We woke up this morning (not early, but we knew full well that wouldn't happen) and tried to be as productive as possible. The trailer was trashy (HA!) and covered in sand, so I vacuumed – ow - while Bill showered. We had some English muffins for breakfast and left at 10:30.
The campground/state park's Ranger booth is only open 12-5 (AKA completely useless) so we crossed our fingers, self-registered for another two nights and headed to the park’s Visitor Center. There, I learned that the temperate rainforests in the Olympic National Park have more biomass per square inch than the tropical rain forests in the Amazon. There…a little educational something for the kids! Sorry if I just made more schoolwork for you guys. ;P
The weather was cold and generally yucky, so we drove around Port Angeles to get some coffee. There must be some rich folk who live around here. Note the helicopter on top of the luxury boat.
We got white chocolate caramel mochas with "beans and straws" at a drive through coffee joint called "Higher Grounds". I like the righteous sound of that. :)
The chic at the window was super nice and offered the Boys some biscuits. They accepted. I was shocked.
We drove around town a bit more and then headed into the park. (The park's visitor center is actually in Port Angeles outside of the park boundaries. Kinda weird.)
We drove through the park to see what there was to see. Neat, but not as nice as North Cascades or Mt. Rainier. So far anyway. It's rainy and foggy here so maybe we just can't SEE the cool stuff yet. Plus, parts of the park are closed for road construction. :(
We hadn’t eaten lunch and were starving, so we found a restaurant at Lake Crescent Lodge and had dinner. Fish and chips for me, wild mushroom risotto and a burger for Bill. Bill offered me the first bite of risotto. He gave me a generous fork full and I popped it in my mouth. My eyes proceeded to tear up and I quickly grasped for my water. The mushrooms were cooked in olive oil and the cheese in the risotto made it boiling lava hot. Hey, I think Mt. Rainier just blew and I caught a piece of lava rock in my mouth. OOOOWWWWWWW. HOT POOOOCKET.
I had a bowl of North Western clam chowder, which, for the record, is not as good as New England clam chowder. Of course, that’s probably not fair since half of my taste buds had been annihilated by the magma laced risotto. I had promised the Boys that I would bring them some fries, so I packed up my leftovers and we headed out. The Boys were happy to see the fries and devoured them so quickly that Twist barfed them up moments after consuming them. Unfortunately, I had fed them in the truck. Sigh. This poor truck has seen it’s better days. The word “new” just no longer applies.
Not super thrilled with our current camp accommodations, we checked out the Park’s campgrounds and then walked a short loop hike through the “Ancient Forest”. Very cool.
I felt like Frodo as we walked through this obscenely green and mossy forest. Some of the trees have stood here since Columbus' time. Contemplate that awhile...
I noticed the leaves are starting to turn.
Humpf. I guess we've been gone awhile.
We headed back to Ft. Flagler in the dark and got back at 9:50. There was a note on the door from the Ranger. There was a “problem” with our reservation and we needed to see the campground host if we got back after 5 pm. After 5, huh? Yeah, you could say that. We walked over to the host but their “off duty” sign was posted. Eh, we'll address it in the morning. Assuming the problem was that our site had been reserved and we would have to relocate, we discussed our options and started researching other campgrounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment