Fri July 25
We left Lacy Fri morning and traveled Rt 101 north to the Olympic Peninsula, to our next stopover at an escapee’s park. We signed in for 7 days and already are wishing we had more time.
26th
Today we started west along the upper edge of the peninsula by The Strait of Juan De Fuca, stopping at Squim for a wood carving festival and Port Angeles for a wonderful sand carving competition. The artists came from quite a distance to compete. I just read that the winner is from St Louis MO. The theme of the competition was Great Inventions, and he won for Music. I’ll include some pictures, as they are incredible. After the festivals we took the 17 mile drive up into the mountains of Olympic National Park. The mountains were snow covered and the wild flowers carpeted the slopes. Pictures will follow!!
27th
Today it is raining and we are resting. Decided to go to give some money back to the Indians, succeeded!
28th
Today we planned to take the ferry to Victoria BC. We got a slightly late start but I thought we’d just catch a later one. WRONG! After getting up at the crack of dawn and speeding for an hour we had to change our plans so we headed even farther West to the rain forest where we hiked for 3 hours through a lush forest with moss and large ferns. We were supposed to see the ocean at the end of the hike but I didn’t make it. We were so close I could hear it but knowing I had to hike all the way back I decided I had gone far enough! The forest was just beautiful! After that we traveled through an Indian reservation to Cape Hattery, the Northern most point on the lower 48. It was a long day and we both went straight to bed after the long ride home, because tomorrow it’s up at dawn to catch that ferry!!
July 29th
Well we made it, but it’s raining! We decided to go for it anyway and the hour and ½ ferry ride was very nice. The boat is large enough to carry motorhomes and lots of cars plus 1000 people. We arrived in Victoria around 9:30 and toured the Government buildings. Everyone was very friendly and the Capitol buildings are lavish. From there we walked to the Empress Hotel to check it out. It was designed by the same architect as the parliament buildings. The plan was to have a high tea there in the afternoon, it looked lovely but first we wanted to see Butchart Gardens. They were 40 minutes from the center of town by bus. They were created by Jennie Butchart to beautify her husbands Quarry business in 1904. The house was lavish and the gardens just spectacular. Twylah, you don’t know how many times we mentioned you while we toured them. More pictures will follow.
Wed 30th
Today I really appreciate my washer and drier!!