Day 29

We had a jam-packed day schedule today so we were up and on the road early meeting Grammie at a county park in the direction we would be traveling. Olympic National Park and the wilderness around it are so huge we are staying about 40 minutes apart.  Lake Pleasant was slick this early in the morning as we ate a feast of danish and fruit.

Our first stop were the tide pools on the Pacific. We'd passed by many areas with rocky pools but the timing of the tides were never perfect until today. And lucky for us the ranger gave us some excellent information about finding the best spot. We set off on a short hike to the beach trying hard not to step on the banana slugs on the trail.

Once we made it to the beach I was just happy to see the incredible view of the ocean again!  Lola was thoroughly enjoying running around with the kids on the way to the pools. She acts like a puppy around them!

 

As we walked around the first small rocks we started spotting sea stars, mussels, and anemone all around us. It was amazing to think this place would be under water in about 3 hours! We have barnacles at home but not like these!

Laney was the only one brave enough to touch an anemone. Ryan left  and Brayden is just grossed out. They grabbed hold of our fingers then let go as soon as they figured they could eat us.

Ryan discovered a pool of different hermit crabs - see the babies?! Laney would only hold the bigger ones and she was even a little squirmy with that!

Our entire climb around the rocks ryan was gently tugging on all the sea stars to see if she could hold one. Finallly we cam across one that wasn't holding on too tight so Grammie grabbed him for her!

Once we really started looking we saw them tucked in absolutely everywhere! They are the masters of filling in the space! We especially loved all the different shades of orange and purple together.

We saw the tide slowly coming in as we were rounding the last rock. There were a few people surf fishing all bundled up in the cold.

While Laney and I looked around for rocks the other three walked toward the trail. Laney found a few flat ones she wanted to paint a sea star on when we got home. I think it's the perfect momento to always remember this trip and this tide pool!

Brayden made sure to make our traditional family of rocks before we left. He included the five of us, Dave, and Lola too!

Our next stop was the Hoh Rainforest of Olympic National Park. Dave and I had visited several rain forests in Costa Rica but the kids and Grammie have never experienced one so we just had to go! I was very interested in the differences between a North American and South American forest. Our first stop of course was the visitors center. It was very busy and crowded but we were able to explore a little bit before we hit the trail.

We were shocked to see just how much rain this area gets - 12-14 feet of water! And I thought our daily thunderstorms were a lot!

I wanted to do the trails closest to the visitors center but the kids were getting pretty grumpy so we settled on just the Hoh River Trail. The trail took us through a lush green forest that looked so alive! We walked through old growth that towered over us.

As we approached the Hoh River the forest changed dramatically ending just at the beach. The river was light blue/gray and was flowing super fast. We'd learned this quick current was the reason the Native Americans named it the Hoh River.

The other side of the river held the other side of the mountains we'd been looking at since we'd been here. The sun was warm but the temperature was a wonderful 65 degrees!

The walk back up to the visitors center was back through more of the old growth and moss-covered trees. The only thing different from Costa Rica was the lack of monkeys harassing us!

There was a display of trees lined up in a grove that originally started growing on the trunk of an old tree that had fallen. The tree had mostly decayed so there remained a spider of roots 5 feet off the ground that we were sure were a playground for the animals. Ryan found a 6-ft diameter three that had fallen creating a perfect environment for another tree to grow. We talked about how once the big tree was gone this new tree would look just like the others.

We stopped at a post office to mail our pile of post cards in the small town of Forks. My kids haven't read the books yet but I have! So I had to stop by the high school for a quick picture. The Cullen and Swan houses are also in Forks but I felt a little creepy and invasive checking those out.

We made it back to the park for a delicious lunch and some relaxing time before our next adventure. I even had a few minutes and cell service to update the blog. 

We were all full and happy so we climbed BACK in the car and headed to Cape Flattery. We have visited the U.S.'s eastern most point in Lubec, Maine so we just had to go visit the most North Western point of the U.S. too! Our drive took us along the Strait of Juan De Fuca past Neah Bay to the cape. Never to miss a photo opportunity the kids jumped up in this chair before I even saw it!

There were about 10 walking sticks decorated with beads and feathers lined up at the trail head. There were free to use so everyone grabbed one and we hit the trail. 

We first noticed this strange trees that created root balls about halfway down some of their branches. Out of these were taller and taller trees trying to reach the light. We also saw these trees that had branches like elephant tusks.

The trail was fun and very well-maintained the entire walk down to the cape. You could hear the kids banging their walking sticks on the board walk 100 feet away!

The first lookout I noticed an otter way down in the water eating dinner. He was at least as tall as Ryan!

The end of the trail had a fantastic view of Tatoosh Island the seasonal home of Makah people. The lighthouse was constructed in 1857 but is no longer operational. 

And here's the evidence we were here!

The cape gets battered by the waves of the Pacific. There were sea caves all around the area where we were standing.  Once we made it back to the trail head Grammie decided to buy her walking stick so she dropped $10 in the donation box. What a great souvenir from this trip!

Our drive home was quiet and beautiful back along the strait with the sun setting behind us. We dropped Grammie and Ryan at the RV and headed back to our spot in Sul Doc. Tomorrow was going to be another early morning so we snuggled right into bed as soon as we got back.

Day 25

We decided to do something a little different on the day of our departure this time. I picked up Grammie and Laney and we all headed to see the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. At first I was concerned that we were arriving 40 minutes early for the museum but the gate ranger informed us the tide was out so we headed to Quarry Cove to see what we could find.












We climbed around the outside of the cove looking for things hiding in the crevices where we found lots of crabs and California mussels. There weren't many actual pools on this side so we headed to the cove next.

Grammie was already investigating and poking squishy things! Ryan and Laney played with a few hermit crabs and sea snails first. I spotted this heron looking for breakfast - probably for many of the same things we were looking for!

I spotted this guy in a deeper pool because the middle looked like a jalapeno slice. A program at one of Grammie's campgrounds talked about the tidepools so she told us this guy is green because he eats all the green kelp.  The tide line for high tide was probably 40-50 feet past us and it seemed to still be going out. I was interested to watch this guy to see how he changed. When I looked at the outer part of his body with all the shell pieces attached I noticed a few more around him that must have been just a little bit higher up in the water because they were closed. See the guy at the right? I dismissed him earlier because I thought he was a rock.

Grammie told us they suck in a lot of water and close up or flip upside down to survive the 6-12 hours they might be out of the water and in the sun. She confirmed this was true when she poked one and he spit water out at her!

We wanted to play around more in the tide pools but it was time for the museum to open so we made the trek back up the trail. Much like driving the coast I get in trouble for not looking where I'm going and checking out the view. We stopped here for a rest and to watch a few surfers braving the early morning cold.

Our first stop at the museum was the movie where we learned all about the history and difficult construction of the lighthouse back in the 1870s. Most of the supplies were delivered from San Francisco on ships that often met horrible weather or ship-breaking rocks. This was exactly the reason the lighthouse was being constructed. 

The interpretive center was one of the best we'd seen. There was so much information about the history of the area, the lighthouse keepers, and the lighthouse. Laney and I are still fascinated by the life the keepers and their families led while tirelessly maintaining the lights for the safety of the ships. Some families had to plan 6 months in advance for the supplies and tools they would need. I can barely handle planning a week in advance!

There was a life-size replica of the lens in the museum that flashed the pattern for this lighthouse - 2 seconds on, 2 seconds off, 2 seconds on, 14 seconds off. I had no idea each lighthouse has a specific pattern but that completely makes sense for navigation! This fresnel lens was made in Paris and shipped over in the 250 pieces that made it up. It cost $11,000 back then - Wow!

The part of the museum my kids used to race to is now left untouched. I'm glad I took them when they were young because my tweens and teen scoffed at the idea of dress up and playing games the kids played back then. There was a dad dressing up with his kid though and I did catch Brayden using the stereoscope! Ryan did challenge me to a game of checkers but I'm guessing she wished she hadn't because I cremated her. She did really well at first so she knows she is getting better. 

All this and we hadn't even seen the lighthouse yet! All the tours were full but I wasn't as interested in climbing it as I was just seeing it. They'd torn down the lighthouse keeper's quarters back in the 80s and that's what interests us the most. And as fearless as she is, Ryan isn't too keen on climbing too high.  The lighthouse and the grounds were lovely.

We even were able to take some time and identify some of the birds in the area that we don't have at home. This rock was one of about seven that were completely covered in birds.  We saw cormorant, murre, pigeon guillemot, and of course gull. We tried to find an oyster catcher but no luck.

This lovely morning put us on the road late to Portland but after navigating some wicked downtown traffic we finally made it to a bookstore I've wanted to visit since college. The kids had been looking forward to visiting since the beginning of the trip and mean old mom only gave them about an hour to look around. That's perfectly okay though because we still ended up walking out with a bag full of books!

Our stop at the bookstore put us right on time to leave the city of Portland with the rest of the rush hour traffic. After inching along for about 45 minutes Google notified me of a quicker route. Yes please! I'm not sure if it was quicker necessarily but we were moving so it was definitely better. And it just so happened to be Oregon's historic scenic highway 30 that hugged the Columbia River Gorge. We had plans to stop all along this road the next day but we couldn't resist a waterfall called Horsetail Falls located right on the road!

We arrived at our site to a sign saying there was no water so once we were set up we headed straight to Grammie's spot to cook dinner.  We made plans for the next day and said our goodnights. Both our sites were situated next to train tracks and the interstate (Grammie's a little closer than mine) so we decided we weren't going to get much sleep this night.