Going for Gold on the Olympic Peninsula

When I was a kid, most of our family vacations were connected to my dad's work trips, so I am fully accustomed to doubling up on travel. Therefore, it makes perfect sense to me that we would attach our vacations to family visits. This summer we once again took some time out from our Washington trip to do a little exploring on our own. However, what was a little different was that we didn't exactly plan this exploration until we were already in the Pacific Northwest. 

Spoiler alert: it all turned out okay, despite a few hiccups along the way.

This year, we decided to take the kids to the Olympic Peninsula. Jon obviously has been there, and the two of us traveled there many years ago as well. I really had my mind set on going back to the rainforest as that is a unique area from what our kids experience in the Midsouth. (But that's a hiccup to be described later.)

We sandwiched this trip in between visits to Jon's parents' houses, so after several days of acclimating to Washington--which included some bonus Seattle time with friends who recently moved there from Memphis--it was time for the next adventure. I kid you not, however, that we (but really mostly Jon) were researching routes and accommodations literally the night before we set out.

We started our trip by taking a ferry across the Puget Sound to Port Townsend. Like so many things, ferry travel has changed a bit since we lived in that part of the world, the most significant being that they now take reservations. This is a great improvement for those who rely on the ferry and take it regularly. For us, it seemed less practical, so we decided to roll the dice and show up when we showed up. I think we learned our lesson when we had to wait through an entire ferry cycle, just barely making it on to the second boat. 

But we made it to Port Townsend and had a good time exploring Fort Worden State Park, including the officer's quarters and Artillery Hill. 

The view from Artillery Hill

Hiding out in the bunker

We continued on to Port Angeles that night with plans to check out the Hoh rainforest the next day...along with everyone else. We are so thankful for our National Parks and always enjoy our visits to them, but admittedly, we have not spent a lot of time in the big ones lately. Therefore, we were totally unprepared for the long line of cars to even get into the park. Upon further investigation, Jon and the girls discovered that the wait was nearly three hours to even get to the parking area. That didn't sound like a fun time to us, so we re-calibrated and went to the beach instead.

Our view of the rainforest...from the car

Thankfully our children were super-flexible with the change and had a blast on the beach at La Push (yes, that La Push for any Twilight fans out there).

After an afternoon of splashing, digging, running, and climbing, it was time to drive to Clallam Bay, our homebase for the next couple of days. Rather than stay in a hotel or traditional AirBnB, Jon found an RV rental, and it was awesome! It was a great way to try out this sort of travel without the expense of owning one, the challenge of driving one, or the hassle of hooking one up. Plus there was a TV with a complete set of Star Wars DVDs.

Home sweet home

The next day was our most "vacation-y" of the trip. We started our morning with a visit to the Sol Duc Hot Springs. What a treat! Summer weather in Washington is amazing, but it's not exactly what I would describe as hot or conducive to swimming. But relaxing in what is essentially a giant hot tub? Sign me up! We were relieved to discover that the next session to soak/swim was available, and we took full advantage.

Rested and relaxed, we next headed to Neah Bay on the Makah reservation, the most northwestern spot in the contiguous United States and hiked the Cape Flattery trail to reach the most northwest tip. 

Happy hikers

 

Hey kids, there's Canada!

The last time Jon and I were in Neah Bay, we stumbled upon the best smoked salmon we have ever had being sold out of someone's garage. On a whim, we decided to try our luck and look for it again...and we found it! The kids were equally impressed, so much so that Jon had to go back for a second plate.

Satisfied customer

Fittingly, our final morning on the Olympic Peninsula was July 4th, and we rang in our nation's birthday with a walk on the beach at low tide. We found lots of cool creatures in the tide pools and enjoyed our time immensely. Totally worth waking up early for.

It was then time to return inland for the remainder of our family visit. We got to ride the ferry again--we wisely made reservations--and were back with plenty of time to celebrate Independence Day. We had a great rest of our trip in Washington and continued our adventures with lots of swimming and boating in the lake, an epic hike up Mount Pilchuck, and a stop at the Museum of Flight with cousins. Despite our lack of planning, it was a great trip, and I'm so glad no hiccups slowed us down.