Olympic National Park. Day 21

This is Andrew play "acting" that Deveraux better enjoy

the "No Tell" motels as much as she enjoys the Hyatt's!

Actually the Forks motel was pretty decent.

First stop was LaPush.  This is an area on an Indian Reservation,

the Quileute tribe. 

We read that first beach was a beautiful area, so we went

to check it out.  We first saw this huge piece of driftwood.

We kept wondering how such a piece of wood would find

itself washed up on the beach.  Later, we found out that

the driftwood we have seen so frequently on the different beaches

 during the rainy season, are the result of the water dislodging the trees 

and carrying them down from  the rising rivers from Olympia National park.

It was very foggy.

crab legs...now I have allowed sticks, shells, even moss

into the car but I had to stop at dead crab legs.

If there is something climbable, they climb!

Slowly, we see this mountain/island emerge.

We had no idea it was there. we thought we would just be

looking into endless ocean if the fog cleared.

Can you spot the green down on the rocks, our boy.

There were several fishing boats in the water and several

people just hanging out in the parking lot like us watching,

most of them seemed local.

Then more rocks appeared, the landscape was changing.

There were trees on top...when an area is given a backdrop, not just

endless ocean, it changes the entire look of the area.

We read that this is called James Island,  it is a scared mountain that only

Native Americans are allowed passage.

As we drove through the reservation, Deveraux noticed

some differences in the way people lived and kept their homes. 

For me, I realized how our values determine what we think of

as the standard for "good."  I don't know if the people of the

reservation either feel "cast aside" or they love having and

keeping their areas how they please.  But I do know it is a

reminder that sometimes we impose our values instead

of allowing and appreciating differences.

 

So as we left LaPush, I started reading our travel book. I realized

the movie "Twilight" was based on the town of Forks

and one of the main characters was from LaPush.  Then

we started seeing signs like, "Edward did not live here".

Of course, I had to stop in the visitor center and I picked

up a map with all the "Twilight" locations around town

that one can visit.  I have not seen the movie or read the books, but

I know what a phenomenon it was and how "die hard" the fans are.

The lady who talked with us said  there were hundreds of fans in 2010 and a

long line going into the visitor centers door.  That author put this little town on

the map and they are using it and are a little proud.  I say leave it

to women of the town to use a little creativity and go to the chamber of commerce

and work it out to use what you have and go the distance!

We checked out Forks Timber Museum.  A kind woman

whose grandfather logged and whose son is a cutter told

us some stories in this sweet little museum.

I personally could not believe how much the daily food

consumption was for a logger.  Often, the reputation of the kitchen

would draw and keep a logger even more than the paycheck.

She expressed how the people in Forks are pleased to see the logging

trucks go by  and that business is picking back up for logging. 

Hoh Rain Forest, back in Olympic National Forest

We walked the Hall of Mosses trail

It was florescent green!

"I am a maple tree"  He said

(a horse)

It was a beautiful forest!

 

The moss fairy

 

So this is the trunk the sign above is referencing....

 

Ruby Beach was our final park destination.

It was time for the oar's first dip in water!

A big deal!

Deveraux found a place

Bobo found one

Andrew found his

And I walked down the beach awhile to see where it went...

Most of the time, we were the only ones there

He found a "boat" (piece of driftwood). 

He was wet all the way up to his sweatshirt!

I felt so bad because he got so cold.  We were pretending

at Deveraux's request to sit in her visitor's center and have

pretend cookies and hot chocolate. He went back in the water to get

the boat because I caught a vision of the wood one day sitting on our dining

room table (Bobo and I decided we will share it).

I took of all his clothes and put him in my scarf and hat. 

We (Andrew, Dev, and I) were all laughing,

he wasn't (laughing) a whole lot and did not really want a picture of his skirt

looking attire.  It was pretty funny and then I carried him the

walk back Up to the car! 

So often we have been making our dinner stops based

on where we can use a Restaurant. com certificate.

We save money and it actually focuses our search for

dinner when we usually are pretty hungry.  We stopped

at Grizzley, Den's which was in the small town of  Hoquiam.

 Deveraux, my girl, could not fit in the booster.  A sad

moment, no booster seat?  What?  I won't linger too long there....

 

We drove about 3 hours after we ate to Bremerton, where

we stayed for the night, which was just past Tacoma, WA.

This was the only night we did not have a place to

stay until 30 minutes before we looked up a Super 8.

It reminded me of the travel days with Drew pre-kids

where we come into an area and figure out where we will

stay.  It worked out, fun to be spontaneous but I also like a plan.