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20 Jun 20, 11:12 AM |
#1
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Apprentice Imagineer
Join Date: Feb 13
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Pacific Northwest Aug 2019 Day 20 Rainforest, more beach and Lake Quinault
There was no breakfast at the Forks Motel so we carried on the theme and got a disappointing breakfast from the local supermarket instead. This included pop tarts, not-very-tasty porridge, bread and juice. We checked out, not sad to leave, and headed for HOH Rainforest area of Olympic National Park. This area is very different again to the mountain, lake and coast regions of the park and one of the only few temperate rain forests in America. Before we left Forks as I did make the family stop at the Cullen House, from Twilight. The boys have not watched the films so it meant nothing to them but they indulged me anyway.
At HOH Rainforest, the lush, green canopy of plants and trees made it feel quite magical. We parked up at the visitor centre, had mooch around and listened to a really informative talk about the Rainforest from one of the rangers. We then did two short hikes: the Spruce and Trail of Mosses through the forest, lucky to enjoy warm weather into the 80s as usually colder than that here. Following our hikes we found a picnic table and enjoyed our lunch, even managing to save someone else’s picnic from some very hungry birds when they went back to the car to get something. There are not many hiking trails in this area so after a couple of hours we left and headed back to the coast and visited Beach 2 (it seems like the people of Washington State were not very inspired when it comes to naming their beaches….). The walk to the beach involved a steep descent and a scramble over the rocks where I sadly dropped Dan’s brand new water bottle, smashing the lid. He took it surprisingly well and I did promise to buy him another at our next stop. Back in the car we continued down the coast and went past Kalaloch Lodge, which is an Olympic National Park lodge. It was beautifully situated overlooking the sea and we wished we had stayed there instead of Forks for our previous night. After about an hour’s driving we arrived at our final Olympic National Park destination of the trip - Lake Quinault. There is a lovely ( but very expensive) lodge at the lake which we weren’t staying at but decided to visit as there is a beach on the lake you can swim from and we fancied a dip in the water. The lodge was gorgeous looking and we did wish we were staying there. Instead we had a nice wonder around visiting the gift shop, stocking up on Olympic National Park t-shirts and hoodies and replacing Daniel’s water bottle. We then had a swim in the lake, watching people on paddle boards and canoes, whilst Daniel being the only one brave enough to jump off the pontoon. After drying off we drove the short distance to our hotel, the Quinault River Inn. This was a lovely family owned motel with really friendly owners and well equipped large rooms with patios overlooking the river. For dinner that night we drove to the Salmon House restaurant which had been recommended by the owners of our hotel and enjoyed a delicious meal. Sadly the service was not so great and we had to chase for refills on our drinks, missing sides and our waitress did that annoying thing of asking if we wanted dessert whilst we were still eating our main course and thrusting the bill on the table. This certainly did not endear us to ordering dessert so we headed back to the Inn and enjoyed drinks on our patio watching the sun go down until the mosquitoes decided to make us into a tasty snack. Edited at 04:45 PM. |
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20 Jun 20, 03:33 PM |
#2
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Very Serious Dibber
Join Date: Sep 18
Location: Auld Reekie
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The obsession in the some places in the US with rushing you through a meal drives me mad. I also hate when my main arrives while I’m still eating the appetiser.
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20 Jun 20, 04:06 PM |
#3
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Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
Join Date: Feb 13
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20 Jun 20, 09:35 PM |
#4
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Imagineer
Join Date: Oct 11
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Beautiful pictures again and the lake looks gorgeous, such a lovely colour. I hate being rushed through a meal like that - really makes you feel unwelcome
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21 Jun 20, 07:20 PM |
#5
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Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
Join Date: Feb 13
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30 Jun 20, 11:35 AM |
#6
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VIP Dibber
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The rainforest and lake areas look lovely. It seems there is so much to do in Olympic NP, you need more than just a few nights there!
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30 Jun 20, 04:46 PM |
#7
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Thread Starter
Apprentice Imagineer
Join Date: Feb 13
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1 Jul 20, 06:07 PM |
#8
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VIP Dibber
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I love your rainforest walks, so lush and green. Lake Quinalt looks like it has loads of activities to keep you busy too. We find the hardest thing about road trips in the States is fitting everything in!
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