Port Angeles, WA

After a picnic lunch we drove on to Port Angeles. A quick stop at the library netted Sandy address of Jimmy & Anna’s former house and their obits (that provided Anna’s maiden name and date/place of birth at long last). We photographed their little house and the view of the mountains that Sandy remembered from a long-ago trip.

After buying groceries and tickets to the Abney Park Concert for that night, we parked in a Good Sam RV park just north of town where Sandy and the kids hung out while Mike, Angie, Mandy and Ian went to the concert. Although they had nothing to wear but their “RV attire”, most of the people who attended the concert were in full steam punk costumes. The RV park wasn’t much, but it was only a short walk to the cliffs above the water where we could see Vancouver Island in the distance. Mike hiked along the trail that ran along the shore from town and had to work his way up the cliffs back to the RV park (without benefit of a trail).

Sol Duc Hot Springs

It was very damp and misty this morning, but it didn’t actually rain. Angie walked the Spruce Trail along the river and thru the woods while Sandy knitted and the kids slept. We have been so fortunate in the weather - - beautiful throughout. We left Hoh Park around noon and retraced our steps back through Forks. Before we reached Port Angeles, however, we took a little detour to the Sol Duc Hot Springs. As is usually the case, the water smelled a bit but the problem was that is was simply mobbed. Only a few of us went in because it was so crowded. The pool was primarily filled with foreign visitors - - we heard Romanian, Russian, French, Italian, and German spoken as well as some languages I couldn’t identify - - who were there for the healing waters. Even tho’ the place was unpleasantly crowded (and probably alive with germs), it worked for Sandy. As Mike pointed out, it was like “people soup”. The cabins looked like pre-fab garden sheds sitting in the full sun, so didn’t look like a good place to pay a return visit. Too bad.

Campsite in the Olympic Rain Forest

We had no campfire tonight because it was dark when we returned from our hikes and the mosquitoes were out in force, but we had a nice dinner and an evening of games.

Olympic Peninsula

15 or so miles south of Forks we entered the Hoh Olympic Rain Forest. It was just beautiful - - tall trees, acres of ferns, tons of moss and beautiful rivers. After parking our RVs in two camping sites, we all walked around the Hall of Mosses trail and then separated. Sandy, Ian, Tom, Cub and Charlotte took the flatter, shorter Spruce trail along the HoH River while Mike, Angie and Mandy went up HoH River Trail for 8 miles. We saw all sorts of different microclimates ranging from a wide, fast-moving, rocky mountain stream to moss-covered primeval forest. The kids had more fun tossing rocks into and across the river than appreciating nature, but we all had a good time.

Forks, WA

After breakfast, we headed southwest to Forks, literary home of the Twilight series. It was interesting to see what huge interest the books and movies has generated in such a sleep little town! The Forks Visitor Center has been averaging 350 visitors from all over the world each day! Pretty amazing considering the fact that: (1) the town has a population of only 3500 people, (2) the book was located in Forks only because the author googled it and found it was most overcast town in America and (3) she only visited the town after the fact and (4) the movie wasn’t actually filmed there. The visitor center was full of Twilight fans, offered all sorts of maps, pictures, and trivia about the series. Everyone but Charlotte had read at least one of the books and/or seen the movies so it was interesting.

WA-Sequim Park

We picked up some groceries and then stopped early at the small Sequim Bay State Park set amid lovely trees along the Puget Sound. We hiked and wandered along the beach.

Ferry: Edmonds to Kingston

After following a ridiculous route from Hwy 5 to the dock in Edmonds, we boarded the Ferry for a short ride to Kingston. The weather and sights were beautiful.