Washington!

We left Champoeg and decided to drive north through Astoria up to the Olympic Peninsula. We took a beautiful, and at times narrow, road over to the coast and made a pit stop in Seaside, OR. It’s a fun touristy town. We walked down to the beach and saw the ocean again – it had a sandy beach, so we dipped our toes in. And then we discovered that this was where Lewis and Clark ended their expedition at the Pacific Ocean! It was a neat little fact to come across.

Then we drove across the Columbia river at in Astoria, OR, and up into Washington on Hwy 101. The highway doesn’t hug the coast, but it was a beautiful drive (and rather bumpy at times – that was fun with the camper!). We made it to Kalaloch Campground for the evening. It’s part of Olympic National Park, and it’s right on the ocean. We enjoyed a long walk on the beach where we got to see the sunset and the moon rise. It was amazing.

The next morning we drove up to Ruby Beach and then over to Sol Duc Campground (both part of Olympic National Park). Sol Duc is almost rain forest and we felt brave for driving the camper there, but we made it! We got set up and then hiked out to Sol Duc Falls through rain forest areas. It was incredible.

That night, I woke up in the middle of the night and it was SO quiet. Sound just seemed to disappear in the moss. It was crazy.

The next day we drove by Lake Crescent and then to the Olympic NP visitor center in Port Angeles, WA. Matt really wanted to drive up Hurricane Ridge, so we asked if we could leave our camper in the parking lot to drive up to the top and they said it was fine! We soon found ourselves at almost tree line among snow covered peaks. It was a neat contrast.

Then we continued on to Tacoma where we were greeted by our friends, Mo and Devin and their dog, Barley. It was lovely! Seeing dear friends along the way has definitely been a lot of the highlights along this trip – and really, part of the reason for doing the trip. So grateful.