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Published: August 13th 2017
First let me begin with this. Today is Steve’s 70
thbirthday. So, Happy Birthday, Steve. For a few weeks, you will be older than me. And I get to say that every year.
Ok, so today we got going at 8:10 and 59 degrees. It was not promising to get much over 60 degrees, so it was really a long-pants and sweatshirt day. Course, that didn’t stop the people from around here. Many of them were running around in shorts and tees. Hopefully they noticed our license plate and understood.
Today we went to Olympic National Park, which is on a big chunk of land west of Seattle, sticking out into the Pacific Ocean. We drove up the west side of the park and for a couple of hours we saw mostly forest, some of which was the Olympic National Forest. The road reminded me a lot of the road on Cape Cod, on the way to Chatham. It is thickly treed with blue spruce, Douglas-fir and red cedar, which were complimented at times with rich hardwood trees, some looking like white birch. Research says these could be white birch pine, but my WIFI is not very good tonight, so
This is how you celebrate a birthday on the road...
chocolate cake, a butane lighter and a bottle of wine.I can’t confirm that. In some places, the woods were so dense, it would be impossible for a person or animal to walk through them. The road was cut narrowly through the forest like a hallway with very tall walls. It was like being wrapped in natures arms, safe from the outside world.
We stopped in Aberdeen to stock up on food and wine. We had to have a great bottle of wine for the celebration. Aberdeen is a small town with a lot of tiny bungalow style houses, many in very poor repair. Not sure I have ever seen a house as small as some of these were. I guess the tech industry affluence has not reached out to Aberdeen, yet.
As we drove on, we saw many areas that had been clear cut. It is sad to see what a mess the lumberjacks leave behind. The land is defaced by the loss of the beautiful trees, and left with tree stumps in all shapes, sticking up out of the ground that is covered with abandoned branches. It all looks very gray and very messy. We also saw areas that had been clear cut then replanted. They
were easily identifiable by the fact that all the trees were the same size and species. Some patches had very young trees and some had trees that had clearly been planted some time ago.
We landed around noon time at Ruby Beach, which, according to the park map, was a must see. The place was packed. Well, it is Saturday. Cars were parked along the road, and anywhere there was an empty spot available. I would say that 90 percent of the people there were under 35 years old. Probably more than 90 percent. The road is very, very high above the beach level and there is a narrow path through the woods with occasional steps carved out of the hillside and a steeply slanted dirt path leading down to the beach. And don’t let the word beach fool you. This was not what you would expect of a beach. When we got to the bottom, we were standing in a menagerie of driftwood like I have never seen. It was huge and it was between us and the beach. Only the very fit and strong were able to climb through this tangled mess of old washed-up trees to
get to the sand on the other side. We chose to stop at that point, take photos and make our way back up the hillside. Check out the photos. Well, my mind went back to my growing-up years when we spent our summers at the beach in Maine and I recalled how a piece of driftwood was a very valuable commodity. Artists and craftsmen made all sorts of things from these treasures that, here in Ruby Beach, are just being left to sit and rot into the ground. I have decided to call Ruby Beach the graveyard of driftwood.
We continued on around the park and ended up in Port Angeles, on the north east side where we had reservations for the night. But the day was early, yet. So we ventured up to Hurricane Ridge, which was another park map must-see. We drove up and up into the Olympic Mountains to the visitor’s center where the deck provided the a perfect vantage point to view the mountains, some with snow and glaciers adorning their crowns. We took photos, bought a souvenir and headed back down the mountain, but not before I noticed something interesting…bear paw prints in a
newly poured square of cement in the sidewalk. Yes, after pouring this new cement, a bear had decided to walk through it. I took a photos of it.
We landed back at our hotel around 5 PM and, after some shuffling around due to room issues, we finally settled in for the night. Tomorrow, we head back into the Seattle area. BTW, as I write this, there are people in the pool outside my door. It is 59 degrees and raining. They are not from Florida, that’s for sure. And speaking of Florida, we ran into a couple at one pullout this afternoon who are from Bradenton and taking a 4.5 month motorcycle ride around the entire country to see over 30 national parks. They each had their own bike and have been on the road for about 2 months. Now, that’s special.
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Kelli kernkamp
non-member comment
Always have loved Seattle.
Forgot I couldn't read in the car this afternoon, no internet. So just had my daily dose of your travels. You mentioned Port Angeles. I have a memory of taking a ferry to Port Angeles in thick fog when our kids were very young so it's been along time but what an experience. We never did see where we were going til we almost docked. I think mothers are to be strong and unafraid with their children. Let me tell you I was petrified. I have always been afraid of fog. Sorry to defer from your adventures of the day. Wonderful pics and loved to see that crazy beach. And a late happy birthday to Steve. Good night.