Weekend Explorations

We have been exploring Washington like tourists for the past 2 years since we moved here and are still in awe of how much we haven't seen. There are not enough hours in the day and days in the year to explore all of the amazing sights this area has to offer. Am I sold on this place or what?!

This past weekend we loaded up the camping gear and drove a little over an hour north to Port Townsend, a darling little town where An Officer and a Gentleman was filmed. After lunch at an old soda shop, we drove to Fort Worden State Park to see if they had any cancellations at the campground. No luck, but we did have fun playing at the beach and enjoying a gorgeous day. Being a spontaneous outing, we didn't have reservations anywhere so we drove around to different campgrounds to try to find a site for the night. We checked out Old Fort Townsend Campground which was gorgeous but had a burn ban in effect so we decided not to camp there. Next stop - Sequim Bay Campground. Sites were available but it was right off the highway with a lot of traffic noise so we decided to forge on toward Port Angeles. We also tried Dungeness Rec. Area in Sequim but there weren't any openings. Feeling a little discouraged and pressed by the fading daylight, we tried one last campground before succumbing to a hotel room for the night. Success! We found a nice campground just south of Port Angeles in the Olympic National Forest, Heart O' the Hills. The views from Hurricane Ridge where the campground is located were awesome. We set up camp and headed back to Pt. Angeles for dinner and to pick up the all important S'mores fixin's. Sunday morning we woke up to rain. Nothing says, "I'm camping in the Pacific Northwest," like the sound of rain on the tent! We loaded up and drove to the Hurricane Ridge Visitor's Center at the top of the mountain. The rain, wind and fog were relentless so we didn't hike like we'd wanted to but we toured the visitor's center and looked at photos of what the view looks like on a clear day. We'll DEFINITELY have to go back. So stunning! The drive up & back was gorgeous even in the fog. If you haven't been to Olympic National Park, it's a must see!

On our drive home, we ran into stopped traffic in Sequim due to a serious accident. Rather than sitting in traffic, we turned around and went to the Sol Duc Hot Springs. Such a nice treat! Here are a couple of video clips of our adventures - photos are at: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8BZNGjds1ZqKog&emid=sharshar&linkid=link5