Uncovering Washington's Hidden Gems; Our Last Days in Washington
We spent two weeks in Washington, but there were still a few more things to do before we left...
#rv #family #roadtrip
Here are my journal entries from our last days in Washington:
Day 39:
After building a beach fairy house with kelp, driftwood, and other found beach combing supplies here at our campsite in South Beach,
Alexis and I decide to check out Beach 3 on the Olympic National Park shoreline which is only about 7 miles north of us. Lots of really cool larger rocks with so many holes made by bivalve mollusks. It’s really quite the site - these little mollusks are quite the artists! There are also many driftwood forts that Alexis enjoys checking out. 😍
Day 40:
We head over to the Quinault area of Olympic National Park to check out the rain forests and lake over that way. More fun trails too!! We walk the Maple Glade rainforest loop consisting of a large collection of giant Big leaf Maple trees and also the Kestner Homestead Trail which combines science and history! The old truck with beautiful foxglove was my favorite photo opportunity here.
We also end up seeing the World’s Largest Spruce Tree!! Big Bob seems to be a fitting name for him. 🥰🌲💕
I’m so impressed with its magnificence that I forgot to get a picture of me hugging Big Bob. 🤦🏼♀️ Oh well, maybe we will get back to this area another day....
Day 41:
Our first sunny ☀️ beach day here in Washington! It was so lovely out that we decided to just chill at our campsite beach.
Alexis made some new friends that are Washington locals camping a few sites down.
The girls were having fun with all the seaweed that washed up on shore. They found a super long strand that they used as a jump rope. 🤣
And I got a seaweed and kelp foot soak. 🛁 😜
We took an evening walk up at Kalaloch Beach to view the spectacular Tree of Life. This Sitka Spruce is located on the edge of a cliff, that has been subjected to intense erosion over the years, creating a cave right under the tree. It’s amazing that it stays alive! Only root tendrils are anchoring the tree to the ground, with the majority of the root left exposed and sprawling over the existing void. To sit and stare underneath this tree is a magical experience.....
Day 42:
It was an early morning as we went to a Ranger Walk at Ruby Beach for the low tide at 7am. It’s just fascinating how many creatures depend on each other in the tide pool circle of life with the Sea Star being the top predator.
We end our evening with a Ranger Program about tide pool creatures. Alexis has decided that she wants to become an interpretive Ranger here at Olympic National Park and teach others about the tide pools. 🤠🦀
Day 43:
Another awesome super low tide morning!!
I thought maybe I was going by myself, but at the last minute Alexis rolled out of bed to join me.
“I wanted to sleep, but I wanted to go to the tide pools more.” 🤣
Plus, we only have one more day here until we move on.....
We head back to the campsite and grab Jason before we head to the Sol Duc section of Olympic National Park. We hike the Sol Duc Falls trail and the Ancient Grove loop full of massive Sitka Spruce.
We end the evening with our first Pacific Ocean sunset!! We are Sunset lovers and we were pretty excited to have the best seat in the house for the evening show, but for 11 nights we’ve only seen clouds. This is our 12th evening here on the Pacific ocean, and we were glad to finally see a sunset! 🌅
Day 44:
Alexis becomes an Olympic National Park Junior Ranger as well as an Ocean Steward.
Polly even gets to join in on the Ranger fun and becomes an official Olympic National Park Bark Ranger!!
Alexis and I decide to hike one last rain forest trail before we leave Olympic tomorrow, The Quinault Rain Forest Loop. We enjoy the massive trees, a river gorge, and waterfall, and even a few banana slugs.
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
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Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
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Timestamps:
00:00 Intro
00:32 South Beach Campground
00:54 Beaches of Olympic National Park
01:10 Beach 3
02:22 Tide Pool Etiquette
04:00 Kestner Homestead
05:27 World’s Largest Sitka Spruce
05:52 Whales and Otters in the Pacific Ocean
07:57 Sun in Washington
09:00 Tree of Life
09:42 Olympic National Park Ranger Programs
10:35 Bark Ranger
11:25 Junior Ranger Program
12:59 Sol Duc Falls
17:13 Banana Slugs
17:55 Quinault Rainforest
20:20 Our Only Sunset
21:13 Leaving Washington; Heading Down the Oregon Coast