Olympic Penninsula

Last weekend we took a trip out to the Olympic Peninsula. We had such an awesome time. The natural beauty is really amazing. We wish our pictures could really capture it- but we did our best. We stayed in Forks (No, not because of Twilight but because it is a good central location.) But let me tell you- that place is a hole! No wonder they didn't film the movies there. But we did see some Twilight locations including La Push, First Beach (pictured above), Forks Outfitters etc. They have a store there called Dazzled by Twilight with all the collectibles and stuff. Unfortunately, it wasn't open when we tried to stop by, so Spence couldn't get his "I Heart Edward" bumper sticker.

Our first stop was Kalaloch Beach #1. It was rainy and windy, but it didn't stop us from having a good time. As much as Spencer hates my galoshes, I wore them and was so glad because I actually sunk knee deep in some sand. We bought Spence some manly boots too which was good because he didn't see a wave coming in and got a little wet. But we had fun looking at all the drift wood and found a sand dollar. We also saw this neat tree that looked like it was floating because the waves had washed away the soil. It was pretty rad.

Kalaloch Beach #4 was more fun- the tide was out so we were able to go tide pooling. We saw green sea urchins, orange and purple starfish and lots of barnacles.







The next day we went to see the Hoh rain Forest. It was crazy- and kind of creepy looking too. The forest is mostly made up of Sitka spruce which can grow to be huge and everything is covered with moss. They get around 140 inches of rain fall every year.
We also went to Ruby Beach. There was a river (the Sol Duc maybe?) that emptied into the ocean there. It was probably my favorite beach- maybe because the sun finally came out while we were there.


Our last day we hiked to the Sol Duc waterfalls. The actually falls were fairly big, but really hard to get a good picture of because the ravine was so narrow and deep. These are a smaller set of falls we saw along the hike. It was a great end to a great weekend. We drove home through Sequim and Port Angeles, and then took a ferry which is always fun. We are enjoying living up here, and hope to take advantage of any three-day weekends. Friends are always welcome!