We found a trailhead on Hill Lake right next to some of the dunes. We really wanted to check out the dunes some, we stopped there and went for a hike. It was super fun. We didn't really follow the trail. We went up in the dunes and walked around quite a bit.
From there we decided to head towards Cape Arago and the state parks there. We stopped at a sushi place in North Bend that was excellent. Once we got out to the coast again, we found a County Park that is relatively cheap, has showers (we were full of sand) and is pretty close to some decent surf. Not only that, we have good internet. :D We may stay here a few nights. We'll see.
-Miranda
Curly, Pickles and Zoe looking out the window. Lucy was there earlier but of course I didn't have my camera ready.
Our footprints up the sand dune.
Me walking along the sand dunes.
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We went for a hike on Saturday. We biked down the hill to the first trail. The first time here, we biked all the way down to the end of the road and went on the hike there. This time we didn't go down as far because we remembered there was an earlier hike. We went on that one and it was a very nice hike. The views were gorgeous.
We left our comfy spot on Monday. It would have been nice to wait until Tuesday, but we were out of sink water and running very low on drinking water, so doing dishes was getting to be a huge pain. We drove through Newport to the South Beach State Park campground and got through Thursday night there.
We were able to go surfing yesterday some. It was a bit painful, but the waves were a nice size. Joe got beat up pretty bad just because it's been so long. Hopefully we'll get some more surfing in while we're here.
Today we decided to drive into town to run some errands. Pickles' eye still hasn't been looking good. We found a vet that was nice enough to stay a little late into her lunch to see us. She recommended seeing an ophthalmologist, but we would have to go in to Corvallis or Eugene to see them. The other option was to try out new antibiotic drops for a week to see if they help. So, that's what we're trying. If her eye still looks bad in a week, we'll try to find an ophthalmologist.
-Miranda
Curly always rides in my lap while driving. Lucy, if it's cold, often rides in Joe's lap. For some reason, she came up in my lap and lay down next to Curly. This has never happened before and she normally doesn't like to be by anyone else, especially not touching them. We decided it was because my lap was in the sun and Joe's wasn't. :D
Another decent photo of Zoe!
An amusing sign during our hike.
A gorgeous view.
The very neat forest in that area. The forest we were in was amazing to walk through. The needles basically don't allow anything but these tiny plants to grow underneath them.
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It did stop raining, which was fortunate for the leaks and our power. We checked out the beach and the surf. The waves were really sloppy and there looked like an algae bloom. We basically just spent the day working instead since we had good internet. We went to the Mexican place that we liked so much across the highway. It was good again, but we ate way too much.
The waves were supposed to be better on Thursday. They were definitely cleaner, but the algae nastiness was still there, so we decided to pass since we would be in Newport in not too long and the surf is generally pretty good there. We took Betty out to eat at a cute restaurant where they had a vegetarian lasagna that was very good. Then we headed out. The plan was to get to the forest just north of Lincoln City and stay where we knew we had a good spot and good internet.
The first time we were here (three years ago) there was a large spruce across the road, so we could only get to one area. We just guessed that the road would be cleared, so we kept driving. It was. We are now parked in a very nice spot in the forest and have good internet. Our plan is to stay here over labor day weekend. We'll probably mostly just be working, but maybe go on a bike ride or hike. We'll see.
-Miranda
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We did end up staying a couple nights at that spot. It was pretty foggy and drizzly, but we did go for a nice bike ride one day when the clouds had burned off. We left on Friday and headed into Sequim. We went to the Dungeness Spit, which is basically a long, skinny stretch of beach that eventually ends at a lighthouse. Part way down the spit, we saw a sail boat stuck up on the beach. Apparently he had had some issues with the motor the previous night, then an issue with the sail and ended up being blown into shore. The boat that was there had a line hooked up to the top of the mast for hours before high tide, which was really odd. Once high tide was close to coming, they switched it to the back of the boat and were tugging on it for at least half an hour. They were fighting the keel the entire time, since it was dug deep into the gravel and sand. Eventually, they changed the line to be hooked up to the front of the boat. That swung it around. After yet another hour or so of tugging, they eventually got it back out into the water. A guy in an airplane had even kept us entertained by practicing some tricks above us while we waited.
That evening, we headed into the Olympic National Park and stayed at the Heart O' Hills campground. We actually had good internet there! Plus the campground was gorgeous.
The next morning, we hitched a ride up to the top of the road. A nice older gentleman picked us up. He was going to the end of the road to do a short, 2 mile hike up Hurricane Hill. We decided to head that way too. The hike was relatively steep at parts, but not bad. It ended at an amazing look out of the straight and Port Angeles. You could even see Vancouver Island.
That hike was a couple miles from the visitor center and more hikes, so the same man was kind enough to give us a ride back to there. We hiked around that area some, then decided to hitch a ride back down. A father and his high school age son picked us up and dropped us off at the campground entrance. We stayed at the campground another night so we could get some work done. The next morning we headed out and ended up having lunch at an Indian buffet in Port Angeles. From there, we continued on to Lake Crescent. There was a road that lead to a trail that we planned on taking. We hiked along there for around a mile when we came to a bridge and some people cliff jumping. We kept walking and eventually turned back. When we got to the bridge, the girl that was with the group was being put on a boat because when she had jumped, she had buckled her knees, or something, and not jumped out? On her way down, her foot apparently hit the rock, so she probably sprained her ankle.
Joe and I eventually both jumped off, which was quite refreshing. After our walk back, we headed out and were trying to decide what to do. Either head into the national forest, or check out the hot springs in the park. We went for the hot springs. While checking out the pricing of the pool, we heard a couple in front of us mention that they didn't have suits and were hoping the place rented them. They didn't. Joe stopped them and mentioned that I had an extra suit and he had extra shorts if they wanted to go still. So, they borrowed suits from us. We only stayed in for an hour, but it was nice to just relax in some warm water. The shower afterwards was also great.
Joe and Hailey were the couple we lent the suits to. They were staying at the campground that was just further down the road. We were planning on staying there also. They invited us to stop by their site. We found a spot and headed over there. We had a great time visiting with them.
This morning went for a short hike to the Sol Duc Falls, which were gorgeous. It was only a 2 mile hike, round trip, so not very difficult. Our goal after leaving there, was to find a national forest spot so we could lets the cats out. We headed up a pretty steep road. There were a couple possibilities, but not very good, so we kept going. We ended at a lookout that is apparently a trail head?!? It even had a bathroom! Really weird. It doesn't look like the area is really maintained or that people really check on it. We decided to stay here for the night. No one has been up yet, and the cats had a great time running around. Who knows, if no one shows up tomorrow, maybe we'll stay here another night.
-Miranda
The stuck sailboat.
The boat during one of it's strong pulls.
The 'air show'.
;)
A number of photos when they turned the boat around, then as they were getting it in the water, finally.
The view of Port Angeles, the Strait (covered in clouds) and Vancouver Island (on the other side of the clouds).
A crazy, huge marmot that was in the middle of the trail and didn't leave until we were only a few feet from it.
The Sol Duc Falls.
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We left Seattle on Sunday and headed towards Tacoma. Michelle, a writer for the game, lives there and we were going to visit her and her roommates. We ended up staying there until Tuesday. We were able to get some work done, have some yummy food (Michelle made a vegetable lasagna) and relax while we watched Pickles' eye to be sure it got better instead of worse.
We left on Tuesday morning to head for the Olympic Peninsula and the national forest there. We took 16 north instead of taking I-5 all the way to 101. It cut off a chunk of the drive, but when we got to 104, not far past the Hood Canal bridge, we ran into a huge traffic backup. We eventually learned that a bad wreck had happened ahead and they were turning people around. We eventually turned around and took a different route around the accident. Before that though, Joe picked a bowl of blackberries that were along the side of the road.
We finally got to the turn into the national forest. We worked our way around and finally found a decent spot where we had some internet. We decided to go for a walk further down the road. It ended at a large camping-type area with a gorgeous view. We decided to just head out there that night even though it was getting dark. The road was a bit overgrown and there were a couple spots where Joe had to cut some things out of the way. We got settled and then Joe used those blackberries to basically make a jam. It was super yummy.
This morning, I kept waking up, but one of the times I looked out the back window (pointed towards the view) and there was a cloud settled down in the valley and the sun was rising. As much as I wanted to just stay in bed, I hopped out to get some photos. Not long after I went back to bed, I looked out again, and a bright red sun was coming up over the horizon, so I got up again.
The cloud has basically been misting up towards us and enveloping us once in a while, all morning. We did let all the cats out. I really didn't want to let Pickles out, but we didn't have much choice... She was freaking out inside with everyone else outside. We followed her around some and she's been doing really well outside. She even caught something! That was unexpected. Lucy even caught something. She's pretty vicious. Throwing it all over the place while playing with it. Well, cats will be cats I guess.
This spot is pretty nice, so hopefully we'll stay here for a couple days.
-Miranda
Our camping spot.
Start of sunrise.
Sunrise.
Pickles with her 'catch'.
Lucy upset that Curly is getting too close while she has her 'catch'.
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