Olympic National Park (Washington Part I)

We spent the last year living in Seattle.  And while I'm glad to be moving, I have come to love so many things about Seattle, and the surrounding areas.  Ever since we realized we were moving, we decided to as many things as we could before we leave, since there is so much to see here.  That, and our families have come to visit us, which has been great.  So, here's to Washington, the most gorgeous state I've ever been in.

Olympic National Park Take One: Sol Duc 


(I've now been to Olympic National Park twice since living here, so I'll go over both of them)

About a month ago, Seth and I woke up one morning and decided we wanted to be campers.  So, we bought a tent, got some cheap sleeping bags, chairs, and other items and took the 4 hour drive to Olympic National park.  We didn't get off to a great start, I was able to find a campground but we got out really late.  And the I-5 ramp was closed off, so the traffic got really backed up.  We got caught in the worst traffic I have ever been in, for sure the worst in Seattle.  We didn't end up getting to the campground until pretty late.  As we drove in near the park, we were on a very windy road, and I started to feel sick pretty fast, plus, it was sunset and the sun was really bright.  This combined with the stoping and going we did while stuck in traffic all made for one pretty nasty headache.  I've had this kind of headache before, and I know what it leads to if I'm not careful, a migraine.

Once we got in, I tried to take it easy.  But it was difficult, we had to cook our meal and set up our tent.  Then, take it back down, once we realized we had taken someone else's spot.  So we packed up and moved ten feet over to another spot, and put our tent back up.  At this point, my headache was getting even worse.  An hour later, I knew I was doomed.  I got in my sleeping bag, without bothering to change my clothes (I think I took my shoes off?) and stayed completely still, while the pain took over.  And it didn't stop, and it was freezing.  We didn't bring enough bedding, I had no idea it would get that cold at night.  At one point, I started shivering, and Seth gave me his sleeping bag.  I had no idea at the time, I was pretty out of it, but he was lying there, with no blanket (can you believe that?  When he told me that later I was so touched) and he kept moving to get warm.  So every movement he made caused a new wave of pain.  It was so bad, I couldn't even talk.  Finally, I took a pill my dad gave me for his migraines, which doesn't do much except make me throw up, but I knew once I threw up it would get better.

When I finally did throw up, the pain subsided somewhat, but not as much as I would have liked.  I didn't really feel better until I fell asleep which was sometime later.  Oh, and remember how seth and I just decided to become campers?  Well this means we're also amateurs, the last time we went camping was with our friends Nic & Kirsten, in their amazing VW bus.  And they took care of everything.  So we didn't realize that for the sleeping bags to actually work, you had to zip them up and get in them.  What we did is we laid one sleeping bag down as a mat, and put the other one over us.  When we finally figured out how to fully utilize the sleeping bag, we were able to warm up and I was finally able to enter peaceful, blissful sleep.

The following morning I woke up to a constant banging sound.  At first I thought it was Seth chopping wood, then I finally got up to see what it was, and I found the culprit right in front of my tent.  It was a group of kids having a pogo stick contest.  Add pogo stick to the list of obnoxious noise making toys I will not be buying my children.  It was awful, and they were all waiting for their turn so there was no end in site.  Despite this, I felt 85% better, as is always the case the day after a migraine.  But I was still weak and a bit groggy, so we didn't do the 2 mile hike up to Sol Duc Falls like we had planned.  Instead, we drove closer to the waterfall and took a half mile hike up to see it.  It was gorgeous, have I mentioned yet how insane Olympic park is?  Every inch of it is pristine gorgeous wilderness.  The trees!  The trees!  (They are the best trees around).  The hike was nice, we took photos, took our time (I was trying not to over exert myself), and hung out at the waterfall for a bit.  We had paid for 2 nights, but decided against it, as I didn't want to spend another night freezing cold and I wasn't feel great and really I just anted to be home.  So we got some dinner at the Lodge nearby, and headed home.  Not a full success, but still made memories.

Driving in:

Deer from the the side of the road (always exciting)

Sol Duc:

Me, post migraine:

I bet this trailer is nice and warm at night.

Sol Duc Falls:

RAINBOW!!!!!!!! (I get really excited for rainbows).

Seth and the Bloggie:

And here's the video from the bloggie, you can see Seth recording me taking the above photo, is that meta or what?

Olympic National Park Take Two: Sol Duc again, Lake Crescent, Hoh Rainforest, Ruby Beach

This month we had lots of family come visit us, and it was terrific (I love visitors, especially since we get a bit lonely all the way out here with no family).  Seth's parents and his two nephews came first.  We showed them around the city and it was a lot of fun, they were only here two days so we tried to do as much as we could, but I wish they could have stayed longer.  Just a few days later, my family came to visit, Aunt glo and Cannon, and My sister Adrea and her two boys.  It was a full apartment (especially the nights Aunt glo wasn't able to rent out the available apartment we have in our apartment complex) but I loved it.  We did all the site seeing (I'll get to that in a bit) and we spent 2 nights in Olympic.  Seth decided not to come, we had a rush package he had to get out, and he was not feeling up to it.

So, the first night we stayed in a cabin in Sol Duc, same area seth and I went.  We went on the same hike seth and I did too, and it was every bit as beautiful the 2nd time.  Our cabin was kind of nasty, so we decided to stay at Lake Crescent Lodge the next night.  This was really beautiful as well.  The lake was gorgeous.  I did start to feel a little sick again on the ride over, and I probably could have gotten another migraine (that damn road!) but luckily I didn't, I think it helped that we weren't in the car as long, and I actually remembered to bring the migraine medicine my doctor prescribed me (it's now in my purse at all times).

Sol Duc:

The 2nd day we did a lot.  We drove to Hoh Rainforest (and stopped in Forks to get some mexican food, which was surprisingly good) then we went to Ruby Beach, which was awesome.  I'll let the pictures do the talking.

Babies in the morning:

Passing through Forks (a pit of a little town, made famous by Twilight, interesting).




Hoh rainforest is awesome.  That's pretty much all you need to know about it.

Baby deer!!!!  So cute.

Ruby Beach was also really pretty, like, really really pretty.  The boys absolutely loved it.  Also, walking down the pathway to the beach, a bald eagle flew right over my head.  It was AWESOME.  I was hoping to spot one of these in Alaska but never did, so this totally made up for it.  

And here's a quick little video:

Lake Crescent was really pretty, as you can see.  The last day we were here, we went on a hike to another waterfall (my SD card was full so I didn't get any pictures) and we also went kayaking in the morning.  I was with Aunt glo, and Henry sat on my lap, Adrea and Ari were in their own, and Cannon had his own.  It was great.

I didn't have my nice camera in the kayak so these are on the little point and shoot I was letting Henry use most the trip.

Pretty water:

At one point Henry got a little tired and he's so small he was able to fit in the boat lying down. (:

Cannon being so tough

Ari didn't seem to be enjoying himself too much, and I think he was pretty tired once it was all over.

Olympic National Park has come to be one of my favorite places in the world.  I highly suggest making the trip out here to anyone who comes to visit Seattle.  Pictures don't do it justice, you just have to be there.