One of the most beautiful corners of the earth.

It's high time I got this blog up to speed.  I have over a thousand pictures (no exaggeration) just sitting on my laptop waiting to be looked through. 

So here we go! 

Starting with the trip my mom and sisters and I took back in June. 

This trip was a long time in the making and the timing worked out perfectly this summer... so we did it....we just left kids, husbands, horses, dogs, life and jumped on a plane and flew to one of the most beautiful corners of the earth.  We loaded up our little rental car, plugged in Sarah's awesome road trip play list and started our way up along the Washington coast line. As we drove the trees got bigger and thicker and mossier and by the time we entered the Olympic National Park a light mist began seeping through the trees. Then there it was, the vast pacific ocean, right there at the edge of the rain forest. The  ocean crashing in right next to a giant rainforest is just unreal to see for the first time.  

A word of warning:

 I use the words beautiful, amazing and unbelievable way to much.

Yes, we got out of the car and had Sarah cruise back by us to take this shot...because look at those trees! They are unbelievably huge and everything is just dripping with green. I think driving through those forests were one of my favorite parts of the whole trip.

Then we spotted him....

...just kidding!

 It's only a postcard we grabbed for the kids. 

After checking into our hotel we grabbed some dinner at a fun little burger place just inside the Indian reservation, then headed for First Beach. 

This beach lies on edge of the La Push Indian reservation at the northernmost point of Washington's pacific Coast Beaches. It's full of sea stacks, pine covered islands and giant drift wood piles lie along it's sandy shore line.
It's beautiful. 

I took this picture right after fishing my new camera out of a deep hole in the huge drift wood pile. Thankfully it still worked!  Now each time I take a picture I get to remember this beautiful place by the dents and scrapes on my camera.  Me and my butterfingers... sheesh. Remember that post I did awhile back about why I don't get expensive things...this is one of those reasons.

When we left First Beach we still had a few hours before sunset, so we decided to check out Second Beach.  We parked the car and began following a little path that lead us deeper and deeper into this...

We really had no idea how far from the beach we were and with the sun slipping lower and lower in the sky it was a little unsettling the darker and deeper into the rainforest we went but we just kept on going. You could hear and smell the ocean before you could see it. When our path ended at the edge of the tree line this was our incredible view...

O

One of the most beautiful beaches I have ever set foot on. 

With our backs to the dark forest we made our way over the huge drift wood logs and out onto the sandy beach. The last of the days sunlight lit up the arch in the cliffs and the waves from the incoming tide crashed through its opening. 

It was amazing!

 If it wasn't for the incoming tide and a long dark hike back to the car,  I think we would have stayed out on that beach till moon came up.  We drug ourselves away, promising to come back to explore it's tide pools another day at low tide. On our drive back to the hotel we stopped off at our little go-to grocery store and stocked up on goodies/whoppers and lunch stuff for the next day.

 In the morning we drove out to Ruby beach.  There is something so fun about driving somewhere you've never been. Something so exciting about having no clue what to expect when you get there.

Ruby Beach did not disappoint.  It ties with Second Beach as my favorite. It was just a short little walk down to the beach.

The path opens out to the beach right at a river's edge as it empties out into the great Pacific.

 Huge bluffs tower along the shore line. They're full of giant old pines that lean precariously off the edges. We even spotted a few Bald Eagles perched in their branches.

 Deer tracks strangely dotted the smooth sand. They seemed so out of place out there on a beach.

 We spotted our first Star Fish in a little sea cave we named Water Horse Cave.  The tide was just starting to make it's way back in and we had a little time to jump from one tide pool to another hunting for star fish and sea anemone.

I loved how the morning mist off the ocean hung along the cliff line.

 Bright orange and purple star fish and neon green and hot pink anemones were everywhere.

After eating our picnic lunch at the top of the cliffs overlooking the beach we stopped by the town's visitor center. Picked up a good map of the area and got some local advice on the must sees. The Hall of Moss was one of those spots and it was AMAZING! Deep in the Hoh Rainforest old gigantic moss draped hemlock, spruce and fir trees loom over 200' tall. There were beautiful bigleaf maple trees with arm like branches that crept out in every direction.  I loved the fern covered ground, just green everywhere you looked. It seemed like at any moment dinosaurs could come crashing out of this prehistoric land.

Huge Banana Slug

"I ate my nurse log"

We ended the day with a beautiful Washington sunset over Rialto Beach.

The morning of our third day we spent  back at Ruby Beach. Then we drove up to see the seaside town of Port Angeles. Along the way we passed the beautiful but chillingly creepy Lake Crescent. The lake fills right off of a near by glacier which makes the water an icy blue color and extremely cold.

Looking across the bay to some Canadian mountains in the distance.

Then it was back into the rainforest to visit Sol Duc Falls. We took a beautiful hike and crossed a canyon bridge for an up close look at the roaring waterfall.

The hike in was full of beautiful little streams and moss covered rocks. 

That evening we ate the best pizza and "Ed" bread :) at an Italian restaurant in town.  Before heading back to our hotel we took a drive around the outskirts of town. We just couldn't get enough of the beautiful green pastures backed right up against the misty forests surrounding it. This pasture was full of grazing  Roosevelt Elk.

While at one of the ranger stations we saw that the next low tide scheduled for Second Beach would fall on the fourth day of our visit. So the morning of our fourth day we ate some eggs and toast at the little cafe in town and took off for Second Beach.  It had been a little drizzly that morning so the hike down to beach smelled like wet pines and fresh crisp air. Once down at the beach we found more starfish, sea glass, and even a few little hermit crabs.

Karen: Oh good heavens! oh good heavens!:)

Dark storm clouds on the horizon. So beautiful!

I just love how wild and untouched all of the beaches were. We usually had the entire beach all to ourselves or maybe saw two or three other people here or there.

Once we got back to the car we headed to our favorite burger place for lunch one last time. After eating we stopped off at First Beach again and then headed for a beautiful little spot along the river, one of Sarah's favorite places.

By evening we had just enough time to stop at Ruby Beach once more. The storm made the beach hauntingly beautiful.

It was the perfect stormy day for water horse cave. The ocean looked so dark and cold and the drizzly rain made the mist heavy along the shore.

 

We were all soaked to the bone by the time we got back to the car, so that night we dried off in our hotel room watched movies and ate cold cereal.

In the morning we packed up the car and headed out of town. We had all fallen in love this place and it was hard to say goodbye but off into the mist we drove stopping at one more unbelievably beautiful place along the way... the Quinault Rainforest.

The Quinault Rainforest is in the southernmost part of the Olympic National Forest. We stopped to see Merriman Falls and beautiful Lake Quinault.

There is an amazing old Lodge that backs right up to the lake. It is so beautiful there!

This trip was so much fun. I'm so glad we FINALLY did it! And in case anyone is wondering it wasn't a "Twilight" trip.....

This is where we stayed.

The donuts were really messy.

It did feel good to soak up a little sun. 

We happened to see giant paw prints on the beach.

These were at the diner where we had breakfast.

It was always hard deciding which way to go.

We had to take a picture by this cool old truck with a big dent in the side of it.

Loved our "Ed" bread.:)

It just wasn't a Twilight trip okay!

Okay maybe it was a little bit of a Twilight trip. :) 

I think Twilight is just part of that little town now.  A life size Jacob cut-out scared me to death in the lobby of the hotel. It was pretty fun remembering back to how much we loved the books and looking into those thick dark forests does make you start to wonder what really could be out there. But I have to say the beautiful beaches and forests won out over the vampires and wolves. This was by far one of the most beautiful places I have ever been! Loved every minute being with my mom and sisters up there. It  did feel like we were exploring one of the most beautiful hidden little corners of the earth. 

Thanks Mom and Dad for the trip.

And thank you Jeremy, Grandma Barker and Rice for taking care of the kids.