The Pacific Northwest

Our road-trip this weekend was nothing short of amazing. Unfortunately I broke up with my boyfriend last week, but Melina offered to still do the trip with me and I am so happy she did! We left on Friday evening with a full agenda of things to do for the weekend. We had taken the backseats out of Melina's car and had put an air matras in instead. Around 10:30pm we arrived in Port Angeles. We were supposed to park at a camping, but that turned out to already be closed, so we decided to just find a nice parking lot and spend the night there. When we asked around for possible parking spots, a nice men from the gas station told us about a spot that was on sort of a tip stretching out into the Strait of Juan. Because it was dark all we saw was that it was a nice and secluded spot, but when we woke up in the morning we had a beautiful view of the mountains of Port Angeles and Canada off in the distance.

After breakfast we visited an outside art show in Port Angeles for a bit. In a small park they had "hidden" pieces of art like they were part of nature. It was amazing how they blended in, and even though we walked around the whole park, I'm sure we by far didn't notice all the stuff there was to see. Then we made our way towards Hurricane Ridge. The drive was like nothing I've ever seen before. We were surrounded by beautiful mountains, driving up to the snow tops. The view was stunning and we stopped multiple times to take pictures. Up the mountain it was snow, snow and more snow. Of course it snows sometimes in Holland but, this was snow so high that there was no way of even coming close to what would be the ground if you stepped in it. We had a blast playing around like little kids, rolling down snow hills and asking people to borrow their kids's sleds to also slide down. We were extremely lucky, not only then, but the whole weekend. Whenever we wanted to enjoy the scenery it was sunny and whenever we really didn't care cause we had a long drive to make it started to rain. On our way up Hurricane Ridge we got to see all the mountain tops, we even got to walk in the snow with our sunglasses on cause the sun was shining so brightly and the moment we were ready to leave clouds were moving in over head and it started raining. On our way back we couldn't see any of beautiful views we had seen before, but it was okay cause we already had the pictures in our camera and printed in our memories.

Next up was Lake Cresent, which is considered the second deepest lake in the state of Washington, although it's so deep that no one has actually been able to measure it's real depth yet. We walked a trail through rain forest and made it to the waterfall called Marymere Falls. After that we took a detour finding the Lake Cresent Lodge which really had the beautiful postcard view. Even though we had a busy schedule we still got to sit down in the sun and enjoy it for a bit. On our way back through the rain forest we had a funny encounter with some pot smokers, who tried to avoid us by taking the off road that we just happened to need to take too. It was very funny to see how uncomfortable they were, knowing they were being followed and that we could smell perfectly well that they were smoking weed. It became even funnier when they let us pass them so that they could take another path and when Melina and this "stranger" suddenly recognized each other. It's a small world ;). The pot smoker was the dad of a boy playing in the same baseball team as the kid Melina takes care off. Busted! We had a good laugh about it the whole way back to the car.

For some reason the drives weren't too long and even though we were definitely not rushing we were still way ahead of our own schedule and decided to go to Forks today instead of the next. On our way to Forks we also quickly stopped by the Sol Duc Hot Springs, which was honestly a little disappointing. We didn't bring our bathing suits and were not allowed in in our underwear, the cheapest swimsuit for sale was very expensive, you had to pay more then I would have expected for entrance and.. The Hot Springs really didn't seem like anything more then heated pools or hot tubs, not natural at all. So we checked it out, but didn't go in and just made our way to Forks. Anyone who is as Twilight crazy as most people here knows what Forks is, probably better then I do. I only read the first chapter of the first book and saw the first movie, but now I can say I visited the Twilight place. And that I thought it was really not that cool at all. Forks was.. small. A few stores by the main road in building that seemed to be falling apart. Every building had twilight posters on it, even the grocery store and the Chinese restaurant, where you got to dine next to a life size cardboard print of Edward Cullen. It was a bit too much, specially cause there was really not that much Twilight stuff to see. The movie was obviously not shot in Forks and even though they they had some places that were supposed to be places as described in the books I think they could have pointed at any house and say that was the Cullen's place. At the visitor center of Forks, which was literally called Twilight Information (like there is nothing else about Forks worth checking out), we saw Bella's car from the movie. It was kind of cool, but on further inspection Melina had to conclude this was not the same car as used in the movie. After seeing the movie 6 times, she was pretty sure. So Forks mainly just made me feel very sorry for the people who lived there and had to endure all the Twilight crazyness.

For the night we went out to a piece of private property between Forks and La Push where another Bainbridge Island mom that Melina knows has a vacation cabin. One might wonder what's fun about a vacation cabin in the middle of nothing, closest fun town more then an hour away, and in the place where it rains more then anywhere else.. That's what I was thinking at least. The cabin had no electricity, no gas, no water, no toilet and, oh my god, no cellphone reception. Back to basic. When we arrived there was already a group of 5 other people in the cabin too. They were our age and quite nice so we had fun. Luckily they knew how to work the generator and one the girls had already been here lots of times before and she showed us the river. Just when it started getting really dark the rain set in, and we quickly made our way back. It was kind of fun having it rain, it felt like this was the way it was supposed to be. Melina and me still ended up just sleeping in the car because we didn't want to move all our stuff or tell the others to quiet down cause we were going to bed "early".

In the morning we woke up with the sunlight again and made our way out to La Push. It was raining in La Push, but the beach for still pretty amazing. The rock cliffs off shore aren't anything like I've ever seen in the Netherlands and look really pretty. We didn't hang around too long, cause just like Forks, La Push was just a small town and even the word town seems too big for what it really was. It's quite sad to see how poor these people who live there are. Houses like that you'd never see in Holland. We had Google mapped a road that would take us along the coast up to the most North-West tip of the United States, Cape Flattery. This is really the first time Google driving instructions have ever failed me and it was a bit of a bummer. After driving about half an hour we came to a point where the driving instructions told us to go onto road 5000, which was indicated by the sign as a private road. The gate was open and after discussing it for a bit we figured Google wouldn't mislead us on to a road where we weren't allowed to go, so we took it. The road was small, 16 miles long and was paved with little stones so we couldn't go faster the 25 mph. Side roads all led to further off into the woods, set of with blue fences, indicating private property. Although it was scenic to ride through the woods, I personally got a little bit freaked out. We both had zero reception on our cellphones, we were in the middle of no where, the road seemed unending. When it did end it was only after 45 minutes to an hour of driving and it was by one of those same blue fences that led off even further into the middle of nowhere. We were so sure the fence would be open like in the beginning so we spend at least 3 minutes in front of the fence just voicing our disbelieve and disappointment. The way back seemed even longer and made me even more nervous. If we would have car trouble here we would have no way of reaching any one and a 16 mile walk would have taken us hours and hours and hours. We only passed two cars the whole two hours we spend on the 5000 and on our way back that just made me extremely nervous that one of those drivers might have closed the first fence and that would leave us stuck on this private property in the middle of nowhere without any cellphone coverage. Luckily I worried the whole way back for nothing cause the gate was still open. We made our way back all the way to the main road and took the Highway up to Cape Flattery instead. When we stopped at the gas station and asked if there was another way from La Push to Cape Flattery along the coast, the employee's told us there was no way at all. Thanks Google..

After a huge detour we finally reached Cape Flattery. We hiked up the trail and had the most amazing view ever. I'll upload pictures and maybe you can Google Image it, cause it was just beautiful. There were rocks in the middle of the water sticking far up, and along the coast there were caves in the wall where waves of the ocean smashed in and out. Again it was perfectly sunny just when we needed it to be and we had a picnic sitting on the cliff looking out over the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Juan, with Canada far in the distance. Sitting on the most North West tip of America. With only one more stop to go we made our way back to the car and headed for Shi Shi Beach. We actually at one point thought we were there and stopped the car to take pictures of the beautiful beach and ocean, but when we drove further, just because we had a little bit of extra time anyway, we noticed the signs that Shi Shi Beach was still further ahead. We reached the head of a trail leading to Shi Shi Beach. It said the trail was 1.7/2 miles and as European girls we ofcourse had no idea how long of a walk that would be. We just figured it couldn't be too bad cause all the trails we'd done so far were quite do-able. I started thinking we must nearly be there after the first 20 minutes of walking, but an hour later we were still not at the end and had no idea how much further it would be. The path, which started out nice, had turned extremely muddy and finding your way through the mud without your shoes sinking in all the way was quite a challenge. I felt like I was doing parcour, making fast jumps from log to log and climbing over fallen trees that were in the middle of the path. After more then an hour we took a side trail and stood on a high cliff looking out over a really really beautiful view again. Behind us wood, beneath us rocks and cliffs and in front of us nothing but the sun shining brightly onto the Pacific Ocean. It was gorgeous. At this point I figured it couldn't get any better then this and I didn't see the point in walking much further. The whole way we had seen no one and it really made me wonder where this path was taking us. Of course again the no cellphone coverage, so I got nervous again about something happening, like jumping, sliding and one of us breaking our ankle and being stuck there. Luck was however with us again and the moment we got back to the main path to head back to the car we saw people walking ahead back towards to parking lot. We yelled and ran after them, and finally reached them to ask how far from the beach we actually were. Only 10 minutes! We felt really lucky we met them cause after walking such a long way it would have been a shame to walk all the way back and afterwards know we were so close to reaching it. The people were right and less then 10 minutes later we reached a tricky trail going steep down. I've never been really afraid of heights, but I've never been crazy about them either. Small, slow steps and I could not look down without thinking I was going to fall. Finally, we made it. Shi Shi Beach was amazing! It was a long stretched sand beach by the Pacific Ocean that felt nice, secluded and untouched. Like a secret beautiful place. If I had known the trail would have been this long I would probably not have started, but now that we did I am so happy we made it and it was worth the trip. The way back we went a lot faster. Instead of being early we were now way behind on schedule and we were already so dirty that we didn't bother to avoid the mud as much as we did on our way in. Of course this led to my shoe almost getting stuck in the mud completely, as I tried to lift my foot up and my foot just left the sole of my shoe behind. But eventually we made it back in just 55 minutes, with both our shoes and nothing more then a few scrapes. I've never been much of a hiker and most of the time I think walking through the woods is just plain boring, but this actually wasn't. I had fun, and by the end of it I was extremely proud of myself, having made it all the way, walking and jumping at a fast pace.

The way back from Shi Shi Beach to Bainbridge Island was a long one. We left the Shi Shi parking lot at 6pm and were at my house at 10:30pm, only having stopped for a quick sandwhich at Subway in Port Angeles. We took the scenic route back, which was a bit long but fun to see. I did notice something about myself, I do NOT like being in the middle of nowhere without cellphone reception. Even though I now realize that we had to go through those areas to get to the most beautiful places I've ever seen, and it was worth it, I do feel a lot safer knowing I can call someone if something happens or there are at least other people not too far away. And we can not see another blue private property fence leading into the woods anymore without getting very angry and frustrated feelings, both Melina and I noticed.

The trip was beyond anything I could have imagined. We went from mountains and snow, to rain forests and waterfalls, to Ocean and cliffs, to a beautiful sand beach. Strangely the towns we visited, that were really our reasons for coming out there, were not that interesting at all, but I feel like with Hurricane Ridge, Lake Cresent, Marymere Falls, Cape Flattery and Shi Shi Beach I've seen some of the most amazing places in the world. I think Washington State is greatly underrated, as I had never heard of it being one of the best states in America, but I am sure it must be! I hope everyone gets a chance to come out here some day, if you do, remember to visit all these places, they are worth the trip.