Part 1: Heading West and West Again

Thursday 2/19/09 would have been a better day if the flight was on time. I really wanted to hit up a cool bar or restaurant near our hotel before 2 am, but alas, our 9pm flight left 3 hours late. By the time we landed at the Seattle airport, the downtown shuttles had stopped running for the night. We waited for a little while to take the city bus and, other than the extra time this added to our already late arrival, the bus system was very clean, safe, and the other passengers extremely friendly. By the time we reached downtown, we were completely ready to crash at the Red Lion Hotel http://www.redlion5thavenue.com . We had a very early morning planned, so best to get some shut-eye.

Friday 2/20/09 was the day to discover Washington. We hit up Starbucks at 7am because really, is a trip to Seattle complete without it? We walked with our coffee and told each other that now, since we had gotten our corporate fix, every subsequent trip for coffee would be a mom and pop joint with local flair. We arrived at a branch of Enterprise Rent-A-Car to pick up a cute little Prius, and began our journey to the Pacific Ocean. Now, since I’m not wonderful with geography, I had never realized that Seattle is not actually that close to the ocean. In my planning I discovered that the trip to Olympic National Park and the ocean is about a 5 hour drive. Luckily, this drive is almost entirely breathtaking and interesting.

We travelled north out of the city to reach the Washington State Ferry at the Edmonds-Kingston Terminal http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/ferries/info_desk/terminals/index.cfm?terminal_id=8 . I was scared to death because I’d never driven a car onto a ferry before, especially not a rental car. After the loading began, however, I couldn’t believe how easy it was! I didn’t realize that you just “park” your car in the lane where you pull in, so my vehicle wasn’t quite in the right spot when the traffic in front of me stopped. I think I annoyed a few commuters, but hey, I was a tourist, and tourists get away with everything, right? The ferry ride was fun, easy and beautiful with the mist coming off the early morning sun drenched bay.

The cars unloaded on the other side and we took off on our journey. We didn’t have any specific plans to stop along the way since we had to fit the whole trip into one day, but the second that we saw Port Gamble, http://www.portgamble.com we fell in love and had to stop for a few minutes. Every business and home in this quaint little community is similar in its rustic simplicity and old-world feel. I could imagine pioneers hand building these New England style houses and white-washing the picket fences. The little beagle lazing in front of the rural firehouse almost smiled at us as he sat and watched the sun rise.

After a nice break in Port Gamble, we popped back out onto the sharp curve of the 104 and continued west to the 101. Now the road curved more inland, and except for a few glimpses, we were further from the views of the bay. Getting a little bored of logging trucks and clear-cut forests sheared to the ground, Nick wanted to find another detour to entertain us before we stopped for lunch. Although we had never heard of it, he noticed signs for the Dungeness Loop and we once again pulled off the highway. This drive through local neighborhoods was mostly uneventful, and took a little more time than we would have liked, but we did get to take in a lesser seen view of the Strait of Juan De Fuca and the Dungeness Bay.

At this point, I get to chronicle my true half-squareness because, as a 30 year old, I read and loved the Twilight books and therefore I felt that I had to do a little bit of Twilight sightseeing while we were on the other side of the country. We drove through Port Angeles to find a good spot for lunch and stopped at the visitors bureau for suggestions. The elderly woman there was wonderfully helpful and sweet, AND she was familiar with M-22 in Michigan from her Harley-riding days. On her recommendation, we ate (and had a local Washington beer of course) at Chestnut Cottage, a locally owned bistro of sorts.

Back on the road, a little too full and lazy, we were suddenly jarred into an alert state by a panorama of sparkling beauty through our windshield. We started our decent in the shadow of the towering rock wall of just-budding wild flowers and small waterfalls on our left, and the expanse of the cedar lined Lake Crescent below us on the right. As we meandered along the twisting, narrow mountain road I must have stopped at almost every single scenic turn out to take pictures with my 1973 Minolta. As we got closer and lower into the basin, the water got calmer and more glasslike. The amazing perfection of the lake resulted in crazy photos where you can hardly tell which way is up because of the mirror effect. I thought that this lakeshore drive would never end – in a good way!

But it did – end that is. We had so many grandiose plans for our trip to the national park and now it was already early afternoon. As I drove, we assessed the options and decided on the most important stops, just in case we ran out of time. We turned down La Push Road and after a drive, took at right at the Motel with a huge sign out front, “No Vampires Beyond This Point.” Because our friends Tom and Marta had already been to the Olympic coast, we had to stop first at Rialta Beach and see the crazy “driftwood” piles of full trees all over the beach. It is very bizarre to climb over stacks of barkless sun bleached logs taller than a person just to see the ocean. The setting made me feel like I should be doing yoga poses in the bright sunlight. The man who owns the little motel back at the fork in the road bumped into us on the beach and he told us stories about his past and the area. He was very proud of his vampire sign and we really enjoyed his company. Next Twilight stop, First Beach at La Push. Along the winding road we started to see signs of the Quileute reservation: little houses along the hills and horses in corrals. We reached the end of the road and surveyed the sea stacks from the top of the hill. As we wandered around the deserted landscape, I stopped along the way to click pictures of the stairway in the hillside made out of old tires, the old barn that housed canoes and a rusty old bike half buried in the sand and beach grass.

By now it was already mid-afternoon, and we knew that a thorough trip to the Olympic National Park could last days, let alone hours, so we reluctantly left the reservation. We took a quick drive through Forks and stopped at a roadside drive-thru coffee trailer. These little huts dot the small town landscape out in Washington and you can get a damn good latte, or even a smoothie through their little to-go window. To get to the Hoh Rain Forest, one must drive 18 miles on a slowly winding, densely forested, sloping and climbing, rural 1 1/2 lane paved trail with an exhilarating view. Along the way there were a couple little ghost-town like clearings in the middle of nowhere, a country store, a tiny house. The drive alone took us 45 minutes and there we were: surrounded by towering hemlock, maple and spruce trees – and a phone booth – all covered in a thick layer of moss and fern fronds. Surreal. Completely surreal. The signs outside the unoccupied ranger station read, “Beware of Charging Elk. Please keep a distance of 15 yards at all time.” There were a few trail options and because of the late hour, we decided on the “Hall of Mosses.”

To be honest, the entire forest is a collection of paradoxes. There is snow on the ground but there is greenery growing all around it, the climate is very temperate but it is a rainforest, the area is a highly travelled national park but we hardly saw another soul the entire time we were there. Like I said, surreal. We climbed and meandered and gawked and crunched and crawled and squished our way through the dense forest, feeling all the while like we had landed in a real life Jurassic Park. AND, we found the elk along the way. They were as interested in us as we were in them and we had a amiable standoff for a couple minutes. The elk must have been our cue to leave and our time in the rainforest was cut short because the sun was starting to set. There was no way that I could think of to find my way out there in the dark. With a weird sense of impending doom and awed appreciation, we headed back to the car and made our way out along the 18 mile road.

Wow. What a long day. And we still had so much to do! We headed back in to Forks. Now that we had done all the not-so-Twilight sightseeing, it was time for me to get my fill. We wanted to eat at a quaint little place like I had imagined this type of town would have. We asked a local and she recommended The In Place, “because of their awesome burgers and bar food.” We should have listened to her because the only “awesome” things we ordered at The In Place were the local beers. Their other fare was not so appetizing, but I suppose that’s because we didn’t order “bar food;” we ordered a scallop and shrimp dinner platter with salad bar… that’s really all I need to say. The people across the aisle from us seemed to enjoy their patty melt and club sandwich though. By this time it was getting pretty dark and I was feeling pretty delirious – we decided to find Dr. Cullen’s parking space at the Forks Community Hospital, and there it was, in all of its reflective glory. We also took a drive by their high school and down the main drag. I hate to admit it, but Forks is not at all, in any way exciting. I guess that was Stephenie Meyers point though, right?

Feeling strangely nostalgic and a little like I had dreamed the entire trip so far, we began our long drive back to Seattle. All of the wonder and beauty of the day trip west had been blanketed by darkness, and Nick worked hard storytelling to keep me alert.

Apparently, in our haste to head west earlier, we had completely ignored the cute little town of Kingston on the west side of the bay. We fully planned on ignoring it again, but then we missed the ferry – by 1 minute. We watched the ferry pull away and headed back to find a place to hang out and wait for the next one. What we found? The Main Street Ale House. We made friends with some regulars who come for the karaoke and tireless wedding-style dancing.
The Main Street Ale House

Although we were exhausted by the time we got back to the Red Lion Hotel, we couldn’t pass up Elephant & Castle for a second night in a row, so we headed downstairs to this cool little English pub. http://www.elephantcastle.com We met a few peeps who were in town for business, chatted with the bartenders and ordered more of the excellent local brew until we could hardly keep our eyes open! Time for bed because tomorrow will be another very eventful day (according to my itinerary).

Stay tuned for Part II: The City!