Washington...(And It Ain't DC We're Talking About)
- Jun 23, 2022
- 6 min read
Mount Rainier and Olympic National Parks were wonderful Washington treats. Mount Rainer is the southern most of the two so we hit that one first. It was a little more than a two hour hop, skip, and a jump from Portland. We wound up staying in a campground on the southwest corner near Mt. Rainier called Alder Lake Park. We also stopped in Tacoma in between The two parks. And, for our Olympic NP stay we also hit Victoria, Canada and Port Townson while camping in Crescent Beach.
First, allow us to mention a bunch of Mount Rainier was closed. In hindsight, when you look at what happened recently in Yellowstone, these parks are doing the right things closing off areas for safety purposes. There was still plenty to see. Thank goodness for Woodrow Wilson for starting the National Park system!!!! We think it was him! We found ourselves entering the National park in the Nisqually Entrance.
On our first day we hit Carter, Christine, and Narada Falls. A great start! It rained on 1.5 of the 3 days we were there but we tried to ignore it. Like everyone else does in the Pacific Northwest. We were told by a local fellow camper that this May was the most rain in Washington in the past 45 years. Ha! Timing is everything!
If we ever revisit, it'll have to be in the Summertime. One rainy day we went to a neighboring town called Eatonville for dinner. It was a tiny, little town! We pulled up next to two pretty big, filthy-dirty four wheelers, while we were talking to Chelsie on the phone. Then we went to dinner. We’ve decided Atlantic coast salmon is better than Pacific Coast salmon. True’dat!
Our next day in Mount Rainier we took a drive to the Paradise Visitor Center which was about a forty minute car drive into the park. It was much higher ground about 5500 ft above sea level, so there was a lot of snow. Since we didn't feel like hiking in snow we drove toward Reflection Lake but unfortunately Steven Canyons Road to the lake was closed. So, after a five mile drive we couldn't get to it. It was a pretty drive though and we read that the road is opened on the weekends. So, we went back the next day but still no luck. This time we packed a picnic lunch and sat out over a stunning scenic valley and chow-boned.
On our last day in Mt. Rainier we took a couple short hikes. One was the Kautz Creek Trail and the other the Trail of the Shadow. The latter was really cool. It was a loop through Longmire meadow which had a log cabin and hot springs. The first picture was from a bridge leading to Longmire Campground.
Next stop is Tacoma, on our way to Olympic National Park. We stayed in Gig Harbor which was just like it's name sounds. A pretty little harbor town. When we checked in the guy said:" It was a little muddy". We asked if we could upgrade from our muddy spot. The dude said: "He'd have to check with his manager but she's on break". The dude says:"She'll be back in twenty minutes, I think"? He then asks the lady sitting eight feet behind him "Right?" She replies "28 minutes"! Without turning around to acknowledge him or us! She was too busy stuffing her face. We said:"we'd pass on the upgrade cause we'll be all setup by then". Bitch! What happened to good customer service? It rained the next 24 hours and got even muddier. Ha! Just part of the journey.
The town was having an outdoor festival, appropriately called the Maritime Gig Festival. We walked from one end of the festival to the other end toward the harbor and found a restaurant (Tides Tavern). We stopped for lunch cause it was right on the water and had better fare than the festival. Good service-Good food. After, we walked the harbor pier and then took a drive around the harbor checking out the houses on the other side of the water. Some of them were absolutely magnificent.
The few days that we stayed it seemed we crossed the bridge into Tacoma a half a dozen times. Downtown Tacoma didn't have a whole bunch to see but we drove through the University of Washington, The Tacoma Port and saw the Old City Hall. A lot of these bigger cities in the Pacific Northwest (from now on referred to as PNW), are built on hills with roads like San Fransisco. It's crazy, they’re all like that. Eugene, Portland and now Tacoma. The highlights of our visit were the Glass Museum and the LeMay America's Car Museum. Both were awesome! They did an informative and active theatre style glass blowing presentation which was very engaging and enlightening at the same time. The LeMay Car Museum had six floors of cars with a special display from the car collection of James Hetfield who is the lead singer of Metallica. These car museums don't get boring. Six floors of awesomeness!
From Gig Harbor we traveled to Crescent Beach, Washington in Port Angeles to tour Olympic National Park, Victoria Canada, and Port Townson. The location of the campground was a ten, because it was along a beach and across from Canada. A spectacular view. Check it out in the video below.
It’s a shame the weather wasn’t better so we could have enjoyed it more. This will be our furthest northwest part of our travel a little bit more than 3000 miles away from home. All driven! We stayed a week to get everything in.
We took our e-bikes to the Lake Crescent portion of Olympic National Park to ride the Spruce Railroad Trail.
After, we loaded them back up on the car and headed to Lake Crescent. We took a short 1.5 mile hike to Marymere Falls.
When we circled back we checked out the lake which was absolutely magnificent.
We went to the Elwha entrance of the NP which was the closest entrance to the park from our campground. The main entrance was closed. We talked to a park ranger who gave us the lay of the land. We decided to come back with our bikes the next day. Which never happened. We did take a short walk to a waterfall at the end of Madison Creek Fall Trail.
Instead we went to the Sol Duc Falls Trail and Salmon Cascade. In season salmon jump out of the river. No salmon sightings but a rip roaring river that was splendid.
When we got back to our campground our next door neighbors Stuart and Toni Nicholas were outside. We hit it off from our few conversations prior. What awesome peeps! That night they hung out with us in our RV and we played multiple games of Yahtzee. Everyone won except Brad. He came in 4th, 3rd and maybe a second, once. A great time laughing, snacking and a little cocktailing. We agreed to hang out the next day and head to Hurricane Ridge together..
We jumped in Stuart’s F350 and took the 45 minute drive together. Wow! It was splendid. Toni and Stuart live in Camano Island which is a couple hours away from the campground. Toni manages a couple local banks and Stuart is a deputy and recently finished building their new house. He showed us pictures. Wow, he’s a master builder. He built it while working full time. Unbelievable! Here’s some pics of our group Hurricane Ridge Visit together.
When we got back we decided to head out to dinner together. We all drove to the Ferry/Waterfront/Harbour part of Port Angeles and ate at Downriggers. Yes, in The F350 (we have too much $hit in the back of our car). The girls dinners were a little cold but the great company made up for it. We had fun and then we went for Yahtzee Part2. Brad fared a little better this time. He won one, and we think he might of come in second once....maybe?
Our new friends were leaving tomorrow but we agreed to visit them when we head to Seattle. The ride to their house for us will only be an hour away. We’ll definitely look them up when we get into town. What great, gracious, fun, awesome new friends.
We’ll include Victoria, Canada and Port Townson with our visit to Seattle on our next blog. Thank you for following our journey. Happy Trails, Kathy and Brad
What a great time we have with you guys. Laughing, talking, playing games, and teaching Brad the difference between Elk and Moose. I never thought we’d go on vacation and bring home strangers. How lucky are we to have met two of the kindest and funniest people and now call them friends. We miss you both and look forward to meeting up with you along this path somewhere. 😘😘