Olympic National Park

We spent several days exploring Olympic National Park on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington.

We camped at Mora Campground, just outside of Forks, WA where Stephenie Meyer based her Twilight novels.

The campground is right by Rialto Beach, so we set an alarm one morning to walk a mile and a half up the beach to Hole In The Rock to check out the tide pools at Low Tide.

We saw lots of starfish, sea anemones, crabs and other stuff.

We also visited the Hoh Rain Forest and did some hiking. And it didn't rain on us!

It was very chilly at Mora Campground and Leslie hopes that July 29th will be the last day of this summer that she has to wear gloves.

Seattle, Washington

After a couple of months spent living on the land, foraging for food and being off the grid, we decided to spend a day being tourists in Seattle and living like city folks.

First up was the Space Needle where we went into space 502 feet to the Observation Deck for great views of Seattle, Mount Rainier and the Cascade Mountains.

Our next stop was Chihuly Garden and Glass, which was Tom's favorite part of the day. It is an exhibit at the Seattle Center of Dale Chihuly's glass sculptures and works. And it is amazing. If you go to Seattle, you don't want to miss this.

Our last stop was Leslie's favorite: The Museum of Pop Culture. It is a non-profit museum for pop culture, including music, science fiction, video games, fantasy and horror movies. There were exhibits about Nirvana and Jimi Hendrix and a Sound Lab where you could play instruments if you wish. Of course we wished.

We camped at Saltwater State Park in Des Moines, WA. If you need a place to camp that is close to downtown Seattle, it will do. Otherwise, you will probably want to just pass on by this place. (although you can pick delicious blackberries at your campsite...)

We will pack up in the morning and head back to the wilderness and hope to see you there!

The Cassiar Highway

For our return trip, we chose to take the Cassiar Highway which we picked up near Watson Lake, Yukon and took to the Yellowhead Highway in British Columbia. The highway is 450 miles long, packed with outstanding scenery and some occasional wildlife.

It is a long, lonesome narrow road with some steep grades but the road is generally in good condition and most of it has no shoulder or center line.

We stopped and camped at Boya Lake Provincial Campground one night and took a couple of hikes and saw a beaver dam and and a beaver swimming across the beautiful lake.

We spent two nights camping at Meziadin Lake Provincial Campground where we were eaten alive by gnats and one of us has large welts and a swollen eye from it. We will never go back.

From the Meziadin Junction we did a day trip to Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska. The Stewart-Hyder Access Road takes you to Fish Creek Wildlife Observation Area, run by the U.S. Forest Service, where you can watch bears fishing for salmon in the creek...if there is salmon...there wasn't....  But it was real pretty!

We continued down the road, which turned into a gravel road filled with potholes, to see Salmon Glacier. On that road we met a man who was on his third trip to Alaska in his 1950 Ford. (the car in the picture is not his car)

We crossed the border back into Canada and had lunch in Stewart at the Toastworks Toaster Museum and Cafe. If you go to Stewart, this is a great place for lunch. Especially if you are into looking at old toasters, and who isn't? Delicious Fish Tacos and Reuben Sandwiches. Make sure you get some cookies to go! (and eat them all in the car before you make it back to camp)

Along the way we saw black bears and a porcupine crossing the road. 

We are driving south through British Columbia now and should be back in the U.S.A. soon. 

Number of Moose Sightings: 17 (last moose seen was in Denali)
Number of Days since Leslie has needed gloves: 2
Number of miles Driven: 9,911.