Olympic National Park

For whatever reason, it seems that I only remember to update this blog when I'm in or around in Washington State. Oh, well. Since I happen to be staying in Sequim for a training seminar, I think it's time I resurrected it.

Our train ride out here, while... memorable, was not the most enjoyable experience I've had on Amtrak. Poor service, lower-quality meals in the dining car, and The Kid From Hell (an uncontrolled and squalling toddler whose parents I wanted to throttle), combined with my caffeine-ruined sleep schedule, conspired to make the trip fairly mediocre. Still, the scenery hasn't changed -- it's still pretty going through Glacier National Park -- and Mark (who is traveling with me) and I had a lot of fun playing old SNES and Sega Genesis games on my laptop and watching anime at double-speed to clear it off my hard drive. (Naruto Shippuden Gekijouban: Not worth watching, unless -- SPOILER -- you really want to see Naruto die. In that case, watch the first thirty seconds of the movie, and quit.) I verified that after 15 years I am still really bad at the water levels in Sonic 2, and that digital hedgehogs can't really swim...

We arrived in Seattle midmorning on Monday, which happened to be Memorial Day, and -- after a bit of trouble with the rental car company, which had not been answering their phones for the previous two days -- picked up our rental, a Chrysler HHR (a model with which I was not familiar; it looks kind of like the bastard offspring of a PT Cruiser and a Chinese take-out box). After hopping through a series of wireless networks until we could get to Google Maps to confirm our driving directions, we started for Sequim, which is on the Olympic peninsula.

After a half-hour ride on the Kingston-Edmonds ferry and a couple hours' creative highway driving, we finally made it to our hotel, the Sequim EconoLodge, which is notable for its overgrown (probably haunted) mini-golf course and rather sparse continental breakfast. It's located on the eastern edge of downtown Sequim -- a town that is only about two and a half miles from end to end -- and is adequate for our needs, if not stunning. (Truth be told, I made our reservations here largely because the motel offered free wi-fi, which is actually a rarity in much of Washington.)

We went to Applebee's for our one meal of the day (we missed breakfast on the train -- see above re: bad service), then hit the local Wal-Mart for junk food and beverages, as we learned at check-in that there were a refrigerator and microwave in each of our rooms at the EconoLodge. (Since Laura is currently 2,000 miles away and can't complain about the smell, Mark and I picked up a two pound package of Twizzlers for snacking...) We then stopped at a local drive-in for dessert, returned to the hotel to watch some Code Geass and the new episode of YuGiOh: The Abridged Series, and after that I finally got to SLEEP -- something I hadn't done much of since last Wednesday night.

Today we sampled the mediocre continental breakfast, then hopped in the HHR and drove out to Olympic National Park for some hiking. We stopped by the visitors' center, went on to Lake Crescent, took a short trail, then for lunch went to the Lake Crescent Lodge (at right -- and yes, Mom, I looked through all of the antique books in the case on the left side of the photo!), where we met an entertaining waiter named Timotheus who, in addition to being personable and funny, has read The Lord of the Rings trilogy at least ten times. Lunch was fish & chips -- you just can't get fresh fried halibut in Indiana! -- followed by blackberry honey lavender ice cream, which is made locally in Sequim. I hadn't expected the lavender flavor to be strong, but it was actually pretty potent, and made for a very interesting (and tasty) mix of flavors. Lunch at the lodge was particularly nice because we had a lovely view of Lake Crescent from the dining room (the view from our table is shown at left).

After lunch, we hiked about three miles to and from a waterfall (at right), and then drove through Port Angeles on the way back to our hotel.

On the two short hikes, I took almost 200 photos. I think I'm going to have a lot of sorting to do.

My seminar doesn't start until Thursday, so we have another day to go hiking, sightseeing, or whatever. It's kind of nice to be able to make up the vacation as you go...

Oh -- and Laura, Mark blames you for the cold he's developing.


ADDENDUM: My mother informs me that I need to have some photos of ME on this trip, so here's the one shot I have of me so far. I'm standing on a narrow bridge (a long log with a railing, more or less) over the lower cascade of the waterfall in the previous picture: