Penninsula Camping

Last weekend we geared up to go bad weather camping/hiking for our friend Daniel's 30th birthday on the Olympic Peninsula. Turns out, we had pretty good weather instead. It rained/hailed/sleeted/snowed while we were there but never when we wanted to hike, eat outside, make dinner. It was quite amazing.

We started the day exploring Rialto beach. We meandered along picking up fun shaped driftwood, finding sea glass, spotting sea anemones, and chatting. The landscape there feels different every time we go. This time the waves were small and happy, the tide was low most of the time, and the shore was littered with bright orange wood.

Wrapped up our time outside playing the beach game we invented with people last year, Jerkin the Gherkin. Ended the evening around the fire with pies for the birthday boy. The next day we trekked a bit along second beach, ate lunch along the lake, and took the ferry back home. It was a great amount of quality time with the outdoors and our friends.

Olympic Peninsula Adventuring

 

When we did leave the cabin we headed out to Neah Bay. Neah Bay is just about the most NW point of the state of Washington. It was a pretty bleak day but it made for some good waves and the green of all the vegetation popped.

 

The coast is so beautiful. Small rock islands just dramatically from the waves, your eyes can follow the recess of waves into caves they've beaten in, trees teeter on the edges proudly sprouting their pine branches. It's serene to be along the Washington coast. When you can manage to be there without other people and just exist with it, well it's just really great.

 

After that we read Harry Potter, just finished the 6th book!, and drove to Rialto Beach. I love this beach, but the weather was just not cooperating with us. We rambled amongst the logs and sand for a bit but eventually  the wind and rain won out and we retreated. I do love the color the worn in logs turn when they're wet though.

Cabin Escape

 

Joshua really wanted an escape from work, and truthfully all life responsibilities, so he booked us this awesome cabin in Sequim. The couple built it and it was amazingly nestled in a forest of tall trees with a wood burning stove for heat, a cute outdoor patio kitchen, an outdoor shower, and an earth oven which I was very excited about. We thought we'd go into town for dinner one night but all we wanted to do was head back to the cozy cabin and sit in front of the wood burning stove. It was such a great escape to get away and not really have any plans and no one to need anything from us.



 

I was deeply ecstatic about the earth oven. Watching multiple videos on how to do it well and researching dough recipes. We ended up making pizzas that tasted just as good as all those fancy restaurants. Turns out their secret is a wood burning fire. I was really nervous and babysat my fire for 2 hours while Joshua played guitar and we drank coffee and beer and ate cookie dough. Then I finally moved the fire to the side and tossed them in. At first nothing, then the cheese began to bubble and the dough puckered and charred. We were both so enthralled!

Some how we also managed to leave the cabin and seek out a little adventure, which is next.

Ocean Hikes

 

After the almost no campsite fiasco we woke up the next morning to a lot of rain. But silver lining, the campsite guys makes espresso! Amazing! We got of to a late start trying to wait out the rain and then we hiked an easy 3 mile hike to the ocean beach and wandered around all that day. The hike in was all very well maintained but still fun because it felt like a wild rainforest that you just happened to have a few feet to pass through. We even discovered a pretty burly looking buck while wandering through a clearing.

 

 

We found a great dry spot to heat up some amazing beans and rice dish Nicole made. Oh man a hot lunch on a rainy hike seriously made my day! Then we ran around in the sand for awhile and started to wander farther down the beach.

 



this little guy wanted to be our friend



 

The ocean was at a very low tide and a bunch of kelp and other plants made it look like the ocean had thrown up all over the shore. We swung on a buoy hung from a tree, played in the sand and chased the waves for a few hours before we headed back.

 

While waiting for the ferry home we happened upon a $1.50 waffle soft serve cone!! and a live pretty awful dad rock band which made for a pretty fun end to the weekend.

It was one of the best 4th of July's I've had in a long time and even though we didn't really plan anything it all happened to work out just when it needed to which kind of added to the weekend's magic!

The 4th on the Olympic Peninsula

 

A few new friends invited us to head out to the Olympic Peninsula with them for the long weekend. It turned out to be a fabulous weekend. We drove out to the Peninsula Thursday night, headed across on the ferry, and found a great camping spot for the night. The next morning we hiked a 10.5 mile hike, Marmot Pass. This hike had a log of great features and ended with some great views of snow capped mountains. It ended at a pass that was grassy and warm, nestled between larger hills/mountains on our sides. We saw only one marmot though, but it counts as 2 he was a big dude.

 

 

All the colors of the wildflowers mixed with the shifting fluffy clouds really made this feel a little enchanted. We made it through the hike before the clouds overtook the mountains too which was really lucky.

 

 

Then we needed a site for the night and they're all first come first serve so we ended up driving 3 hours across the entire peninsula before we found a spot! near Lake Ozette. But that night we had a blast, we cooked up a pretty elaborate dinner, set off a few roman candles and sparklers before we got yelled at, and played with Nicole's LED hula hoops. She was so fun to watch and her hoops made patterns as you used them so we all had to give it a try.

fireworks or a wizard :)

 

 

Up next the ocean...