Happy Birthday Erica

Happy Birthday Erica!

32 years ago today, at 8:20 pm, I held in my arms the greatest gift I could ever receive. It has been, and continues to be, a pleasure to be your mother.

Foggy , Snowy Hurricane Ridge

We left Forks and was in Port Angeles in a short period of time. Port Angeles has a ferry to Victoria BC. We missed the early ferry and the next doesn’t leave until 12:45 pm so we decided to go tomorrow. We got set up at Conestoga RV park and, since it was raining again, we got some shopping done.

It started to clear up and we were seeing blue skies we jumped in the car and headed to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Nat’l Park. I find the weather here fascinating. It may be pouring rain and within an hour be sunny as can be, then within minutes, clouds roll in, and rain like crazy again. I don’t think you could ever plan a picnic, an outside wedding would have to be out of the question. Sorry I digress. Back to Hurricane Ridge. We started this drive with sunny skies and roll your windows down in the car temperatures. It is a steady climb up hill for miles and miles when you enter the park and head towards the Ridge. We didn’t think you could continue to climb this far. The farther we climbed the more clouds came. We stopped at a pull over and you can see how sunny it is in the valley of Port Angeles but the clouds are thick above. The fog rolled in and got thicker and thicker, then the snow started. Between the snow and the fog we couldn’t see a thing. We weren’t sure if we should continue but decided to press on. We figured we drove Hwy 1 on the California coast pulling a car, we should be able to get up this mountain and we did make it to the summit. This is the view of Mount Olympus. Beautiful Huh? I took a picture of a picture of Mt Olympus and this is what we should be seeing. Oh well. Remember I said it was roll your windows down kind of warm on the way up, well it’s turn the heat on here at the top. On the way down the mountain we needed to stop for a curious little deer. We stopped just incase she decided she wanted to run out in the road, instead she came up to the car for a visit. I took her picture and put my fingers in the picture so you could see how close she came. How sweet. It was snowing like crazy, and within a 1/4 mile it stopped, there wasn’t even snow on the trees or ground as you can see where we stopped for the deer. Just a 1/4 mile up the mountain there was still a couple of feet of snow left. The weather is so weird here, but I like it. By the time we left the mountain it was sunny again.

Rain Forests and Twilight

We have been in places that looked like tropical rain forests but were not. Today we will go into an official temperate rain forest that receives 12 to 14 feet of rainfall annually. 12 to 14 FEET of rain!  Does the sun ever shine? We were told  by a local that it rains 70% of the time in the northwestern coastal regions from Oregon through Washington. The Hoh Rain Forest in the Olympic National Forest is home to the  worlds largest Sitka Spruce, the Monarch.   These Sitkas only grow on the coast from northern California to Alaska. The fern, lush vegetation, and moss covered trees made it a delight to hike the trails here. 

We have to be on the look out for vampires and werewolves in the town of Forks. Yes you Twilight fans we are in Forks, WA where Twilight takes place.                 I was hoping Edward or Jacob would be my tour guide but  a map of the town will do just fine. We went to the Forks High School, since it was Saturday, Bella and Edward weren’t there. Bella’s father was off duty when we went to the Forks Police Station. We stopped by at the Cullen’s home and Esme left a note that they were not home and were out on a hike to recuperate from a European vacation. Hey we just left the Olympic Mountains! I could have swore that I saw Edward in the window of the house, but it must have been my eyes playing tricks on me.  I was wondering if Bella went with them since she left her truck at the Chamber of Commerce and visitor center. .   The visitor center had free wifi so we stayed the night right there in the parking lot so I could use the internet and Tommy decided to change the oil in the RV.           Next to the visitor center is the Forks Timber Museum. I know my grand kids would love to have this as a fort. Can you imagine how big that tree was to be able to make this house? 

Well Forks, you are a lovely town. Give our best to Bella, Edward, the Cullen’s and to Jacob. Maybe we will get together the next time we are in Forks.

Rainy Days, a “Spruce Goose”, and Cutting the Cheese

This post is a mixture from 5/19 through 5/21/10. We have had several rainy days, one steady rain day, the others off and on.

We saw the smallest navigable harbor in Depoe Bay. As boaters we can appreciate the cut in from the ocean to the harbor.

Some of the beaches here look like logging grave yards with all of the “drift wood” (whole trees) that drifted up onto shore. Really neat to see and convenient for an on the beach campfire. I still think it is strange how each beach here is different. Some have sand, some have cobbles, some with tide pools, and some with logs.

When we were walking a beach looking into the tide pools, where I could stay for days and days, I saw this funny looking bird. I then stumbled onto a seal pup resting on shore. Mom was no where in sight, so I had to meet the pup up close.

Evergreen Air Museum is the home for the Spruce Goose, the largest wooden sea plane that Howard Hughes built and only flown once. Hughes kept this plane in climate controlled storage from the late 1940’s to 1976 when he died at a tune of 1 million dollars a year. This museum was a walk down memory lane for Tommy, especially the helicopter section. They had on display the 1st helicopter he flew in, an H23. H13, like on the show Mash was also in his unit. He does like his airplanes but loves his helicopters, especially the Hueys. Hueys do something to him. He loves the look and the sound of them. They are workhorses and he worked and flew in them for most of his career. He also knows how important that distinctive sound that they make is, and it is distinctive, to the Vietnam Vets.

Tillamook cheese factory is the largest cheese factory in Oregon and was a yummy stop for us. We made cheese sampling our lunch after we took a tour. Of course pounds of it came home with us. They also make ice cream. We had enough dairy in one day to last us a month.

The D River is the worlds smallest river at a whopping 120 ft long.

We crossed the 45th parallel which is the half way point from the equator to the North Pole. Even though it was rainy here I really hated to leave. The beauty of the water, cliffs, tide pools and towns made me want to stay. I think I could live here – in the summers of course.

On towards Washington State today. We crossed into WA by way of Rt 101 and had to cross 2 bridges and a causeway. One bridge was so long it needed 2 support structures at either end and the causeway was so long you couldn’t see where it ended. To our friends Snookie and Bob this should be a flashback since you traveled this exact road one year ago - almost to the day!

We stayed at Bruceport Park, a county park right on the Willapa Bay. What a fantastic county park campground. A stroll through the woods, lined with pretty little white flowers in the middle of the path, brought us to the beach for wonderful sunset and eagle sightings. We noticed at 9pm how light it was still outside. The more north you go, the more daylight as you approach the summer solstice. We found ourselves making shadow figures on the RV during the sunset.

Can’t beat the view, the trails, and the quiet all for $15 a night.

Oh one more thing, Snookie they do grow the mosquitoes big here, don’t they?!