Olympic National Park

We spent Saturday night in a lovely Cabela’s parking lot in Lacey, WA, near Olympia. The trip there was a mess – lots of construction and miles long backups. However the parking lot was amazing. It was quiet and surrounded by lovely trees, flowers, and shrubs. We took a while getting ready because the trip to the campground was less than 120 miles, so we didn’t want to ge there too early. I have a ridiculous fear of heights, and I really, really, really did not want to drive across shipping channels so we drove up Highway 101 on the west side of the Tacoma Sound. The drive was beautiful, but it was slow. Much of the time the speed limit was 30-35 mph, so it took us almost four hours including some scenic view pullouts and a nice lunch break.

The campground itself (Rainbow’s End) is very tight. Our slide is less than a foot away from the slide next door! However the place is very clean, well landscaped, and they have a lovely duck pond right outside my front window so it isn’t all bad. As with most of the RV parks we have been by, it seems like most of the residents are long term rentals. We had problems finding a spot, so I won’t complain too much.

Today we drove to Olympic National Park, but it was very cloudy and foggy so I didn’t get many pictures. We went to Hurricane Ridge, but there were no mountains to see. We will try again later for the mountains. Until then, here are some pictures.

Clouds and fog in the mountains
Really big trees!
A spring on the way to Hurricane Ridge
There were three tunnels on the way to Hurricane Ridge

We did drive from Port Angeles along the Juan de Fuca scenic byway all the way to the Makah tribal museum. What a wonderful drive and museum! The clouds still made the light flat, but the scenery was lovely.

Isolated rocks off the coast
Tried to get a little son on Crescent Lake
We found three old WWII bunkers in a state recreation area

It was a really long day, over 11 hours. I think we will take it easier tomorrow.