Road Trip - Olympic National Park

First of all, we drove through a city called Lacey on the way to the Olympic peninsula, so that was exciting!

We also drove through a small town called Humptulips, which made us both laugh like little kids. Anyway, we made it to Olympic National Park and got ourselves a campsite at the Hoh Rainforest Campground. The Hoh river runs through a valley in Olympic National Park that receives upwards of 12 feet of rain every year. The river is fed by snow melt and a glacier and is surrounded by a rainforest. The morning after we arrived at the park we got up and went for a 10.5 mile hike up the river through the rainforest. The forest was so thick and every tree was covered in moss, it was like being in Fern Gully! 

Speaking of Fern Gully?

Some giant Douglas Firs

A spittlebug safe in its foam case while eating a plant

The Olympic mountain range from our stopping point at 5 Mile Island

Roastin' some 'mallows

We camped one more night, very tired from our long hike, and headed out the next day to drive around the peninsula. On our drive we stopped at Rialto Beach, Crescent Lake and finally at Hurricane Ridge. Those three stops, along with our time in the Hoh Rain Forest, really gave us a good taste of all Olympic has to offer. What an awesome place!

Rialto Beach on the Western Olympic peninsula

Lacey next to a huge piece of driftwood, it was cold on that beach

Crescent Lake from near our picnic site

The Olympic range from Hurricane Ridge

Lacey and I on the ridge

A panoramic picture of the Olympic Range from Hurricane Ridge

That night we made our way to Bainbridge Island to camp on the beach. The campground was okay, but not great. The walk on the beach, though, was a lot of fun. It was also fun watching Lacey try to skip rocks :) We hung out at camp, made some dinner, played some games, and even got see a pretty good lightning show before going in the tent and getting rained on. 

More driftwood (yeah, we're obsessed)

Hanging out on the beach overlooking the Puget Sound

Oh yeah, and we drove through Forks, WA. For all of you who aren't teenagers or nerds, that's where the Twilight movies were filmed (we didn't know either).