We lucked out, the Olympic National Park is largely a rain forest and our trip spanned 3 sunny, hot days. We hiked along Hurricane Ridge and were able to see Protection Island and Mount Baker from that view point.

Glaciers persist, although they are receding rapidly, and I saw several snowball fights during the walk. I saved several throwees by walking close by which caused the thrower to defer.

The wildflowers are lovely.

And so are we.

We stayed in two funky, off the grid airbnb’s. The first was the microcabin, which turned out just dandy.  There was even a fire pit and an ax so we lit a fire, and had a dandy outside seating area. The shower and outhouse were separate from our spacious sleeping area. Basically the cabin was the size of a double bed with a little porch added around it for an outdoor kitchen. It would not have been as much fun in the rain!

Then we headed to the Pacific Ocean and visited First, Second and Third Beaches. The beaches had huge piles of old driftwood, large trees, to scramble over to get to the sand and the water is too cold to swim. But there were lots of tents and people having fun. The birds were having fun too. We caught these crows trying to get into a backpack and then making away with a packet of cookies. They acted innocently when the people returned but as soon as they packed up, they attacked the cookies in earnest.

We heard lovely bird songs in the mountains, prettier than the seagulls, and got to sleep past sunrise, since there were trees around. We heard the Pacific Wren, heard and saw the Varied Thrush and heard several Hermit Thrush, to name the only ones I can.

The second night we stayed at the Flying S Farm outside Forks, WA. Our host, Chigger, is a retired Forest Ranger and has been living off the grid, with mixed results, for decades. Things flashed a bit but we even had internet and he was an excellent host. Tim found a book he had written that intrigued him and bought it before we left. Since then, I have read a lot of what he has written on line and he has a great voice, and is able to laugh at himself, despite life. Note that our host’s first name did not make Tim even blink an eye.

We parted ways and headed to the rain forest that is the Hoh river valley. One writer contends it is the quietest place in … I’m not sure how large an area but it was pretty quiet. There were giant Sitka Spruce and Maple trees and lots of Spanish Moss and fungus. We saw evidence of logging and passed many logging trucks on the road, just like at home. We ate a logger’s breakfast at a local stop and Tim had 2 hotcakes the size of his plate!  And then I started to see other things in the trees. Time to get back to the island.

We could see the birds missed us. The dock was a mess upon our return but easier to clean than I though it would be. Back up at the house, the barn swallows nest is full of babies, and our picnic table is full of droppings.

Now we learned we are going to be grandparents again, a little earlier than expected. Tim’s getting ready to hit the air when the gale eases.