olympic glory

This morning we were up with the sun to start the two-hour drive to Olympic NP. We stopped along the way for a really, really good breakfast at Kalaloch Lodge, where we even sampled their homemade rootbeer. Shocker I was the only one who liked it. Oh well, more for me! True story: Before we settled on staying in Moclips, I tried to book a room at Kalaloch but it was totally booked. Now that we've seen it, I totally understand why. It's gorgeous, and in a gorgeous setting right on the ocean. Seriously, you couldn't beat it.

We made our plan for the day based on the tide charts, so the first stop was the Hoh Rain Forest, where we took a hike through the Hall of Mosses. It was gorgeous, but crowded. Surprisingly crowded, I would say, given how "end of the earth" the place is, but then again, the Grand Canyon isn't exactly in the heart of it all either, and yet there were unbelievable swarms of people there. Anyway, the trees were gorgeous and the bugs weren't too bad, at least until we finished that trail and debated starting the Spruce Nature Trail. At that point, Liam and I decided a retreat to the bug-free car was in order, and Mike continued on the trail. I think we both ended up with a pretty good deal, though: He got to explore the rain forest, sure, but WE got air-conditioning, PLUS a mother and baby deer came wandering through the parking lot right by the visitor center, and we had a front-row seat to that.

By the time we finished at the rain forest, it was time for lunch (or at least close enough). The options are, as you might guess, somewhat limited, but we stopped at the charming Hard Rain Cafe and ordered ours to go. By the time we reached our next destination, Ruby Beach, it was definitely lunchtime, so we sat on a bench overlooking the ocean and ate before heading down the trail to the beach.

I mentioned the tides, right? We were aiming to get to the beaches as close as possible to low tide because we really wanted to see sea stars and anemones. At Ruby Beach, we were half in luck because there were plenty of anemones. No sea stars, though. But I would say the interesting terrain more than made up for it.

It was still low tide, so we headed down the road to Beach 4, which was much less crowded than Ruby Beach (I guess that's what happens when your beach has a number instead of a name?), and we hit pay dirt: sea stars! Tons and tons of them. Just hanging out near the anemones, looking cool. I have never seen creatures like these outside of an aquarium, so for me this was absolutely the highlight of the trip. Totally worth all the hiking and climbing and trekking to see that.

We ended the day with delicious (though very small) pizzas in our room, and then we watched the sunset from our deck. There are people in big trucks down on the beach setting off fireworks and doing donuts and generally terrifying their dogs and any small children who may have been in the vicinity, so that's kind of a downer, but tomorrow morning we're back on the road for the grand finale!