Surf City Here We Come (Not in CA but WA)

Daily Mileage=117; Trip Total=5679
Today we drove over to the northwestern part of the peninsula along the Pacific Ocean. The water is cold and rough with gigantic boulders (they call them rocks) scattered in the surf along the beach. The name given to these huge “rocks” is sea stacks. They were formed by the upward pressure of the continental plate movement over millions of years. They actually help a lot of the marine life, such as sea otters, seals; migrating birds etc. have a place to hang out.

At the same time we were awestruck by the sea stacks we were flabbergasted by the trees that have been washed down from rivers to the sea and redeposited back onto the beach. They are enormous! When you first look down at the beach from the overhanging cliffs, these trees appear to be matchsticks scattered all over the shore. There’s a picture of Rich next to one of these match sticks. You cannot truly appreciate their size unless you’re standing next to them and even then, it seems surrealistic. There are also numerous pieces of driftwood in all assorted sizes and shapes. As well as billions of smooth rocks.

We hiked what we thought would be an easy 3 mile round trip to a particular rock formation called, Hole in the Rock. Well, it was nothing but easy! We might actually say it was one of the hardest 3 miles we’ve done. You are not walking in regular sand but rather, gravel of various sizes. With each step you sink about 4 to 6 inches. Some of the stones are very small while others are fist size rocks. So even when you’re not sinking in “sand” you’re twisting and turning to move along. The up side is that the views are spectacular (even in the cold, rainy weather) and we searched for treasures, like rocks and driftwood, just as we would sea shells on any other beach.

We are staying in this part of the park at a rustic and lovely real log cabin. You can see our reception staff here. Also, here is Rich standing by our cabin (he says he feels like Abe Lincoln and even built a fire from scratch this evening in the fireplace). However, all kidding aside, you can also see our view from our cabin. It sits on a bluff(in a tsunami zone that they keep posting warning signs about – they don’t actually tell you where to go or what to do; only that you’re in the zone!). Our cabin overlooks the beach which is less rocky and calmer than those with the sea stacks on them but still has those big matchsticks on it. The name of the lodge is called, Kalaloch (pronounced, Klaylock) after the Indian name for “a safe place to land.” After seeing some of the other portions of the coastline, we can understand why this is named so.

On the way here, we also stopped by a site called, “Big Cedar.” Well, it was a big cedar and we stopped and tried to get the enormity of the tree in the photo by putting Rich once again, into the tree trunk (which is probably better than the car trunk).

We have no phone, TV, cell service or Internet service and won’t for several days. There’s something very nice about that. You’ll have to wait for the next segment of the BLOG but I think it will be worth it. (However, I must tell you that when we arrived two copies of Town & Country magazines were on our little wooden table. So, I ask, do you think anyone who reads Town & Country would be staying in such a rustic accommodation? Rich says we qualify for survivor finalist status!!)
Love & joy, Mare & Rich