Olympic National Forest

We just got back from a week long trip to the Pacific Northwest to see some sights and meet some awesome friends.

We arrived a couple days before everyone else and did some sightseeing in the Olympic National Forest.  Below is the map that shows our route over 3 days.

We arrived in Seattle (A) Tuesday evening and drove 2 hours to Port Townsend (B) where we stayed the night.  Charlie was awesome on both our 2 hour flight to Dallas and then the 4 hour flight to Seattle.  The engine noise must lull him to sleep.

He also enjoyed his complimentary beverage.

Port Townsend was a cute little town with lots of wildlife.

deer in someone's backyard

view from our hotel room

On Wednesday we headed out from Port Townsend (B) to the Hoh Rainforest (C) with many sightseeing stops along the way.

small lake community on our route

beautiful scenery

we entered and left Olympic National Forest land several times on our journey.

elk!

Once we arrived at the Hoh Rainforest Visitor Center (it was closed for the off season) we took a short 1 mile hike on the Hall of Mosses Trail.

It was raining and we got a little wet.

From the Hoh Rainforest (C) we headed to Lake Quinault (D) where we spent our second night.

On our way we stopped to see a couple beaches.

Ruby Beach

lots of driftwood

When we got to our lodging for the night Charlie was a bit cranky from traveling all day.  The receptionist was so nice, she gave use a private cabin at the same cost as our room in the hotel, so Charlie wouldn't disturb anyone.

our cabin for the night

across the street from our cabin
Lake Quinault

We had breakfast at the lodge down the street.  It reminded me so much of Dirty Dancing.

Before we headed to our rental house in Olympia (E) to meet the Munshis and the Harrisons, we took another little hike and explored the area around Lake Quinault.

the largest spruce tree

I thought this was really cool.  Trees growing on top of other dead trees.

Charlie enjoyed all the hiking!