camping! We had a HUGE fire and neither one of us had to put a single piece of wood on it, OR
start it! I guess having guys around (good looking ones at that!) is good for something! After a late, very late night, I feel asleep to the sound of the Pacific Ocean 20 feet away.
(on a side note.. we later learned that we were in a Tsunami Zone.. lovely!)
May 30. Tuesday.
A late start to the morning, due to all the fun the night before, left us still tired and a little grouch. Usually a cup of coffee for me and about 4 shots of espresso for Laura do it, but we were soo tired, it didn't even help! But we did go further in to Olympia NP. We went into the Hoh Rain Forest. I had never been in an actual rain forest before, words can't even describe what I saw, and pictures will not even come close to doing it justice! We saw some of the biggest Spruce Trees in the world. We talked down "Hall of Mosses" (or as Laura kept calling it "Hall of Moses"). It was huge trees with moss hanging on the limbs. The moss made the trees look magic and alive, just breathtaking really. I sat on the bench
for about five minute’s reveling in the beauty, silence and inspiring forest. The only sound I heard was birds peaking at the trees in the background, or the occasional bunny crossing in front of me.
After the Hoh Rain forest, we went to the beach, just to rest for a few minutes, and we both ended up falling asleep on the sand for about 3 hours... more than wonderful.
(Side note.. we found out the next morning that we were in a Volcano Zone, as Mt. Rainer (the tallest mountain in WA) was right down the road.... again, lovely!)
May 31. We spent the day in Seattle. We went down to Pike's Place Market. It is an open market right on the water. It was weird to see so many people mulling around and acting like "normal" people. I am not used to seeing normal daily life, just people who's there main concern is making sure their RV is squeaky clean!
Tonight we are in Lake View, in a campground that has free wireless internet. What more can a girl ask for?!
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Danielle
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Lovely Toes
You and Laura take great pictures. I love reading the Blog (when I should be working!) The kids still miss you! I thought they'd forget by now. lol. Bad Andy is playing Friday night - You could still make it! Keep having fun!