Road Trip: Quinault Rain Forest, Pacific Ocean, Forks Pilgrimage, Lake Crescent, Etc.

The weekend is here...Mom's last weekend in Seattle...and we are making the most of it with a road trip, baby!!! 

I have to tell a little side-story here, about England. When we were over there, after talking to a number of locals, we learned that Europeans have a totally romantic idea of the "American Road Trip." It is true that a number of movies have reinforced this concept, but I think it also has something to do with the size of our country and the diversity of the landscape and the idea that you can get in your car and literally drive for weeks on end (by comparison, we drove from the western coast of England to the eastern coast in less than two hours!). 

The American Road Trip is sort of a big deal over there and, when Europeans come to the U.S., taking a road trip is one of the things they invariably say that they want to do. Funny.

Well, I for one love road trips. Always have! After talking and planning a bit this past week with my brothers, we came up with a plan. Rich's girlfriend Charity really got the details ironed out by finding and booking a couple of cabins and getting details arranged. (Thanks, Charity!). Early Saturday morning, after a pit stop at Trader Joe's for supplies, we were off! 

Mom and I rode in my car with the kids while Rich, Ryan, and Charity
rode in Rich's car. Sometimes Ry rode with us and sometimes Merrit rode
with Rich. We played a little musical cars...just enough to keep it interesting.

After we drove south toward and through Olympia, we started heading east
toward the coast. We drove through some lovely wooded stretches of landscape.
Destination: Lake Quinault.

Our cute cabin. As you can see...not much wider than my car! 

Just behind the cabin, the lake and mountains. This is a
really gorgeous spot! The place we stayed was called
Rain Forest Resort. It was really a nice little collection of
cabins along the lake.

While Gramma B, Rich, Ryan, and Ollie go exploring
along the lake's edge, Merrit and I have a little lazy
couch time.

In the middle of making fajitas for dinner, we dropped
everything and all headed outside to watch the sun
go down over the lake. 

Stunning!

Mom reading my favorite childhood book, about Jackie Robinson, to Merrit.

After we got the two kiddos in bed, Mom offered to stay in the
cabin with them while the four of us headed up to the Salmon House
Restaurant for a couple of drinks.

Dirty martini. 

Cheers!

Mom's treat: Blackberry pie with vanilla ice cream. We brought it back to the
room for her. Funny how Merrit crawled out of bed and grabbed a spoon when
he heard through the cabin walls that there was dessert out in the living room!

We were all goofy and having fun. Rich tried on Mom's glasses and got
us all giggling. After this: his hysterical impersonation of Brando. It was
really great to laugh so hard with my brothers! Rich, you're a scream. :)

This is just my mom. Wherever she goes--no matter how
temporary--she beautifies the world. In our cabin bathroom,
I found this little clutch of flowers in a Starbucks paper cup.

Left to right: Ryan, Mom, Rich, and me at Lake Quinault.

We woke up Sunday morning, ate some breakfast, packed
up the cars, and checked out of our cabin by 11am. First stop:
the Quinault Rain Forest Trail, which was only a few miles
from where we'd spent the night. Here, the boys pose next
to a 400+ year old Douglas Fir tree.

We hiked through the mossy old growth trees of the
Quinault Rain Forest, one of only three
temperate coniferous rain forests in the
Western Hemisphere.

Uncle Ryan and his two nephews
led the way along our hike. 

The Quinault Valley is known as the "Valley of the Giants."
We found the largest Sitka Spruce tree in the world,
along with other giant Hemlock, Douglas Fir, and Western
Red Cedars.

After our hike and a trip the bathroom, we were headed back
to the cars when Ollie spied this Harley Davidson in the
parking lot. The bike's owner was so taken with
his little fan, he let Ollie sit on the bike and even
wear his helmet. The look on Ollie's face is priceless!

We spent a couple of hours in the car, driving north and east, until we
entered the Olympic National Forest. We sort of stumbled upon the Kalaloch
Lodge, though when we got there, Charity said she'd been there before.
The bluffside cabins were really cute--this would be a great place to
come back sometime! Here we are, just a few steps away from where we parked
the cars...getting ready to head down to the beach.

The Pacific Ocean in the distance. This is a first for both my boys!!

Down on the beach, Merrit finds a crab shell.

Rich and Mom. Very cute.

Love my mom! 

Charity built a sand castle with the kids. This was right before Rich, believe
it or not, went for a (very brief!) dip in the (super chilly) Pacific. 

Mom and Ollie beachcombing...

Cuddling close to stay warm.

Taken from the top of the stairs as we leave the beach and get ready to eat
some lunch at the Kalaloch Lodge.

Waiting for our table, Ollie finds a friend.

This table was worth waiting for! What a view, and what a beautiful day!
Everyone's food was great. Seafood was, apparently, the choice for all of us.
Our orders consisted of fish and chips, crab cakes, clam chowder, and salmon.

"Mommy, I need to go potty!" We pulled over by this sign so that Ollie could
pee in the Olympic National Forest...and, hmm, not a bad spot for this photo op. 

Let me just say this. If I had made a special trip to Forks, WA, I would be
sorely disappointed!!! What a dump. I mean, hey, I'm sure the people of
Forks are lovely and don't necessarily appreciate all the vampire/werewolf
attention, and it's true we didn't take a single turn off the main drag...

As we drove into town, a sign said "Forks, Population 3,532 (not counting
vampires)." Just kidding. It didn't really say that...but IT TOTALLY SHOULD
HAVE!!! Right? Oh well. Here's the Forks Coffee Shop. Yeah, Bella would
totally drink coffee here...

Finally, one little sign of a Twilight connection: A store called "Dazzled
by Twilight," full of memorabilia. There was also a Twilight tour bus.
Didn't stop to inquire... ;)

As we left town, I did see this sign for the Quileute Tribal Center.
Team Jacob...NOW we're talking!!! ;)

We didn't even stop in Forks. Sad but true. If there had been anything that seemed worth seeing, I would have insisted, but...

We kept on driving. Eventually we came upon Lake Crescent, a jaw-droppingly beautiful place where Rich and Charity had been before. You cannot believe how clear and deep this water was!  Of everything we have seen and done this weekend, this is the spot I want to come back to--next summer, when it's warm; this would be an amazing spot to camp out at, swim, barbeque, hike, vacation. 

The boys skipped rocks at the water's edge.

We were shocked when Rich--who is apparently making
it a goal to swim in every body of water we stop at (first
Lake Quinault, then the Pacific, and now Lake Crescent)--
took a running leap into the very chilly waters of the lake!

He's a little bit of a nut!

After we climbed back into our cars, we headed north and west toward Port Angeles. From there, we drove to Edmonds where we caught the ferry back to Seattle. By this time it was past dinner and dark out. We grabbed Ivar's clam chowder on the ferry and sat and ate it together in a big booth. 

Before we knew it, we were docking at the ferry terminal in Seattle. Ryan, Charity, and Rich were off in Rich's car to get pho for dinner while Mom, the boys, and I went our separate way back to the Eastside. Mike had enjoyed his quiet weekend at home alone, but he was glad to see us all the same! It was well past the kids' bedtime by the time we got home. Tomorrow is a school day after all, so we got the boys in bed and then...crashed ourselves.

I think it was a successful road trip, don't you?