Now let's take a little journey to the Pacific Northwest...
After traveling in the comfort of a non-reclining, brightly-colored electric blue Independence Air chair for 6 hours, we arrived in Seattle. I called back East to let all know we'd landed, and Auddie alerted me to the delightful news that Uchenna & Joyce had won the Amazing Race, despite many an odd against them. (Upon watching the taped episode when I returned home, my sleeve was wet with tears. I'm such a freaking sap, but come on, what an incredible finale! And a true lesson in karma, for those of you paying attention. Gotta love when that works out.)
We settled into our home base for the next few days, our lovely Hertz rental car. I established my position as official 5th wheel as I snuggled my way into the 3rd row back seat among the baggage. Sigh... only kidding. Not only am I a professional 5th wheel, but I'm one that doesn't complain about it. At least not out loud or in my blog.
We logged our first hundred miles or so driving from Seattle to Port Angeles, where we were staying waterfront at the lovely Red Lion Hotel.
Day 1: We hopped in the car and made our way toward Olympic National Park, where we explored the Hoh Rainforest, a couple of the coastal beaches, and Marymere Falls, tucked away along the shore of Crescent Lake.
For our quick food stop before exploring the rainforest, we found ourselves in this old log cabin run by a friendly couple. Since Huan had established early on his mission to see and/or provoke Sasquatch/Bigfoot, we decided to ask the locals about it. The woman at this shop began with what seemed to be a legitimate story about a possible roadside Sasquatch sighting, but she quickly escalated into an National Enquirer case as she talked about being "validated" by scientific recordings of Sasquatch sounds, as well as dreams she had in which she reaches her hands out to make an offering to the beast. We said our thanks and tiptoed out, taking careful note of what being cooped up in a log cabin in the woods will do to you.
We went on a couple hikes within the Hoh Rainforest, which was sprawling with moss and green everywhere we looked. Occasionally, as Huan pointed out, it felt like we were on the "Full House" set because it all seemed so fake!
Fun factoid about the Hoh Rainforest: Because this is a temperate rainforest, as opposed to a tropical one like the Amazon in South America, it isn't dominated by tropical ferns, but rather contains dense timber, including spruce and fir, and mosses that coat the bark of these trees and even drip down from their branches in green, moist tendrils.
See green, moist tendrils:
Somewhere along the way on this long and adventurous day, I must have gotten some nasty bacteria on my hand and ingested it, because that I woke up in the middle of the night twice that night to hang out with the porcelain god of the Red Lion Hotel. Not a pleasant way to kick off the trip, I'd have to say. I woke up feeling icky and gross, but knowing we had to chug on with our exploration!
Day 2: This day, for me, might have been the highlight. We lucked out with some fabulous weather for most of the day, which provided for mostly sunny and clear views of the Olympic range. We drove out to Hurricane Ridge along a long and winding road up the mountain, and were welcomed by a breathtaking panoramic view of the mountains.
It looked something like this, except not restricted to the confines of a small rectangle:
We then ascended a partially snow-covered trail to an even higher point. This is where we had our first bear sighting! Cory spotted a dark figure moving among the trees below, and with our binoculars we confirmed that it was a black bear. Quite exciting. The next bright idea was to drive down to the wooded area and try to see him up close. For a good five minutes, Huan had us ooohing, ahhing, and snapping photos at what turned out to be a bear-shaped rock. We never did see little black bear again...
The end of day 2 had us driving to Port Townsend, where we caught a Ferry to Keystone. Upon arrival in Keystone, we drove another long ways to Anacortes to set ourselves up for Day 3's adventures. It's a good thing these rental cars have unlimited mileage! It's not a good thing that gas out West is a good $.30 higher than here!
Day 3: We took an hour ferry ride to Friday Harbor in the San Juan Islands. (The story--the one that I like-- goes that as settlers descended upon the shore, they asked "What Bay is this??" but the respondent thought they asked what day it was.)
Eli, our Outdoor Odysseys tour guide, met us there with his van. We had elevated Eli into something of a fantasy figure, since we had previously read his bio and viewed his photo on the company website and decided he would be our first-pick for guide. So we were happy to learn he was randomly selected to be our guide, and I, as fifth wheel, would have the pleasure of paddling with him! Eli was great, as expected. If only he could stop talking about his girlfriend so I could propose that we run away together. Alas, it wasn't meant to be.
It turns out we were slightly early on the Orca season, so there was not an abudance of killer whales swimming alongside us as I'd imagined. But we were lucky enough to score a quick sighting from the shore of the beach before we hopped into our boats, so all was not lost. It was probably for the better, since it was Friday the 13th after all, and since Kam and I both had nightmares about being attacked by killer whales.
Fun factoid about killer whales: The term "killer whales" is actually a misnomer. The name originated because the orcas, which are actually the largest members of the dolphin family, prey on other marine mammals, including other whales. When Spanish explorers witnessed this, they called them "whale killers," and in the translation back to English it became "killer whales." These creatures, because of their high position on the food chain, are among the most threatened marine mammals in the world, very susceptible to PCB and other contamination which affects their reproductive health, among other things.
Along our kayaking tour, we also saw seals, Dall's porpoises, ridiculously huge starfish, bald eagles, and a bunch of other birds. The kayaking itself was exhausting! We kept having to ask how old grannies do it, since my arms felt like noodles after 4 hours and...oh, 5 miles (vastly exaggerated) on the water.
Here's a shot of me and Kam next to some lovely orange California poppies, overlooking the beach where we stopped for lunch (yes, I am wearing Tevas, don't be jealous):
We wrapped up the day by hopping the ferry back to Port Townsend and continuing on another 70 miles or so to Bellevue, just outside Seattle.
Day 4: Everyone was pooped, and after discovering the drive to Mt. Rainier would take close to 3 hours, we weren't exactly overjoyed. But we pressed on, knowing the sights we'd see would be worth it.
We took a long ".7 mile" hike past Narada Falls to the Ohanapecosh River. Then we stopped by Box Canyon, an amazing 100-foot deep gorge, but only about 20 feet across, with rapid waters flowing through it. Finally, we took a short hike to the Grove of the Patriarchs, where we stood in awe of all these very large and very old trees. One pair of Douglas firs were said to be over a thousand years old!!
Here's a shot of Huan in front of Narada Falls:
After considering ourselves officially spent, we headed back to Bellevue for some much needed R&R.
Day 5: We checked out of our hotel in Bellevue and drove into nearby Seattle for our last day. Annie & Ben, our Northwesterly friends from Portland, were kind enough to make the 2.5 hour drive to meet us and hang out for the day!
We met up at the PriceClub-sized REI, which was overwhelming and ridiculous, complete with outdoor "hiking area." Then we headed to famous Pike Place Market. (The place where they throw fish around while yelling.) It was very lively and fun. I really love and appreciate a place with an open market where you can just stroll the vendors and "window shop" for any kind of food-- seafood, fruit, cheese, etc... We were lucky enough to be there for the weekend of the Seattle Cheese Festival-- what could be better? We sampled a bunch of cheeses before sitting down to lunch at a local seafood joint, where we enjoyed Dungeness Crab Rolls & Clam Chowder in Bread Bowls. Delicious!
Speaking of delicious... Octopus anyone? Looks like Ursula got the ax!:
Here's the whole gang outside the Market:
After strolling around the downtown area, we stopped into the Central Seattle Library, which attracted us because it looked like something from the space-age dropped in among the other regular city buildings. It sounds geeky, but this place was totally cool. It was built like a parking garage, so there were no distinct floors; the whole thing was a huge open space with alternating levels going back and forth, all encased in this glass-windowed building. The neatest thing was the automatic book return machine, which would take the book on a conveyer belt ride through the library, scan a book's label and sort it into a specific bin to be returned to its proper place. Ok, enough dork talk. It was definitely a place that could convince me to study and/or read a lot, that's for sure.
Here's the library, though this picture doesn't quite capture how large and showy it is:
Finally, we made the obligatory tourist stop to the Space Needle and surrounding areas, which were largely unimpressive, aside from the Experience Music Project. We didn't have time to go in and explore the EMP museum like I would have wanted (seems like a place where you need to spend a whole afternoon to make it worth your while), but it definitely seemed like a cool place, judging by the crazy modern architecture alone. We strolled around the pier area a bit longer and checked out the University area a bit before it was time to head to the airport and conclude our trip.
It was a fabulous time and another wild trip out West. It really is a different world out there, starting with the people who drive below the speed limit in the left lane! In the end, though, it's always nice to come home. I will say, it's nice to get away into nature for a bit and remind yourself of how tiny we all actually are.
For those of you who made it to the end... thanks for reading!
Current Music: Meet Me by the Water, by Rachael Yamagata
Current Mood: restless
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