Olympic Peninsula

Driving north on the east side of the Cascades, we had hoped to see Mt. Hood but there was low cloud cover, so we just drove to Vancouver, WA (Chinese buffet) and spent the night in Kelso before heading out to the Washington State coast and visiting Cape Disappointment.  Yeah, I can see why it's named.

We had a beautiful day on this visit to the northern end of the mouth of the Columbia River.

The lighthouse at Cape Disappointment

Long Beach......people just drive right onto the sand. That was surprising.

Massive plates of Chinese food in Cosmopolis, WA

Our campsite at Sol Duc Springs Campground in Olympic National Park

Tree sculptures....

Sol Duc Hot Springs.  Pro tip, go earlier in the morning when the pools are cleaner.

Loved hearing ALL the different languages being spoken at the hot springs.

We took a walk through the Hoh Rain Forest.  It wasn't the forest that was amazing to me....it was the power of the quiet.  Just standing by myself and being in the silence....was itself really loud.

I was contemplating and experiencing what the Japanese call "Forest Bathing"

A peek at the mountains themselves from the west.

The seastacks at Ruby Beach in the fog.  Just a couple miles to the west of Hoh Rain Forest, which was sunny.

Just west of Port Angeles, in the northeast corner of the park, we drove up Deer Park Road into the mountains.  Here's the view we were rewarded with!

There was a very nice half mile loop walk.....it felt like we were in the Sound of Music!

Looking west to Seattle

Next stop, Seattle!  Looked like a head on collision with a cruise ship was imminent.....but our ferry let the cruise ship pass first.

Crater Lake

Summer 2018!  And Onions and I have a one month road trip planned through the Northwest and Canada.  First stop, a couple days visiting Crater Lake and the surrounding area.

I haven't been to Crater Lake since a high school backcountry ski trip.  The day we arrived, overcast and cloudy.  The day we left, we experienced a hail/snow storm, but the full day we spent at and around Crater Lake?  Perfect weather.

We had perfect timing for our visit.  While we were there, the East Road around Crater Lake opens for the summer season and we were one of first cars to drive around in 2018.

Crater Lake is at elevation....snow still on the ground.

We didn't get a campsite in the park itself, but camped in a National Forest campsite about 20 miles from the park.  Here's our site.

THIS is how we start a campfire.  Lighters?  Lame.

The good life around the campfire.

Crater Lake really is a "one-trick pony."  So, we went hiking to some waterfalls.  Here's Watson Falls.

Tokatee Falls

The turn off for Tokatee Falls had a sign pointing to some hot springs.  Onions and I LOVE hot springs and so we went to find them.  After a hilly and rocky half mile hike, we found this series of hot spring tubs on a hillside.  The spring water emerges from the top of the hill and so the water gets cooler further down the hill.

Onions and I monopolized the one at the top, that has a cover (for use during winter snow).

Lots of beautiful sunsets this entire trip.  Here's a couple pictures of a sunset in southern Oregon.

Like a Proud "Father"

My advisees GROAN when I tell them that it's advisee picture time, but they placate me and take the bi-annual photos because it makes ME, their advisor happy. I also am amazed and happy that they still go along with the "crazy" photos.  So, here they are, at the end of their junior year.  One more year to go!!!

Arches, More Arches

On our last day of the trip, we decided to spend a few more hours in the park before the drive back to SF.  We first visited the Windows Section of the park.  Here's the North and South Windows

And yes, you will note that I changed my clothes!!!

Turret Arch

An arch in the making....

This arch turned out to be one of the most spectacular in my opinion, it's called Double Arch.

Doesn't that rock formation look like an elephant?

On the map, this is called Broken Arch, so we were expecting to see an actual collapsed arch, but nope, it's intact.  Because this arch required a half mile "hike," we had it all to ourselves.

The last arch we visited, note the sun came out, was called Tapestry Arch.  Again, because it requires a bit of a walk, we again had it all to ourselves.

Hey, I'm 48 years old and looking like I'm in pretty good shape in this photo. Crossfit is paying off!!!

As we were driving out of the park, I just couldn't help but stop and take last photos of rocks....my phone is just full of pictures of rocks!!

One last photo and the journey home began.  We had perfect weather on the entire trip, no rain.  Two hours after we left the park, Onions drove through a massive rain storm while on a two lane mountain highway.  Brutal!  We broke up the drive into two days with a stop in Wells, NV.  Fantastic trip!!