Olympic
Olympic National Park
June 16 - 23, 2012
Cruise Directors: Brenda, Connie and Jill
Sheep: Peggy, Julie, Lisa L, Lisa R and Sue
Six of the BVEs met at Julie’s house on Friday night to catch our early Saturday morning flight. Thanks to Jeramy, Julie’s boss, we had a couple of nice bottles of wine to start toasting the trip.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Our chauffeurs, Lisa’s husband Dana and Julie’s friend Kitty, showed up at 6:30 to take us to the airport for an 8am flight. After a quick group shot (but not official as we are still missing Lisa R.) we headed for the airport.
We arrived in Minneapolis and 9:39 and proceeded to Lisa’s gate. She was on a different flight and left Minneapolis 2 hours ahead of us. After saying Hi, the rest of us grabbed breakfast and then waited for our 1:30 flight – it was a long lay over
We arrived in Seattle at 2:30, found Lisa R, grabbed our bags and got our rental cars. A Chevy Impala and a Nissan Altima, luckily both cars have lots of trunk space so there was plenty of room for the bags and their suitcases. (yes, it is the joke that never gets old). It was a 2 ½ hour drive to the house we are renting in Port Angeles. But the trip took 6 hours to get there. The first delay was taking the Edmonton ferry. It was 6:00 when we got off the ferry and we were all starved. Our stomachs thought it was 8:00 so we stopped at the Grub Hut for burgers which were pretty good. Then back in the cars. As we were driving we decided we needed to find out what the liquor laws are in Washington. Thanks to technology (most of us are packing smart phones) we learned that the state of Washington changed from State run to Private run liquor stores on June 1. During the transition there had been a few dry days while the private stores went through the red tape of getting liquor licenses. But it is all worked out now and we can get anything we want in grocery stores, even on Sunday.
We got to the house at 8:30. The house is beautiful, once again our planners, Connie, Brenda & Jill hit a home run with the lodging.
Today is Sue’s birthday so we sang Happy Birthday to her and had carrot cake to celebrate. After a few quick toasts, we called it a night.
Sunday, June 17, 2012
We started getting up at 6am, felt much later since our bodies still think we are on central time. We are in the coffee mecca of the US, but our coffee maker is a percolator. After some discussion, Brenda stepped up and thought “what would my Mother do?” and then perked the best pot of coffee ever.
We left the house around 8:30 and headed to the visitor center in Port Angeles, but it was closed until 11am on Sunday – so we went directly to the Dungeness Spit. The Dungeness Spit is in the Dungeness Wildlife Refuge. At about 5 miles long it is the largest natural sand hook in the nation. It was formed by sand and clay that eroded from the high bluffs to the west and were then deposited by tidal, wave, and wind action near the mouth of the Dungeness River.
We started the hike around 10:15 after our first group shot. The BVE were quick to assume the position. It was foggy and we really couldn’t see much starting out. The tide was low and we hiked along the beach in the sand. The beach has lot of kelp laying on it and looks like something from a science fiction movie.
Around 11:30 the sun started to come out and we got our first glimpse of the lighthouse that was our destination.
We arrived at the lighthouse around noon and had lunch there. Our first of many tasty wraps this week.
The lighthouse is maintained by volunteers that pay to stay for a week at a time. They are booked a year in advance. The volunteer staying gave us a tour of the lighthouse to see the view from the top.
The seal’s birthing time is late June to early July. We were told that there are about 100 seals at the end of the peninsula in the birthing process. On the way back, there was a seal sighting.
We had to make a decision if we should stay in Serenity or head back to Reality. Eventually we chose Reality. The hike back was much harder than the way there. The wind was in our face and tide was coming up so we had to hike in the rocks and loose sand. We had to hurry in order to finish the hike before high tide - Peggy tried to speed things up by riding a broom that had washed up on shore. We finished a little after 4pm. High tide is at 5pm, so we made it back just in time.
We drove back to the house, one car stopped for groceries and the other car went back to start showers and get the grill started. Dinner was grilled chicken, broccoli and salad. We were all moving a little slow after the day, so just sat around and talked after dinner and eventually had some toasts and ate E.L. Fudge cookies, chips, and ice cream.
Monday, June 18, 2012
The early birds started stirring around 6:30 and everyone was up by a little after 7am. We ate a hearty breakfast of breakfast burritos and more of that delicious percolated coffee. The plan was to leave by 8:30 and we almost made our goal by leaving at 9am.
We headed to Hurricane Ridge. Jill spotted the Olympic National Park sign and pulled over for the official group trip shot.
After the photo op, we stopped in at the Heart of the Hills Visitor Center. Then on to Hurricane Ridge where we had our first wildlife sighting, a black bear a long side the road. Yes Russ, Connie did see it and she got photo documentation!
It is early in the season and all of the trails still have some snow on them and some of the trails are still closed. The hiking choices were limited, but we were not to be deferred. The first hike we took was the Cirque Rim and Big Meadow trails. On the trail we saw several black tail deer and lots of foliage. This trail will be beautiful with wild flowers in another month.
The trail was covered with snow in several places which made the hike more fun and interesting.
We weren't able to hike the entire trail, but we did get a great view at the highest point we were able to reach.
After this hike we went back to the visitor center to warm up and have lunch inside. This was the only time all week that we ate lunch inside.
The second hike was Observation Point. This was just a service road. It was pretty steep and not real interesting, but we did see some foliage and had a good view of the mountain range.
Lisa L and Sue decided to go back before the end of the trail. The trail ended where the snow wasn’t plowed. We had a little snowball fight and learned that Peggy can’t hit the broad side of a barn.
The third hike was the Hurricane Hill. It also was covered in snow and since it was late in the day, we only did a small piece of it. Near the beginning of the trail it split into a high path and a low path. A family came by as we were at there and recommended the high trail. It was pretty steep, but well worth the effort as we had the prettiest view of the day.
After the hike we headed back to the house. This time Brenda’s car stopped for groceries and Jill’s headed back to start dinner and showers. Jill and Connie decided to take a walk when they got back. As they were walking they heard some rustling and came face to face with a cougar. They both backed away quickly and headed for the house. It was quite a scare.
After recovering from the shock, Connie and Lisa L made dinner. We had a delicious meal of shrimp pasta, California medley and salad. We are all moving a little slow, so we had another slow night, sitting and talking while everyone took turns showering and packing up as we are leaving for the park lodge tomorrow. And of course there were a few toasts.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Today we have to pack up and move to Kalaloch Lodge. Started getting up at 6am. Breakfast is steel cut oats and peanut butter and toast. The plan was to leave at 8am and being the achievers we are, we were packed up and left at 7:45.
Today our plan is to explore the Lake Cresent and Sol Duc areas of the park. Our first stop was Madison Waterfall. This was a short trail to Madison Falls, our first waterfall of the trip.
After the short drive to Lake Crescent we hiked Spruce Railroad Trail. This was supposed to have a view of Lake Crescent, but the trail was back from the private lake front property, so we didn’t see much. We did find a path off the hiking path to a clearing for a photo op and a snack. This is where we realized how much technology has changed as several of us posted to Facebook while on this trail.
Then back in the cars and on to Storm King Ranger Station. There we met Ranger Ron – a cross between Barney Fife and Mr. Rodgers. Our first hike was to Marymere Falls which was about a mile long hike through an old growth forest to the falls.
On the way back we took the trail to Lake Crescent Lodge where we found some Aderondeck chairs calling our name and decided to have lunch there with a view of the lake.
After lunch we hiked back to the car and drove to Sol Duc. We took two short hikes in Sol Duc; Ancient Grove and Sol Duc Falls. At one point on the trail, we were able to stand on rocks in a stream. We must have made quite an impressive site as several hikers stopped to watch us set up the group shot and then took a picture of their group in the same way.
By the time we finished it was 4:45 and we decided to skip the Sol Duc Hot Springs and head for Kalaloch which was still a 2 hour drive away.
Drove through Forks, which is the setting for the twilight movies. Stopped for a group shot and while we were setting it up a tour bus stopped and the driver took the picture for us. He offered to let us use his life size posters of the actors, but we passed.
We reached Kalaloch Lodge around 6:30. We have two cabins 19 & 20. We turned into the evens and odds again, but Peggy and Lisa L switched teams.
Had 8pm reservations for dinner at the lodge. After dinner half the group crashed and the rest went for a hike on the beach.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
The plan was to visit the tide pools at Ruby beach at low tide which is 7:30, so we set the alarm for 6:45 or so we thought. Peggy was in charge of the alarm and didn’t realize her phone was still on central time so it went off at 4:45 after waking us all up. Of course she was able to immediately go back to sleep.
We arrived in the parking lot of Ruby beach on time at 7:30. We all got out of the cars and started to walk to the beach when the car started honking. Peggy was in the back seat locked in and couldn’t get out of the car so she was honking at us to let her out.
The tidal pools was an amazing view of wild life, saw lots of star fish, mussels, barnicels, and anemities, but we never did find the sea eurchins. We walked around for 2 hours enjoying the surf, rocks and wildlife. Sue wasn’t watching the tide close enough and ended up with two soakers, but being the trooper she was there was no complaining of wet feet.
On the way back we stopped at the Big Cedar Tree. This was a huge Cedar Tree that had lived a thousand years before dying and becoming a nurse tree for new trees. And it was still standing. Peggy was double dog dared and crawled through a hole at the base of the tree.
Then we drove back to the lodge for a snack/breakfast and to pack our lunches. Our next stop was the Hoh Rain Forest we was an hour drive away. We arrived around 11:30 and started the first hike, Spruce Nature Trail. This was a short 1.2 mile loop through temperate rain forest to Hoh River. We saw lots of foliage and were amazed at the trees growing out of other nurse trees.
On this trail the ground was mossy and soft, a great place to do a head stand, so Julie took off her hat and did one. Then Peggy did her famous cartwheel. She had to do 3 in order for us to get the perfect picture.
We finished the hike at 1pm and were ready for lunch so we headed to the picnic area and while eating lunch we were joined by an Otter.
The next hike was Hall of Mosses, another easy hike about ¾ of a mile that went through and old grow temperate rain forest.
After the hike Jill said “Hey girls, who wants a soda pop” and of seven hands flew up. She said “then follow me girls” and we had a soda in the parking lot before heading back. We planned to stop at a small t-shirt shop, but missed it so decided to stop back at the beaches we saw in the morning to see how they looked at a higher tide.
We all made it back to the lodge about 4:45 and decided to have toasting time since we haven’t done so well at toasting when we wait until later at night. Around 6:30 part of the group went to start showers for dinner and the rest took a walk on the beach. We have dinner reservations for 8pm again tonight.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
We left the lodge at 7:45 to go to Beach 2 to see the tidal pools. The short trail there was lined with trees with “tumors” caused by insects. When we got to the beach we saw that there were no rocks to look for wildlife on, so we decided to go onto South Beach. That beach was also barren of rocks, so we decided to go back to the lodge and explore Kalaloch beach right outside our back door.
Around 9:30 we decided to head back to the rooms for breakfast and to pack up. Then took a group shot in front of our beach view from our cabins.
We drove to Quinault Lake just before we got to the visitor’s lodge we saw Roosevelt Elk. A whole herd! Now that was a BVE moment. One Elk was on the shoulder when we drove by or we might have missed the herd completely as they were in dense forest. We stopped for a long time watching them and saw several young calves. They made a high squeal bugle sound as they grazed.
When we got to the visitor station she told us she hadn’t seen the herd yet and they are usually up higher in the meadows, so we were very lucky. The park is home to about 5000 elk that travel in herds of one buck and up to 30 cows.
After talking to the Ranger we took a short hike Kestner Homestead trail. This was an original homestead from the early settlers. This area is similar to the Hoh region, but it was settled at one time so the forests here are tamer.
After the hike we drove around the Lake Quinault. Much of the road was gravel and very narrow. A couple of times we had to squeeze between a tree on one side and the mountain on the other. Our great drivers, Brenda and Jill made it look easy.
There were two waterfalls along the road that we stopped to see, Bunch Falls and another unnamed falls that we almost missed as there was no turn out. Once again, Peggy was double dog dared and climbed up on the rocks to get a better view.
When we were at the Ranger Station, the Ranger told us about another hike to a waterfall on the other side of the Lake. It was on a narrow gravel road that was not clearly marked, so without her advice we never would have even known about it. The trail isn’t used much and there was lots of forest growth on both side making it very narrow. The trail was loaded with Salmon berries and since it was close to lunch some of us grazed our way through this hike.
The next stop was Quinault Lodge. This is a beautiful old lodge with a landscaped garden courtyard and a great view of the lake. A perfect setting for lunch.
After lunch we took one last hike on nature trail on the way out of the Quinault Lake area. The trail was had signs with information about the foliage and wildlife in the park. This would have been a good hike to go on first rather than last. When we got back to the car we had a soda pop and skipped some rocks.
It was sad to leave the park, but it was time to head Seattle. It was a two hour drive from Lake Quinault which we broke up with an ice cream stop half way in the town of Olympia.
We got to our hotel around 7:30, checked in had a quick toast in the room before finding dinner at Sharp’s Roast House a short way down the road. We had a great waitress named Brea, who was a little bit of a thing, but played Rugby. We had lots of fun talking to her and gave her our website address. Hi Brea!
Friday, June 22, 2012
Jill’s sister and brother-in-law who have lived in Seattle since 1967 met us at the hotel at 9am and we drove to the Seattle City Center for a day of sight seeing. We parked by the space needle and took the tram to West Lake Mall. From there we walked to Pike Place Market.
Our first stop was the very first Starbuck where we had to stand in two lines (one to order and one to pick up) to get a cup of coffee. The things that tourists will do.
We decided to split up for a couple of hours so that we could all better explore the area. There were lots of musicians on the corners, flying fish at the fish market, wonderful fresh produce, beautiful flowers and artisan jewelry.
The grossest thing we saw was the gum wall. And yes we did add gum to it.
We all met back up at lunch and had fish and chips at The Crab Pot. Fresh Salmon and Halibut smoked over Alder Wood. It was delicious!
After lunch we continued the tour visiting the wharf, Pioneer Square, the Klondike Gold Rush Museum National Historic Site and China International town. By then we were all drenched so we took the underground train back to Pike Place Market.
We went through a few more shops, watched the fish toss and did some shopping before deciding to get out of the rain and go back to West Lake Mall for a soda and snack.
After our rest we were ready to go up the space needle and see the city from the sky. The Space Needle is celebrating it’s 50th anniversary. It was built in 1962 for the World’s Fair.
We decided to go back to dinner at the same place we had eaten the night before Sharp’s Roast House. Brea was in a different area, but she did stop over to say Hi and see how our day was.
After dinner we dropped the back seat people off at the hotel to start showers and packing. The drivers and navigators dropped the cars off at the airport. The airport was really busy for a Friday night at 9pm, so it took a while to get through all the traffic.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
We got up early to take a 6:30 shuttle to the airport. Got checked, dropped off the suitcases and got the bags through security in plenty of time for our 8:10 flight to Minneapolis. We landed in the Minneapolis at 12:30. Took one last group shot before saying good-bye to Lisa Reed. She left for her 3 hour drive back home.
The rest of us went on a search for a quiet place to have lunch and spend our 6 hour lay over. We ended up in Axel’s Bonfire where we grabbed a long corner table. We ate lunch and looked at pictures until it was time to head to our gate. Our flight took off on time and we actually got back to Des Moines 15 minutes early.
Our driver’s Dana and Steve were waiting for us and after we grabbed our bags we went to Julie’s house to say our last good-byes. The trip is over, but the memories last forever. And we are looking forward to trip number 9 in 2014!
We hiked to the house and took our first group shot in front of the mansion. Then we talked to Bob about the grounds and how best to see everything. We tried to get him to give us a private tour but he said no.