Goodbye Ocean

It was a chilly night in the Hoh Rainforest and pitch black. We got packed up and headed out. We were going to try breakfast in Forks but the place we had in mind was closed on Sunday so we ended up in Port Angeles. I was very sad leaving the coast. There is just something about the beach and the ocean that soothes my soul. Notice the sun shining in these pics? 

Considering that absolutely none of twilight was filmed in Forks, WA, they sure push the twilight connection.

There is a weird decoration trend on the west coast throughout Washington. These crab buoys are used to decorate garages, fences, houses and even used to make up a totem pole.

We left Olympic National park and headed inland after getting off course a few times. It's the end of fresh crab, razor clams and oysters for us. We decided to get a room in Richland, WA so we could shower, and get a good nights sleep. We had a nice dinner but on the way home I made the mistake of checking Facebook. 

I know all families have their quirks. But I get frustrated with people who have no self awareness and lie to themselves as much as they lie to others. For the most part, I have a wonderful, supportive, loving family and I wouldn't trade them for the world..... But..... Yeah..... 

I love social media. I do. I love seeing what friends and acquaintances are doing in their lives. But social media is way too often used in passive aggressive ways to hurt others. Things are said that you would never say to another person in the flesh. It's a cowardice way to use it. Ive realized that the quality of Facebook is equal to the quality of the person using it. It makes me sad.

I guess the good thing about how and what went down is that I now feel comfortable cutting all ties. Some things once said, can not be taken back. I wish you the best in life but I am done. Life is too short to wallow in toxicity.

Goodbye

U Honk We Drink

When I woke up this morning, I looked over at my sweats that I had hung up to dry but, of course, they were still wet. Everything is just so damp here. No rain since it got dark last night though, so that's good. We headed out for Washington but stopped in Astoria for Breakfast at an old union bar. Incidentally, Astoria is home of the goonies house and kindergarten cop "its not a tuma". Ha ha.

With our tummies full of bar breakfast, we headed towards Washington. Somehow after crossing over the bridge we got lost and ended up on a peninsula called Cape Disappointment. We weren't disappointed for long though because the streets were lined with people welcoming us. It came with a price however, evidently Rodney was going to have to run the length of the spit. They bring Rod's into run each year for their annual Rod Runner. One sign we saw said, U honk, we drink. With the number of cars we saw, I hope they meant lemonade.

We were disappointed, however, when we realized we had wasted over an hour driving the length of the peninsula that ended in the ocean. So we turned around in Oysterville and headed back. Oysterville is full of oyster shells. Piles and piles of them.

After a long day of driving and a stop off in Aberdeen for fish and chips at the 8th street pub, we made it to Olympic National Park.

 Hoh Rainforest is 18 miles into Olympic National Park. It's an old growth forest which is very rare in the US. It's also home to Roosevelt Elk. Roosevelt Elk are the largest of the Elk and live in the rain forests.

We ended the day with a hike through the Hall of Mosses, a ride down to pick up some firewood, and a slow drive by the river to look for Elk. We found this massive bull elk right outside our campground. Ha a. Tomorrow we start heading for home. :(

The 101

Whether you want to call it the PCH or the Oregon Coast Highway matters not. What does matter is how stinking beautiful this place is. We woke up early again-around 6 I believe-and decided to walk down to see the ocean that had serenaded us all night long. It was damp, cold and misty and low tide. We walked up the beach a ways and picked up sand dollars. There were seagulls there who had been eating the tasty things left by the high tide. We saw a cracked oyster and lots and lots of crab strewn about. Several dead jelly fish were shriveled up on the beach as well.

Once we were back on the road we saw a lot more beach, rocks and more rain.

My sweats got soaked here... It was cold and I underestimated a wave...

He loves me ;)

We drove through this..

And then we were in Seaside! We strolled down Main Street and had fish n chips....

And then stopped at the promenade overlooking the beach... My sweats are still wet and full of sand...

And then finished the drive to Astoria and the KOA cabin we had booked for the night.

We were too tired to go to dinner so we ordered pizza to be delivered... Really! And my sweats are still wet ;)

Onward to Portlandia!

After the rough night last night, we woke up well before the sun and headed out. Car camping is great in that all you really do is throw the cooler in the back and take off. No sign of the spider this morning when I went to the bathroom, thank goodness! 

Breakfast was at 

this place where a train went around the restaurant including our table.  

This guy in the green below is named Johnny. The waitresses thought he was a crab when he first started going in. Evidently he is there every morning with his younger girlfriend (the woman on the right). The waitresses seem to like him now ;)

Life is good and Oregon is beautiful!

More rain today, off and on.

We've stopped at lots of cute boutique type grocery/ novelty/bistro type places. This was one.

That's the Colombia river. 

That's what we paid for gas! And they pumped it for us!

Mutnomah falls. Rodney walked up to the bridge but no way was I going to stand on that thing.

This is the traffic we were stuck in for 2 hours. And below is why we were stuck in traffic for 2 hours. 

It made for a really late arrival into Cape Lookout. We survived zero visibility fog and rain, and potholes that tried to swallow the FourRunner but we made it. We picked a camping spot, backed the runner in, opened the back and let the sound of the pacific lull us to sleep. Ahhhhh!

Second or third or maybe fourth honeymoon?

Yesterday as we were packing up the truck to go on our Pacific Northwest road trip, our neighbor lady, Carolyn, who I absolutely adore, drove up to us on her way into town. She asked if we were going on a second honeymoon. After she left, we speculated that this must be our third or fourth honeymoon so far. I've been super lucky to have found and married my traveling soulmate. We will take any opportunity to get to take minor or major excursions. We truly enjoy being with one another especially when we are exploring new places and things.

The end of summer is especially difficult for me because of the dread and contempt I hold for winter. Not only do I suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder in the winter months, I get horrible anxiety in the Autumn just thinking about it! So after a super busy summer, we decided we needed a little getaway to get geared up for a long 6 months or so of little more than school, work and cold.

Last night we drove straight through to Farewell Bend Oregon just over the border from Idaho. We drove through several down pours on our way in. I was exhausted when we checked into the campground. While Rodney paid for our camp spot, I scouted out the restroom. On my way out of said restroom, I looked down and saw two ginormousmungus spiders! One was a hobo, I'm pretty sure. That one chased me back into the bathroom and managed to squeeze in before the door shut. We stared at one another for a few minutes. Finally I took off my flip flop and chucked it at him and he ran up the far wall. I peeked out the door and the other, larger, spider was still resting in the same spot. He had like a flat, beetle-looking body with huge long legs and was the size of newborn kitten. I inched my way around the door slowly and made my escape. Had that spider flinched, I would have screamed at the top of my lungs!

Of course, after that I was skiddish and could feel things crawling all over me so I was motivated to get the air mattress pumped up as quickly as possible and our bed made in back of the runner so I could be elevated out of any brush or vegetation. It was super hot and humid so we had the sun roof open, the windows down and even the back window rolled down which made it impossible to perform our nightly ritual of reading before bed because the light would attract skeeters and gnats. Eventually, we opted to turn the lights way down on our kindles and we read for half an hour or so before falling asleep. As we drifted off to sleep we noticed lightning all around us in the distance. But above us the stars were thick and bright.

Fast forward to midnight... Ha ha. Lightning, thunder and torrential rain ensued. Rodney crawled to the ignition to turn on the key and close the sun roof. We tried leaving the side windows open for air but we were getting soaked so those had to be closed as well. Oh well, not the greatest night of sleep ever. We will hope for better conditions tonight. ;)