Life Is Good along the Olympic Coast

We have found the Pacific Northwest to be more expansive and diverse than we ever could have imagined.  From the wine county in the east with it's rolling hills and variety of mountain ranges to the urban/suburban junctions of West Seattle, up to the berry farms along the northern border and endless coffee houses - almost every block!

That said, the Olympic Peninsula is one of the more rugged and pristine areas in the United States. Dominated by Mount Olympus, most of the Peninsula is protected under the designation of being a National Park (with the exception of the coastal towns). The vast and often untouched wilderness reminded us of parts of Alaska where we spend our honeymoon 26 years ago.

Our first stop in this area was in the city of Port Angeles, visiting one of Phyl's cousins.  Keith's profession is digging wells which is a service in high demand. It makes sense because in this part of the state, there is little access to municipal water systems!  He also likes to fish - and lucky us, we visited at the right time of the year to feast on fresh caught Dungeness Crab - and Jer thought they only came from the supermarket! :) 

Port Angeles is also the gateway to the Olympic National Park and from there, we took the winding road up to Hurricane Ridge (pictured above). This alpine-like region reminded us of the movie "The Sound of Music" with it's peaks and valleys and sprawling meadows. From there we headed west to Lake Crescent with it's glacial crystal blue crystal clear waters...over 600 feet deep!   

Continuing west, we entered the rain forest region - highlighted by the moss covered trees.  We didn't realize that there were rain forests this far north - and we were captivated by the dense growth found within the Hoh Rainforest which receives over 100 inches of rain per year earning it the fame of one of the world's lushest rain forests. Compare that to to Seattle which, though infamous for it's rain, only gets around 36 inches per year. 

The last city of any significance before reaching the coast is the small town of Forks (pop 3,335) and famous for being the rainiest city in the continental U.S. It's also earned recognition for being the site location for the TV series "Twilight." While there, we didn't spot any vampires, but we did get a weeks worth of supplies and Jer found a new baseball cap with the motto "Life Is Good."  We googled the phrase on the way to the coast (realizing that we were about to lose all semblance of internet or wifi for several days) and were pleasantly surprised to learn that this is the motto of a company by the same name that has flourished through the years. The following is copied from the Life Is Good website... "Optimism isn’t irrational cheerfulness, and it’s not blind positivity. It’s a powerful approach to accomplishing goals and living a fulfilling life. By acknowledging obstacles and opportunities—but focusing on the opportunities—optimism enables us to explore the world with open arms and an eye toward solutions and growth. It also makes life a hell of a lot more fun."

WE AGREE... LIFE IS GOOD! :)

PS: The sunset cover photo was taken at Kalaloch Lodge along the Olympic Coast... more on that in our next blog post!