Olympic National Park

This leg of the journey started off a little shaky. Olivia had been feeling carsick and had a sore throat. Without warning, she threw up while on a busy road. We got to our destination, which proved to be the absolute sweetest mom and pop cottage style inn. We did go out to dinner, but at that point I too was feeling crummy. We had some resting time watching a Netflix favorite of ours, Sugar Rush. Before bed I too threw up a few times. I went to sleep hoping and praying our sickness would pass by morning. I was dreading our trip being spoiled. By morning, we were as good as new! Thanks, God!

Olympic is a huge park, being known for its large diversity of ocean, rain forest, and mountains. I wanted to see it all! Over a breakfast at Granny’s Cafe with the absolute BEST French toast I’ve ever had, AND the sweetest waitress we ever had, we came up with a game plan to see the Hoh Rain Forest first. How cool to see a rain forest right here in the US! The Trail of Mosses was like entering another world! The trees were giants, draped with mosses and plants that hung in the air like curtains. Henry’s favorite was spotting Banana Slugs. We found the Hoh River so he could skip rocks and Olivia built a rock tower. Leaving the park we spotted several elk hanging out in the river. 

Then we headed to the Pacific Coast. We had fun dipping our toes in the chilly water, building an elaborate sand castle, and just exploring. I taught the kids what beach combing means, even if it was park of the National Park and we couldn’t keep it. The tide was high when we arrived, but by the time we were leaving, the tide was going out. We climbed around several rocks and got our first glimpse at tide pools. We spotted sea anemone, crabs, muscles, and even a few sea stars!

The following morning we had one more destination to see: the mountains. Hurricane Ridge Road brought us up through the clouds! At our destination we were shocked to see so many deer! This included fawn twins along the side of the road! The views of the snow capped mountains were stunning! We took in a ranger program about glaciers, so Olivia could earn another junior ranger badge. (Henry chose to skip this one.) Then we took a few easy trails. One brought us up to Sunrise point. While a bit scary for Olivia due to the narrow path and steep slopes, the views again were amazing! They say the Cascade Range is the Alps of the US, so Henry humored me with a “The hills are alive with the sound of music” pose. Sorry, all other National Parks, but Olympic is my favorite!