Olympic Weekend, Day 1

Washington is an amazing state. We have deserts, rugged mountains, active volcanoes, sunny archipelagos, rainforests, canyons, rolling wheat fields… This weekend, M and I boarded the first ferry of the day bound for adventure on the Olympic Peninsula. (Thanks for giving us a head start, Opa and Oma!)

Whidbey in our wake

Jellyfish spotter

We stopped at the Northwest Maritime Center for coffee and to ogle the pretty wooden boats. The morning view from their deck included rowing teams (why didn't’ we have paddleboards with us?), ferries, a lighthouse, a marina full of sailboats, and a bird’s eye view of the workshop.

Pt Angeles

Travel mascot and coffee. This must be a road trip.

Provisioned with traditional fare (cured meat, cheese, fruit, bread), we headed west. Turns out, there are some really cute towns along the north coast of the Peninsula. I imagine that for most of the year they are gray, damp, and depressing. This weekend they were sunny, green, and warm. We stopped in Pt Angeles to visit the farmers’ market (and coffee!) and found ourselves winding along the coast to Salt Creek.

Salt Creek is a county park with a sandy beech, crazy looking island, tide pools, trails (the bulk of which we missed, and a place to park your X-wing. (no, seriously – check this out!) Why did we not have paddleboards with us?

X-Wing Parking?

Following 112 again down the coast was quite the ride. Beautiful ocean vistas and roads twisty enough to make even our road-trip hardened stomachs to turn queezy. Finally, we drew onto the Makah community of Neah Bay and reached the end of the road. Really, it’s the end of the road. You can’t go farther north and west in a car, so we hiked out to the rocks at the edge of our world: Cape Flattery. The pacific ocean is a really big place. It also lands softly on the continent, swirling around rocks and swishing onto sandy beaches. Surfers all around – Seriously, why didn’t we bring the paddleboards!?

Selfie at the edge of the country, Tatoosh island in the background

Cape Flattery

The evening was spent walking the beach, testing sprint mechanics, and studying hydraulics in a little stream by digging a bypass channel, damming it, and breaking the dam. The perfect end to a beautiful day.