Johnston

OK - we've been back from this trip for a couple of years now, so thought it was about time I cleaned this Status Update a bit (it is the first thing folks see when they open the blog after all!)

There are a lot of entries here, about one for each day we were on the trip. Use the Table of Contents Option on the right to either start at the beginning or jump to a page you're interested in (I tried to list the highlights in the title).

We usually stopped at two or three different sights per day and progressed clockwise around the USA, starting near Seattle WA. So if you're looking for things on the West Coast (for example), they would be in the last 1/4 of the entries.

What's left? Not much, so if you're tired of reading this, I certainly can understand. Maybe for my own sake if no one elses, I do have some video's for the second half of the trip (since St. Petersburg, FL). Maybe it's late, but I'd still like to get that done. Unfortunately my laptop is too old & slow to edit anything other than VGA video's, and by the second half of the trip I was mostly using my MPEG4 camera for videos - so if I ever get a new laptop - I'll have about 20 years worth of video's to edit! (Not just the RV trip of course). Ah well, that's life in the fast lane I suppose... (Or slow lane if you get tired of promises that always seem to be a little behind...)

Enjoy the Trip!

Not too much sightseeing today as we both mostly just wanted to get home. I took some nice pictures of snow on the road and on the Olympic Mountains. It is very unusual to have so much snow so late in the year down here (we are at sea level basically).

Most of the day we drove south on Hwy 101 along Hood Canal, which is basically a fiord. This is a shot of where it bends at the southern end and heads west for a bit.

I also stopped by the bridge over the Hama Hama River. I am reminded again of what a beautiful part of the country this is

Also along the southern end of Hood Canal is the Dalby Water Wheel. Although I'd heard of it in the past, I'd never bothered to track it down until we bumped into it today. It's small because it was built by one man, Edwin Dalby, just to power his shop tools. They hadn't brought electricity to this area in 1923 when he lived here.

We saw skunk cabbage again several places along the road. Just for fun, I broke one off and smelled it. While relatively faint compared to the real thing, it definitely smells like skunk. It's pretty though and likes wet, marshy type area's - so does quite well in western Washington.

We cut over to Hwy 3 to find a restaurant to celebrate at (it was closed unfortunately, this really was the longer way home). Later however we passed through the very small town of Allen, about 19 miles north of where I live. They have a large, retail outlet for Chainsaw Art Carving (and a school if you want to learn how to use chainsaws to cut artistic shapes.)

And nineteen miles further and I am again really enjoying the view from my house across Oakland Bay and Shelton.

The trip has been so much fun, part of me wouldn't mind just emptying some of the stuff out of the RV and just head out again, . But I also like it here and now I've got to get some chores done and start paying for the last trip (ho, ho).

I hope to get the blog finished over the next week or so (all pic's uploaded and 'placeholder' entries changed to final). Got some final thoughts to add later also (why don't the states put turnouts where they have roadside signs?)

It's been such a wonderful experience, I hope those of you who've been reading the blog have also enjoyed it some through our camera's eyes!

I misjudged the time (again?) and we didn't get to the RV park until after 8 PM, so I haven't finished updating another blog entry (although I did work on the photo's for the next one). Not to worry, even though we expect to make it home tomorrow - I will finish all the blog entries!!! Hopefully it will only take a week or so, afterall I won't be driving and sightseeing all day... ... or month or two...

It was partly sunny most of the day, some light rain from time to time, but not very much. Mom's mood was slightly better most of the day, but she's ready to go home. We did stop briefly in Forks. They have a nice little city park with some history (big, big fire back in 1951 that traveled 18 miles in 6 hours and burned some 30k acres). They also have a locomotive on display that was used to haul logs and supplies between town and logging camps.

Today shortly after starting out we saw a large herd of Roosevelt Elk, maybe 36 animals? They were right up close to Hwy 101 also, so I got some great shots.

We passed Beaver Waterfalls on Hwy 113 - very nice.

We also drove by some rugged coastline and rocky beaches. There are a few rocks along the Straight of San Juan de Fuca between the Olympic Penninsula and Vancouver Island, Canada. They make for some interesting scenery also.

Some rocks also seem popular with Sea Lions and sea gulls. I didn't notice it when I took the picture, but if you look closely, there is also a pair of bald eagles sitting on top of this rock!

I stopped to pick up rocks at Clallam Bay, Mom just about fired me but she didn't want to drive the RV so I guess she's forgiven me. I got a couple of agates, but mostly quartz, which I find attractive for some reason.

We went thru the Makah Museum, which was quite well done as well as informative (no photography however).

Finally, we made it to the far northwest corner of Washington State and the final 'corner' of the lower 48 for our Circumnavigation (not that there really are corners). At the end of the road is a parking lot, then a 1/2 mile trail that is pretty steep and rugged, too much for Mom of course so we took our picture at the trail head.

Then Mom stayed in the RV while I hiked on down and took pictures. Here are a couple shots of the trail and a tree along the trail deformed by the rough weather out here (a small version of an 'octopus' tree?).

At the end of the trail is a viewing platfrom:

From here, everything to your left is behind you, and everything to your right is behind you. This is a true Cape - no mincing words here. Here is a shot of the coast south of the point. Very awesome place.

Offshore a little further, but quite visible from the platform, is Tatoosh Island.

There is a lighthouse on Tatoosh Island, but it's quite hard to see without binoculars (or a good zoom lens).

Just north of the island was a small rock that the Sea Lions seemed to prefer. This was probably a bit too far for my camera, but between the 12x zoom and cropping, I took a shot anyway.

The waters off Cape Flattery are teaming with fish and other wildlife, probably has something to do with the ocean currents being affected by the point. The Makah tribe takes advantage of this for some of their livelyhood (I think they are one of the few tribes that have avoided getting into the Casino business, I'm not sure). This boat was just off Tatoosh Island.

I also caught this surf scooter below the viewing platform looking for some dinner.

And then in the rocks just to the right of the platform were two black oyster catchers. They blended into the scenery so well I almost didn't see them. Fortunately there was a better birder on the platform who took the time to point them out so I could get a picture.

Reluctantly, I did finally leave the point and we started the long drive to Sequim. Along the way, we had some beautiful views of the Olympic Mountains - very, very steep.

The clouds actually parted just enough for us to also catch a glimpse of the sunset.

I had made reservations at a membership campground near Sequim, doesn't cost me to stay here (other then the membership of course), but if I'd bothered to look at a map and see how far this was from Cape Flattery, I'd have stayed somewhere else. This is all the way across the Olympic penninsula - a LONG way from Cape Flattery, so we didn't get to the campground until after 8 PM. On the plus side is that we saw a pair of Bald Eagles on the way - right up by the road where I could get some great shots of them!

What a way to cap off the trip, awesome cape, wild elk, and a pair of bald eagles!

We're only 80 miles from home, so it should be an easy drive tomorrow. You might want to keep an eye on the blog for a couple of weeks - I should have all the entries caught up by then. I've simply got too many great photo's not to share them! Also, my goal has always been to use the blog as my travel journal and to print it all out when we got done, so can't do that until the rest is updated.

It snowed fairly heavily several times today - but it is a spring snow, large, soft flakes and very wet. Most of the time, the roads were just wet - the snow wasn't sticking very much. Made for some beautiful scenery, however Mom really didn't care for driving through it.

However, snow or no snow - we are still on the trip so I decided to fit in a little sightseeing! I had been to the Hoh Rain Forest Visitors Center once before, so this time decided to take a look at the rain forest by Lake Quinault. It was a little unusual since it doesn't snow that often around here, especially this time of the year.

At the Visitors Center, I learned that this area is called the Lake Quinault Rain Forest, I guess each section has a separate name. However, the concept is the same - they are all part of the same Olympic Mountain ecosystem IMHO. I also learned that there are a couple of things really worth seeing in this section of the rain forest. Just up the road is what's billed as "The Worlds Largest Spruce Tree".

The park ranger even gave me directions to a shortcut so I could drive closer to the tree and not have to hike to it (which meant Mom could visit it also).

I suspect however that they may have to remeasure things. It looks like the top has broken off, perhaps in that nasty December storm? Just across the drive from the Spruce Tree were several resort cabins that were totally wrecked - fairly recently (December storm again?)

The Lake Quinault Loop Road was closed due to storm damage, but we drove up a little farther to Merriman Falls, which the ranger also recommended. These are very close to the road and quite nice.

Nearby are several tree's that do justice to the concept of a 'rain forest'. It may just be moss, but there is a lot of it.

A short way past the falls, we saw some lovely farms and snow scenery, so I took some more pictures before heading back to the main highway.

Having done about all we could in the Quinault Rain Forest (with the loop road being closed and all), we headed back to Hwy 101 North. On the way, we saw a sign for a turnout to a "Big Cedar". This wasn't billed as the worlds largest (although there are several 'largest' or 'biggest' trees in various sections of the Rain Forest). However, it was quite large.

Unlike Oregon and California, this coast highway doesn't actually follow the coast except for a short stretch of about 20 miles or so. Along that stretch however are some pretty spectacular sights. First we came to Kalaloch State Park. This is from the overlook by the Lodge at the south end, which has a wetlands area.

Just past this are long stretches of flat beach, and campsites just above the beach. This is a shot from one of the campsites. The Propane Heater in the RV isn't lighting so will just use RV parks for the next couple of nights (where we can plug in and use electric heat), otherwise I would have preferred to just stay here.

Here is another shot of the beach at Kalaloch.

A little farther north we had a nice view of Destruction Island and it's Lighthouse. You can't get to it, so I had to just settle for a picture.

And just north of that is my favorite beach ever - Ruby Beach. There's just something about the river, haystacks and scenery here, although my pictures today weren't as spectacular as some I've taken in the past. The weather may be a factor (as well as time of day perhaps?)

In fact, I like Ruby Beach so much, I'll post two pic's of it.

From here we drove on to Forks, WA, where we found an RV park just north of Forks. I spent too long in the Rain Forest and at Ruby Beach to make it to Cape Flattery today afterall (much to Mom's dismay).

Logistics:

Miles Driven - 129, Cumulative - 19,713
Camped at RV Park about 10 miles north of Forks.

Provisions: Gas $42.36 for 11.771 gallons at 129,595

The snow stopped last night, but it was cold, windy and rainy off and on all day today (intermittent thundershowers I think they call it on the weather channels?)

We tried to visit the Cranberry Museum, but they were closed. The sign said they'd be open from 10 - 3, but they were closed at 10:20 when we got there - no sign as to why or how long they'd be closed, so we pretty much gave up on that for this trip.

We did stop at Long Beach briefly before heading north. I've lived in Western Washington almost 20 years now and had no idea "Long Beach" is the longest beach in the world? At least that's what the town proclaims:

Because of the storm runoff, the waves were unusually brown (the low ones in the foreground anyway). I thought this was a little unusual.

Willapa Bay has a nice NWR and is lovely to drive around, but it takes a couple of hours. Along the way, we stopped at the ranger station and picked up some information. They had a very interesting picnic table outside - based on a crab (notice the legs?) - or is it a butterfly?

The tree's were all covered in a very soft looking moss. It was too icy to walk along the path very far, but I couldn't resist a few pictures. The robins didn't seem to mind the snow & ice as much as we did.

Across from the ranger station was "Long Island" (not NY, but Willapa Bay). This is part of the NWR and has a limited amount of camping on it. It is also a very popular area for boating, there were several canoes & kayaks in the area even in this weather.

At the head of Willapa Bay are the twin towns of South Bend and Raymond. South Bend is the county seat, the result of a very interesting story in that the county seat (records) was actually, sort of, kidnapped in 1893. They built a fancy Courthouse with a 'glass art' dome in the early 1900's to help cement South Bend's status as the County Seat.

Outside the Courthouse was this interesting scene where the spring blossems seemed somewhat out of sync with the light dusting of snow from yesterdays storm.

Just north of South Bend is the city of Raymond, home to the Northwest Carriage Museum.

There was a display outside as well, an old horse drawn 'Tankwagon'.

Unlike other's we've seen on this trip, it's carriages are beautifully restored - they each look like showroom quality, maybe better. They also have lots of interpretive signs and displays, including one on how carriage wheels are made. Here are some of my better photo's - due to the large numbers however, I'll post them all as "Thumbnails". If you click on them, there is a better description attached to each one (from those lovely interpretive signs!)

While most of the Carriage Museum is taken up with carriages, there are also display's about how carriages are built, about life in the 1800's, and also some exhibits about clothing and travelling in the 1800's such as this trunk.

After taking about 5,000 pictures of carriages (just kidding), we drove on through Tokeland, on the north end of Willapa Bay. This is the home to the historic Tokeland Hotel, which unfortunately was closed when we stopped by.

Tokeland is quite small and is home to a small fishing fleet. At the marina we encountered a very large flock of godwits. Of course, I took pictures (also of a couple of sanderlings pretending they were godwits).

One of the problems the State has had with this area is erosion. Portions of Hwy 105 have fallen off into the Pacific and had to be rebuilt. You can clearly see some of the affects of erosion along the shoreline. This area is where the highway turns north up the coastline.

We followed Hwy 105 into Westport. Westport is on the south side of the entrance to Grays Harbor and home to the Grays Harbor Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse in Washington - which unfortunately had closed about 15 minutes before we got there. At 107 feet, this is the third tallest lighthouse on the west coast.

Westport is a pretty small town in the winter (or late spring), the main business seems to be taking folks out on deep sea fishing charters. They also have a maritime museum, but it was closed by the time we got there (by now, after 5 PM).

It was so late by the time we left Westport, we just drove through Aberdeen and Hoquiam and bypassed Oceanshores. There are nice things to see and do in these towns also, but it was getting late and I wanted to get to the campground in Ocean City before dark. (This area is also fairly close to where I live, so I can go back there again someday to see things I had to miss on this trip.)

So we're safely encamped at a membership campground out here at Ocean Shores. Mom doesn't like the rain and snow much and was hinting maybe we should just skip the rest of the trip (less than a week now) and head straight home. I'd prefer to stay with the plan but may compromise and maybe not take as long to drive around the Olympic Loop (Cape Flattery is the last of the four 'corners' we plan to visit in the circumnavigation). Stay posted, we'll see (if the weather changes for the better, she'll probably want to just keep on driving indefinitely!)

Logistics:

Miles Driven - 144, Cumulative - 19,584
Camped at TT Ocean City RV Campground

Provisions - Gas $36.71 for 10.2 gallons