Rain Forest - Olympic National Park
The Hoh Rain Forest section of the Olympic National Park is a 220 mile round trip from our campground, but it was definitely worth the drive! As the sun popped in and out of the clouds we drove through heavily forested areas, to areas of clear cut trees to a stretch along the ocean which was hidden tantalizing behind trees for the most part. There was little traffic on the road so our pace was leisurely as we enjoyed the scenery along a route that was new to us.
We made a quick stop at the Visitor's Center to see the displays and read some of the information about the park. To show how much rain the Hoh Rain Forest receives, the park had sketched a picture of the Visitor's Center and then marked a level on the rooftop to show how the annual rainfall would cover the building almost to the peak of the roof if the rains didn't drain into the ground. The annual average is about 151 inches of rain, compared to Seattle's 34 inches. That made it a lot easier to visualize the amount of rain they receive in the park each year.
We wandered down the Spruce tree trail, which was a round trip loop of 1.25 miles showcasing the tall Sitka spruces, Douglas firs and hemlocks. The interpretive signs along the path discussed the various trees, the mosses and forest undergrowth as you walked around the path. They mentioned to look for signs of elk feeding on the lush undergrowth, but I think they were staying away from the area as the cow elk had given birth to calves recently according to a warning sign placed out front. I would have loved to have seen elk calves, but I assume you have to trek a lot further into the rain forest than we were prepared to go. The second of three paths near the Visitor Center is the Hall of Mosses which leads you through a section of forest that has maple trees draped heavily with moss. This path is 3/4 of a mile long with a slight uphill tilt near the beginning of the path. It was raining during our visit, but the canopy of trees keeps you pretty dry for the most part and the sounds of rain falling on the tree tops is the only sound you hear as you walk.
The Hoh River runs through the park and its waters are a beautiful opaque shade of blue-green-gray caused by the glaciers in the Olympic mountains grinding stone into silt and carrying it into the river. Spring melt of the snows and glaciers causes the river to change its course within the park which you can see now that the waters have gone down quite a bit.
As we were returning to our campground we stopped at a pull off along US 101 between Ruby Beach and Beach 4 (there are four beach access stops along the way, numbered consecutively) to eat our picnic lunch, watch the ocean and take pictures of the rock formation below. As I was getting out of the truck to focus on the rocks, I noticed a golden eagle hovering above the rocks with his talons extended as he was either preparing to land or to snatch something off the rocks. As I was starting to focus the camera on him-wham! he was attacked by a bald eagle who obviously didn't want the golden eagle in his territory. Before I could snap the shot, both of them flew off in opposite directions. Wow! Not only had I just seen my first golden eagle in the wild, but a bald eagle at the same time. The bald eagle did return, flying across the roadway about two hundred feet from us, but he returned to the forest so quickly I couldn't get a zoomed-in shot of him. So that picture will be in our memories only. It was a neat finish to a great day-trip.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
Sunday, July 10, 2005
Roadside America - Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions
Roadside America - Guide to Uniquely Odd Tourist Attractions
Roadside America is a rather unique web site of unusual attractions and strange sightings and funky, Rt. 66-type advertising of the 50s. As we were driving through Aberdeen, WA on the way to Wal-mart I noticed the Hot Dog man from their site so the next time we were in town I snapped a quick shot of him. It didn't turn out badly considering we were driving in the truck in the rain when I took this shot.
If I had realized how many drive-through espresso/coffee shops were in Washington when we first arrived here I would have started taking pictures of all the different buildings as many are quite creative in their efforts to draw customers to them. After all, when there's a coffee shop on practically every corner, you have to have come up with something different to draw the customers. They've ranged from small houses with gardens to beavers in rocking chairs on the roof to log cabins to lighthouses to cars crashing out of the sides of the building. We find it surprising that so many people are stopping at all hours of the day for a cup of their favorite brew. Although Denny and I both started out drinking coffee with cream and sugar (years back my grandmother would fill a heavy brown-fading-to-tan ceramic mug with a little coffee and a LOT of evaporated milk and sugar for me, which irritated my mother to no end. Which is probably why Grandma did it.) we have both weaned ourselves of the cream and sugar. These days the only thing we want in our coffee is the occasional shot of Bailey's Irish cream after dinner, so we have never even tried any of the Starbucks-type of coffee flavored drinks. I figure if I'm going to imbibe 600 calories with my coffee, it's going to be in the form of a slab of brownie, thank you very much.
Returning to unusual advertising for a business, I also took this picture of Fat Smitty's restaurant, located on Highway 101 at the intersection of Rt. 20. Perhaps it should be included in Roadside America, too?
Friday, July 08, 2005
Kolaches
In the Czech language, one (of these pastries) is called a Kolač: the little "v" (called a hacek) over the last letter makes it sound like our "ch"--Kolach.
The plural: "Kolaches" in English and "Kolaché" in Czech.
According to some sources, the word Kolač is related to a word meaning "pocket," describing the way the fillings are tucked into the middle of a sweet roll. A Czech dictionary defines Kolač as "the national sweet bread."
This morning I made kolaches filled with blackberry preserves from Remlinger Farms, which is located south of Carnation, WA. We discovered kolaches while in Wisconsin after seeing a recipe in a local newspaper. I searched the Internet for variations before discovering our current favorite version, one with sour cream in the dough. While you have to allow it to rise, there's no punching of the dough as in many versions and it makes a very tender, delicately flavored pastry. I had to do a 2-mile Walk with Leslie Sansone exercise tape as penance. Sigh. It was a perfect rainy morning breakfast.
We enjoy reading the morning paper from whatever city where we are at the moment and always look for recipes for foods that may be well known in that area or just something different. Recipes that turn out well are passed on to my sister-in-law, an excellent cook who also enjoys trying new recipes, while bad ones are simply trashed. I use Master Cook software on my computer to save my recipes which also allows you to forward them to friends in e-mails and share them on the Internet for downloading.
It's raining again this morning-Denny says he likes Washington rain as it means he can just stay inside and be lazy. No comment. Heh.
The plural: "Kolaches" in English and "Kolaché" in Czech.
According to some sources, the word Kolač is related to a word meaning "pocket," describing the way the fillings are tucked into the middle of a sweet roll. A Czech dictionary defines Kolač as "the national sweet bread."
This morning I made kolaches filled with blackberry preserves from Remlinger Farms, which is located south of Carnation, WA. We discovered kolaches while in Wisconsin after seeing a recipe in a local newspaper. I searched the Internet for variations before discovering our current favorite version, one with sour cream in the dough. While you have to allow it to rise, there's no punching of the dough as in many versions and it makes a very tender, delicately flavored pastry. I had to do a 2-mile Walk with Leslie Sansone exercise tape as penance. Sigh. It was a perfect rainy morning breakfast.
We enjoy reading the morning paper from whatever city where we are at the moment and always look for recipes for foods that may be well known in that area or just something different. Recipes that turn out well are passed on to my sister-in-law, an excellent cook who also enjoys trying new recipes, while bad ones are simply trashed. I use Master Cook software on my computer to save my recipes which also allows you to forward them to friends in e-mails and share them on the Internet for downloading.
It's raining again this morning-Denny says he likes Washington rain as it means he can just stay inside and be lazy. No comment. Heh.
Thursday, July 07, 2005
A drive up Rt. 109
My new font of Washington information, Bill, had mentioned that he and his wife Diane were staying at a RV park in Copalis which reminded me that there were several of our affliate campground membership parks in the area. So yesterday we decided to take a drive up State Rt. 109 to check out the other parks for future visits and do a sightseeing drive as well. Unfortunately, Bill and Diane didn't appear to be home, but we discovered their campground had a great view of the Pacific and so would definitely be on our list of campgrounds to try. We headed north out of the campground and pulled onto the beach near Pacific Beach State Park to check out the view there. We saw our first set of huge rock formations in the ocean, which is something I have always associated with the thought of the Pacific Northwest coastlines. It was just one lonely outcropping, however, so we continued north with the hopes of seeing more. Rt. 109 dead ends in the Quinault Indian Reservation town of Taholah and a few miles south of town we discovered a path leading to the beach and a bit of that rugged coastline we were hoping to see.
After cutting over to St. Rt. 101 and dropping off some mail at the Humptulips post office (love that name!) we circled around to Ocean Shores for lunch at the Lucky Dragon Restaurant (very good) and to drive up Ocean Shores beach to the Ocean City entrance to measure the distance of the driveable portion of the beach. While on the beach we saw some horseback riders meandering north (don't you always think of horses galloping on the beach, though?) and folks out flying kites. We also noticed the tremendous amount of fireworks debris and trash left by all the folks would had come out for the 4th of July celebration. It is a shame that people aren't considerate enough to clean up their mess after being given the opportunity to use the beach for their enjoyment. Okay, down off the soap box. From access to egress the driveable beach portion measured at 4.4 miles. I would be interested to know how accurate my "guesstimate" of the crowd was on the 4th.
After cutting over to St. Rt. 101 and dropping off some mail at the Humptulips post office (love that name!) we circled around to Ocean Shores for lunch at the Lucky Dragon Restaurant (very good) and to drive up Ocean Shores beach to the Ocean City entrance to measure the distance of the driveable portion of the beach. While on the beach we saw some horseback riders meandering north (don't you always think of horses galloping on the beach, though?) and folks out flying kites. We also noticed the tremendous amount of fireworks debris and trash left by all the folks would had come out for the 4th of July celebration. It is a shame that people aren't considerate enough to clean up their mess after being given the opportunity to use the beach for their enjoyment. Okay, down off the soap box. From access to egress the driveable beach portion measured at 4.4 miles. I would be interested to know how accurate my "guesstimate" of the crowd was on the 4th.
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
4th of July in Ocean City, WA
While we normally don't venture out on holiday weekends due to crowds and traffic, Denny and I decided to check out Ocean City's fireworks on the beach last night. As it had been sunny all day, we left at 8 p.m. to head to the beach with the intent of trying to get a picture of the sun setting over the ocean. Naturally, the skies clouded up just prior to our leaving but we decided to go early on the chance that the skies would clear.
What we discovered after tossing a few bucks in a fireman's boot as a donation was a huge crowd at the beach, partying hard. We're talking people and cars as far as the eye could see in either direction. And 70 percent of them had fireworks. I've already mentioned that fireworks are permitted on the beach from June 28 through July 6th and people came fully prepared to enjoy that freedom. We tried to guesstimate the size of the crowd and figure there might have been 5,000 people along the full stretch of the beach and they were setting off thousands of dollars of fireworks. I'm not talking sparklers and lady fingers; these folks had rockets and flares and near-professional exploding sprays of fireworks. When darkness fell to the south of us, you could see fireworks going off practically to infinity. It was the most amazing display as we were entirely encircled by folks with all sorts of pyrotechnics. And the strangest part was, after 2 hours of watching fireworks, we had to leave before Ocean City's professional display as the tide had come up and was washing against the truck's tires and we were afraid of getting stuck in soft sand. By that time, there was no where else to move due to the crowd without interfering with the main roadway so we left. What a neat experience that was!
On another note, in an earlier blog entry I had mused about the identify of the flowers with the tubular blossoms I was seeing here in Washington as well as wondering why Tall Chief Golf Course had only 12 holes. Well, Bill Joyce, a native Washingtonian (I have no idea what folks from Washington are called-we Ohioans are Buckeyes), read my blog and wrote to inform me that the flowers are foxglove, latin name digitalis purpurea. Foxglove is a source of digitalis, prescribed by doctors to strengthen the heart and regulate its beat and is extremely poisonous. But it is a beautiful flower. Bill also explained that the Tall Chief GC used to be 18 holes, but when the campground/golf course went bankrupt a developer purchased a section of the golf course to build upon, leaving the remaining 12 holes. Mystery solved. I told you the people of Washington were friendly and helpful!
What we discovered after tossing a few bucks in a fireman's boot as a donation was a huge crowd at the beach, partying hard. We're talking people and cars as far as the eye could see in either direction. And 70 percent of them had fireworks. I've already mentioned that fireworks are permitted on the beach from June 28 through July 6th and people came fully prepared to enjoy that freedom. We tried to guesstimate the size of the crowd and figure there might have been 5,000 people along the full stretch of the beach and they were setting off thousands of dollars of fireworks. I'm not talking sparklers and lady fingers; these folks had rockets and flares and near-professional exploding sprays of fireworks. When darkness fell to the south of us, you could see fireworks going off practically to infinity. It was the most amazing display as we were entirely encircled by folks with all sorts of pyrotechnics. And the strangest part was, after 2 hours of watching fireworks, we had to leave before Ocean City's professional display as the tide had come up and was washing against the truck's tires and we were afraid of getting stuck in soft sand. By that time, there was no where else to move due to the crowd without interfering with the main roadway so we left. What a neat experience that was!
On another note, in an earlier blog entry I had mused about the identify of the flowers with the tubular blossoms I was seeing here in Washington as well as wondering why Tall Chief Golf Course had only 12 holes. Well, Bill Joyce, a native Washingtonian (I have no idea what folks from Washington are called-we Ohioans are Buckeyes), read my blog and wrote to inform me that the flowers are foxglove, latin name digitalis purpurea. Foxglove is a source of digitalis, prescribed by doctors to strengthen the heart and regulate its beat and is extremely poisonous. But it is a beautiful flower. Bill also explained that the Tall Chief GC used to be 18 holes, but when the campground/golf course went bankrupt a developer purchased a section of the golf course to build upon, leaving the remaining 12 holes. Mystery solved. I told you the people of Washington were friendly and helpful!
Monday, July 04, 2005
On the beach
After breakfast at the Home Port restaurant yesterday we decided to take a drive on the beach since the sun had finally come out. We were surprised by the number of people who were tent camping right on the beach as there must have been a hundred different tents set up along a three mile stretch of beach. There were even people sleeping out in the open in sleeping bags beside their cars. Of course my first thought was "where on earth do you go to the bathroom?" My second was wondering who was going to clean up all the fireworks debris on the beach; fireworks are allowed on the beach from June 28 through July 6 and it was quite obvious from the leftover rocket sticks and tubes that people had been taking full advantage of the privilege.
Returning to the campground we were amazed by the huge number of people tent camping not only on the beach but in the state park areas and in the small local campgrounds. Over the weekend entire tent cities appeared in lots that had been vacant on Thursday. I must admit, I much prefer our way of "roughing it".
Returning to the campground we were amazed by the huge number of people tent camping not only on the beach but in the state park areas and in the small local campgrounds. Over the weekend entire tent cities appeared in lots that had been vacant on Thursday. I must admit, I much prefer our way of "roughing it".
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Sand and Sawdust
It seems we arrived a week too late in Ocean City as last week the city of Ocean Shores held their annual Sand and Sawdust Festival. I would have loved to have gone to this one as it's three days of sand castle building and chain saw carving. They held competitions in three divisions in the sand sculpting and even had a "family division" for folks to register and vie for prizes donated by the local businesses, plus they gave free sand sculpting lessons on the beach on Friday. Since all the competitors' sculptures were created on the high tide mark on the beach, they were gone by the time we arrived a week later although one sculpture was created in the parking lot of the Visitor Center and I got of snapshot of that. There was no sign of any of the chain saw creations, unfortunately.
Our brief foray into town was simply for reconnaissance for a later return. There was a gentleman at the Visitor Center who was very helpful, pointing out two beach access areas and the town's Interpretive Center and providing us with maps and schedules and information on local attractions. We drove down to the beach along Ocean Shore Blvd. and discovered that here the beach is considered a state highway so you can drive up and down the length of it. A string of horses stood ready for anyone wanting a beach ride; a group could be seen riding far up the beach. I was surprised to discover that there were no shells on the beach, but perhaps early morning risers get the good ones as the sand appeared to be picked clean. Then again, perhaps the constant surf wipes them away.
On the way out of town we checked out the Quinault Beach Casino. They don't appear to have a separate campground area as many casinos now have, but there were a few rigs parked off to the side. But there are a lot of campgrounds in the area for anyone wishing to visit Ocean Shores. We'll explore more after the holiday weekend but for the next three days we'll stick close to home avoiding the crowds.
Friday, July 01, 2005
Ocean City, WA
Just a brief note to say we're here and we're up and running. Through serendipity we located a camp site that has a huge opening in the trees so we could point both satellite dishes towards the open sky.
Yesterday was a shopping day, which meant a 50-mile round trip to Aberdeen to hit the Walmart and Safeway. Being out in the boonies is great for scenery and solitude but tough on gas mileage! I tried to stock up at Walmart as our next destination will be over 45 miles one way from the nearest Walmart-quelles horreurs ! (translation: OMG!) The state of Washington doesn't have a lot of the Walmart Super centers so I'm now out of my favorite GAV French Roast Arabica bean coffee, sigh.
Today before the crowds hit the area I hope to drive down the road to Ocean Shores to see the beach. The town will have fireworks at the beach Monday and perhaps I can convince Denny it would be fun to go freeze our rear ends off while watching a fireworks display. Odds are not good, though. Heh.
Yesterday was a shopping day, which meant a 50-mile round trip to Aberdeen to hit the Walmart and Safeway. Being out in the boonies is great for scenery and solitude but tough on gas mileage! I tried to stock up at Walmart as our next destination will be over 45 miles one way from the nearest Walmart-quelles horreurs ! (translation: OMG!) The state of Washington doesn't have a lot of the Walmart Super centers so I'm now out of my favorite GAV French Roast Arabica bean coffee, sigh.
Today before the crowds hit the area I hope to drive down the road to Ocean Shores to see the beach. The town will have fireworks at the beach Monday and perhaps I can convince Denny it would be fun to go freeze our rear ends off while watching a fireworks display. Odds are not good, though. Heh.
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Moving day
Today we're headed for the coast. Our neighbors next door tell us the campground's sites are surrounded by tall trees, so our satellite set up may be questionable. If that's the case, I won't be online as much for the next two weeks. Fair warning.
A Town of Painted Ladies
Port Townsend is one of three cities nationwide to be on the National Register of Historic Places due to its large number of Victorian houses and buildings built in the late 1800s. According to information online, the city declined in the early 1900s when a proposed railway line did not come through as expected which meant the city could not develop and expand its shipping port. Without that, the population slowly declined even after a paper mill was built in the 1920s. Folks just disappeared leaving all the buildings to slowly start to decay.
In the 1970s retirees and folks anxious to be away from the larger cities started buying the beautiful old homes and restoring them. Today, many have been converted to bed and breakfasts and restored to their old glory. Downtown has come back to life with a variety of shops in buildings that have been cleaned up and repainted to highlight their architectural details. The city offers a driving tour with seagulls painted on the street to follow, although the streets are narrow and the parking is all on-street parallel parking; delivery trucks straddle the median to drop off packages. For any one with a large vehicle or a RV, the city offers a park & ride lot on the east end of town with a shuttle service-it's located at the Safeway shopping center entrance. There is also a walking tour that highlights many of the more elaborate buildings and homes. If you enjoy Victorian style architecture, this is definitely a town to see.
In the 1970s retirees and folks anxious to be away from the larger cities started buying the beautiful old homes and restoring them. Today, many have been converted to bed and breakfasts and restored to their old glory. Downtown has come back to life with a variety of shops in buildings that have been cleaned up and repainted to highlight their architectural details. The city offers a driving tour with seagulls painted on the street to follow, although the streets are narrow and the parking is all on-street parallel parking; delivery trucks straddle the median to drop off packages. For any one with a large vehicle or a RV, the city offers a park & ride lot on the east end of town with a shuttle service-it's located at the Safeway shopping center entrance. There is also a walking tour that highlights many of the more elaborate buildings and homes. If you enjoy Victorian style architecture, this is definitely a town to see.
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Victoria, British Columbia
Everyone told us that a trip to Victoria, BC was a "must see", so yesterday's day trip was a ferry boat ride to Vancouver Island to explore Victoria. Although Victoria itself is a large town, a lot of the main tourist attractions are within a few blocks so walking isn't a big problem. Of course, they have carriage rides and double-decker bus tours and harbor taxis and even pedicabs, which are like rickshaws pulled by a person on a bicycle rather than a person on foot. That clarification is for any word purists among you.
We missed the tall ships exhibition that occurred over the weekend, although we did pass two of the ships returning to Port Angeles for display. Unfortunately, a marine layer was settling in as we passed the ships so they appeared as "ghost ships" in the distance, which was a neat effect to see but made for a poor picture. Of course, this way we also missed all the crowds!
We passed on the Bushart Gardens tour which takes about four hours. There are any number of combinations of tour packages ranging from the Grand City tour lasting an hour and a half to overnight stays with tours of the Gardens, the city, the Craigdarroch Castle and more. In town there's the Miniatures World, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Royal London Wax Museum, the Undersea Gardens and more. We wandered through the main streets of town, stopping in Hudson's of Hudson Bay fame, watching the glass blowers at Starfish Glassworks, picked up a very expensive ($12.50 for two) pair of ice cream cones after a very tasty lunch at Milestone's Inner Harbor restaurant on the wharf. The buildings in town are beautifully restored and many have been rebuilt to look as if they were built in the 1860s. There are shops for anything you could possibly want, including the Rubber Rainbow Condom Co. shop. I kid you not-it's even listed in the tourist guide!
Victoria is a marvelous place to people watch; we heard many different languages and accents being spoken as we sat on a wall on the wharf before boarding the ferry to return to Port Angeles. We decided that Victoria is definitely a city we'll come back to explore, but the next time we'll bring a lot more money! It is can be quite expensive if you want to take any of the tours, although just wandering the streets and exploring the shops will keep you entertained for hours.
The ferry ride back in the evening air was quite cold, so take a warm jacket if you go. Hot chocolate on our return to the rig tasted wonderful!
We missed the tall ships exhibition that occurred over the weekend, although we did pass two of the ships returning to Port Angeles for display. Unfortunately, a marine layer was settling in as we passed the ships so they appeared as "ghost ships" in the distance, which was a neat effect to see but made for a poor picture. Of course, this way we also missed all the crowds!
We passed on the Bushart Gardens tour which takes about four hours. There are any number of combinations of tour packages ranging from the Grand City tour lasting an hour and a half to overnight stays with tours of the Gardens, the city, the Craigdarroch Castle and more. In town there's the Miniatures World, the Royal British Columbia Museum, the Royal London Wax Museum, the Undersea Gardens and more. We wandered through the main streets of town, stopping in Hudson's of Hudson Bay fame, watching the glass blowers at Starfish Glassworks, picked up a very expensive ($12.50 for two) pair of ice cream cones after a very tasty lunch at Milestone's Inner Harbor restaurant on the wharf. The buildings in town are beautifully restored and many have been rebuilt to look as if they were built in the 1860s. There are shops for anything you could possibly want, including the Rubber Rainbow Condom Co. shop. I kid you not-it's even listed in the tourist guide!
Victoria is a marvelous place to people watch; we heard many different languages and accents being spoken as we sat on a wall on the wharf before boarding the ferry to return to Port Angeles. We decided that Victoria is definitely a city we'll come back to explore, but the next time we'll bring a lot more money! It is can be quite expensive if you want to take any of the tours, although just wandering the streets and exploring the shops will keep you entertained for hours.
The ferry ride back in the evening air was quite cold, so take a warm jacket if you go. Hot chocolate on our return to the rig tasted wonderful!
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