Natural Wonders and Awe-Inspiring Prices

Today was another leg of our drive up the coast, this time the Washington coast. We only had about four hours of driving and we couldn’t get into our vacation home in Forks until 3 p.m., so we planned some stops to fill the time and enjoy a few more of the interesting things this lovely world has to offer us. Nature in Utah is far different from nature in Washington, so we are always fascinated by the way plenty of water changes what grows without cultivation. Today’s stops included a salmon hatchery, a record-breaking giant Sitka spruce, and a well named “Tree of Life.”

The hatchery wasn’t a high traffic tourist attraction. In fact, we were the only ones there. But it was oddly fascinating. It is early in the season, so the salmon were still only a few inches long, but there were so many of them! They are clearly accustomed to being hand fed because as soon as a shadow crosses their pools, they swarm right over in a frenzy for food. There was a bucket of food provided so visitors could feed the fish, and that created even more of a fish frenzy! We didn’t stay long, just long enough to eat our lunch at an available picnic table, visit the small educational room, and feed about a million baby salmon, but it was an interesting stop.

The Sitka spruce was well and truly gigantic. Apparently, it used to be touted as the biggest Sitka spruce in the world, but larger ones must have been discovered because it has been downgraded to record breaking. Despite that, we were appropriately in awe. What we call trees around here are really just sticks in the ground with a few leaves on them. Seriously. That tree was so tall that we had to crane our necks all the way back to be able to catch a glimpse of the top. I think the only other time I remember ogling with my head tipped that far back was my very first foray into downtown Manhattan. But rather than a manmade forest of skyscrapers, this was a marvel of nature. Truly impressive. 

The Tree of Life was another marvel of nature. Erosion has eaten away the soil at the base of the tree, but somehow it has adapted, and its roots have stretched far and wide so that it can still get the nutrients it needs to live. It is proof that nature will find a way to persevere despite less-than-ideal circumstances. If only we were so dogged and versatile. It also gave us another chance to visit the beach. It was a higher traffic beach though, and we still had some miles to go before night, so we stopped just long enough to ogle the ingenuity of nature.

Our last drive of the day took us to Forks, Washington, setting for the “Twilight” books. Forks is a tiny little town, but let me tell you, they have definitely taken advantage of the whole “Twilight” craze. It has become a big part of their approach to tourism. So of course, the topic came up and when Nathan asked what the book was about, I gave him a five second synopsis:

    Teenage girl moves from mother’s abode in sunny Arizona to father’s abode in rainy Washinton. Girl     meets hunky, hunky boy who just happens to be a vampire. Girls meets second hunky, hunky boy         who just happens to be a werewolf. Drama ensues.

And then I assured him that he definitely does not need to read this book. It is super fluffy chick lit and sometimes that is just what I’m in the mood for, but there is no actual intellectual merit to be gained and his brain would probably dribble out his ears if he attempted to read it.😂

Anyway, Forks is the only town anywhere in the near vicinity of the Hoh National Rainforest so even though it is early in the summer season, it was a pretty busy little town. And the prices are a reflection of the fact it is the only location for goods and services for quite a distance. We expected that, but we were less than happy when the untimely death of the washing machine in our vacation home (in the middle of Nathan’s second load of laundry) led to the discovery of the fact that it is $8 to run a load of laundry in the one and only laundromat in Forks. Unfortunately, Matthew also needed to run a load of laundry and because it was brand new black jeans, it really couldn’t be combined with Nathan’s load. At least the dryer was still working so we were able to haul the wet laundry back to the house and avoid the matching price of the laundromat dryers. 

Having said that, we did have some amazingly good fish and chips at probably the only sit-down restaurant in town. We were pleasantly surprised. And tomorrow we see the rainforest, so we are all still in high spirits!

The Road Less Traveled

In retrospect, there were several things about today's excursion that we should have done differently. First of all, we should have done a bit more research and planning so that we would not have been surprised by the lack of services (i.e. food) along our chosen route. Second, we should have ignored Google when it told us to leave the major thoroughfare. However, if we had planned and ignored, our day would have not been such a big adventure.

Our plan for today was to drive around the Olympic Peninsula and see the Hoh rain forest and the beach. We started off driving around the southern edge of the peninsula and planned to come back via the northern route. We had only been on the road about half an hour when Malia started to look gray and we needed to pull over to let the first round of carsickness pass. It took her a few minutes and some Sprite, but she recovered and we continued on our way. About an hour or so in, Google maps told us to get off the main highway. Not knowing the area, we followed directions and ended up on a number of small winding roads. And when I say winding, I really mean winding. After a while, Malia was looking a bit peaky again and Matthew said he wasn't feeling well. Grocery sacks were passed around but we had to keep going because there was no shoulder on any of these roads. We pulled into the very end of someone's driveway (still no shoulder, we felt lucky to find the driveway), piled the kids out and Matthew and Malia proceeded to make use of their grocery bags. I'm so glad I keep a number of empty bags in the car. After a few minutes of fresh air, we had to keep going. More winding roads and more time led us back to the main highway. I think Google sent us on our route because it was shorter in miles, but I also think it ended up being much longer in time. Our "scenic drive" and the accompanying car sickness added about an hour to our estimated travel time which meant it was time for lunch. However, there was no place to stop for food. There were houses dotted along the road, but that was about it.

Once we were back in the main road, we continued our search for food. Even though we were on the main highway, there were still no services. We fed Matthew and Malia since we had packed lunch for them (if we had known there would be no food, we would have packed lunch for all of us) and continued on, hoping to reach Forks before too long.

Nothing but trees. Matthew took this picture during the drive.

We did reach Forks...eventually. I was nearing 3:00 by the time we arrived and bought lunch. It was pouring rain through much of our drive (which slowed us down even more) and was still raining pretty hard as we looked for a place to eat lunch. We decided on a park with a nice big covered picnic area and stopped there.

 Just in case you were wondering, this was today's is weather forecast for Forks. Apparently we chose a particularly rainy day to visit the rain forest.

We all felt better once we had eaten, but since it took us so much longer to reach Forks, we needed to reassess our plan. We opted not to drive back to the Hoh rain forest visitors' center. We did stop at the Forks timber museum and walk a short loop through the rain forest there. We would have liked to spend more time, but we were burning daylight.

This little hut is made form a single tree trunk. We certainly don't grow trees like that in Utah.

We also stopped at a store named "Authentic to Twilight." Yes, I admit that I went into the Twilight store. I had to do it just to say I did. The books are cheesy, but I like them. :-) Forks and La Push have definitely taken advantage of their moment of fame. There are references to Twilight and vampires all over the place: Twilight firewood-$5, Vampire activity high signs, etc. As we headed into La Push on our way to Rialto beach, there was actually a sign that said, "No vampires beyond this point-treaty line." It made me chuckle.

I didn't actually take this picture. It was raining so hard and we were running so late that we didn't stop. Luckily for me, other internet junkies found the sign amusing as well and finding a picture wasn't hard.

Our next stop was Rialto beach. We couldn't come all the way to the coast and not take our kids to see the ocean. It was still raining like crazy, but he went anyway. Our kids were suitably impressed. It was a rocky beach rather than a sandy one and there was a multitude of beautiful rocks, polished and rounded by the waves. It was far too stormy to do any dipping of toes in the surf, but it was great for the kids to see the power of the ocean and the height of the waves. In spite of the fact that it was freezing cold and still pouring rain, we had a good time.

Daniel took this picture. I love the way it is framed. He has a good eye.

 

After the beach we got back on the road, hoping to get back to Seattle before dark. We almost made it, watching the last of the sunset as we rode the ferry from Bremerton to Seattle. I have a tendency to get seasick, but discovered that if I stood on the front of the ferry and looked at the land ahead of us, it was not too bad. Malia absolutely loved the ferry ride. Her top two most desired activities for our vacation were to have a picnic and ride a boat, so in spite of our plans totally self-destructing, she had a pretty good time. In fact, after we left the ferry and we were discussing seasickness and how it makes me barf, she interjected with, "I only barfed a little bit today." Way to be the optimist. A little bit is better than a lot, although not at all is by far preferable to either. But she didn't let it ruin her day.

So we learned some things. If we were to do it again (which I would love to at some point), we would make this a two-day excursion instead of trying to do it in one. We would stay on the beaten path. We would pack our own food. And it would be a less adventurous day...which might not be a bad thing. On the other hand, we're not likely to forget this trip. It's the stuff memories are made of. And in twenty years, we'll probably still be laughing about it.