Wednesday June 12th, 2019

I love waking up to clear sunny skies and 78 degrees. Port Angeles is only about 20 minutes from Sequim so we decided to go roaming. We started at the waterfront and zig-zagged through the art galleries and shops.

The goal was to find the murals of Port Angeles, and we made good on most of them. We found sidewalk art and sculptures and lots of information on whale watching.

We finished up with lunch in a cool atmosphere at H2O near the waterfront.

Tuesday June 11th, 2019

 I worked on the blog as much as I could with really limited WI-FI. JP did fun chores like truck washing and spiffing up Lucky . The weather has been warm and clear and were hoping it’ll hold for the next leg of our trip. It was a drive day and our destination wasn’t far so it was an easy going day.

We stayed at the Rainbows End RV Park in Sequim. The RV Park sites were a little tight and we were just off the road right behind a neighborhood but the hosts were nice and it was a good location. The park had a really pretty little trout pond that was home to a duck and its duckling, but it’s surprising the little ones weren’t eaten up by the school of 24″ trout (aka steelhead). 

Monday June 10, 2019

We headed to Crescent Lake since JP insisted that we give my knee a break and do some driving instead. We stopped in at Rialto Beach for bit and then headed on to Lake Crescent.

Crescent Lake Lodge and the Log Cabin Resort both sit on the edge of big, beautiful Lake Crescent. The lake has Kokanee, Lake Crescent Cutthroat and Beadsley Rainbow Trout (not found anywhere other than Crescent Lake) but we didn’t see fisherman. It was kayaks, boating and families playing on the beach.

We traveled a little farther west and came across the Elwha Casino not far from Port Angeles (our next destination). Its small but had MORE new games for us to try. The resteraunt was packed but we braved it for the Sunday night 6.99 Steak Special that was awesome! JP was once again the winner but I left not loosing a dime so I count that as a win too!

Sunday June June 9th, 2019

My knee was still in the recovery mode so we did some driving to see the area around us. We drove into La Push and the Quileute Indian Reservation and had brunch at the Rivers Edge. We had a window seat to a really awesome view of about a dozen bald eagles on the shore. They’d fly overhead so if we looked up out the window we could see their feet dangling below them. There was a seal in the water and after a fishing boat dumped a bunch of fish carcasses in the drink – there was a lot of action going on. We’d never seen so many eagles at one time! We even saw some smaller birds nipping at the eagles tail feathers in flight. Bold move little birdies – bold move!

The signs all though the Reservation are in English with the Quileute translation below. We hadn’t seen that before and when I looked up the tribal info it I found that Tribal School strives “to protect, preserve, and enhance the Quileute Language and culture for future generations”.

We made a trip to John’s Beachcombing Museum. John Anderson’s been collecting for 43 years and has accumulated A LOT of stuff. I was so impressed because even though it was all found items and more than you can possible imagine – its all sorted, labeled and displayed. Its really hard to describe but the pix will give you an idea. 

John’s Beachcombing Museum gets a lot of media coverage too. It really is an amazing collection put together in a way that only a truly organized man could accomplish. Everything from ship spillage doll heads, buoys, bottles, lighters, shoes, floats, hats, helmets, tsunami pieces and the list goes on. 

Jerry’s pick of the piles was the Center Spinner Cone from Boeing 727 Jet Engine and the whale jaw bone in the bone cemetery next to the museum.

My favorite was this pair of slippers, found one year apart on the beach. Now that’s lucky! If you’re up this way its worth the 4.00 each to drop in and see his amazing collection. He told us that he has about 400 visitors a month!

Saturday June 8th, 2019

Today was a free fishing day in Washington so JP practiced his fly-fishing techniques and had some luck so he was happy. We looked over the town of Forks, which by the way is TWILIGHT Country. There are all kinds of Twilight references and cute sayings all around town. There’e even a Twilight Festival in September. I read all the Twilight Books but only watched one of the movies so I don’t have what it takes to be a true Twilight fan.

If I was though, there is no shortage of material. At “Forever Twilight” in Forks  they have the screen worn costumes and actual props as well as backdrop for photo ops. There is a Twilight Tour bus, menu items (the Bella Burger) the Hotel has a reader board that says “Edward Cullen never slept here” and just about everywhere has a Twilight reference.

Kinda fun and funny, especially since I’m pretty sure the movies weren’t actually filmed here in Forks. In Stephanie Meyers Twilight Series of books though – it was all about Forks and the surrounding area. The trucks below are Bella’s truck from the book and Bella’s truck from the movie.

Friday June 7th, 2019

 It was only a half hour drive to the Olympic National Park / Hoh Rain Forest and it really lived up to it’s name! It was raining and even JP’s waterproof gear didn’t keep him dry (I have the same gear but I was equipped with an umbrella). The average rainfall here is 140 inches not including the 30 inches created by the condensed mist!

It was lush and beautiful.  There were lots of visitors, all happily ignoring the rain. There were loops of trails and a bustling Visitors Center. Everyone was either geared up for the weather or making due with inexpensive plastic hooded ponchos. There was one charming exception though, a couple who were a little overdressed but obviously happy! We grabbed a shot while they were having their wedding photos taken with the rain forest as their backdrop.

There were  warning signs because – well – BEARS and grumpy ELK. We decided early on that we would let the other hikers pass us. It looked like we were just Seniors that needed a bit more time to make our way up the trail. Little did they know we were sending them ahead to frighten off the BEAR and ELK. That way worst case scenario, the hikers in front of us could encounter the ELK first and JP and I would have been BEAR dessert instead of an appetizer or main course. Cuz that’s how we roll!

We made a quick stop at the Forks Visitor Center to pick up some info and maps and headed out to Cape Flattery in Neah Bay. We made the hike which was about 1.5 miles round-trip down the wooden walkways to three different look out points. The view from the trail overlook is the northwestern-most point in the US. It really was stunningly beautiful. I was a a little worse for the wear at the end of the day though. My fussy knees evidently thought 1.5 miles of plank walk stairs was just a bit too much for them. 

Thursday June 6th, 2019 – Drive Day

We’re officially on our last leg of the Gypsy Life Road Trip. We still have lots on the calendar ahead but we’ll be launching from our house in the Valley for awhile starting in July. Its been 12+ years since we’ve lived in it and it needs some attention. More on that later.

So first stop on the Washington leg was Forks and we stayed at Riverview RV in Forks. The Sol Duc River runs through and around Forks but everything was really low so no good fishing even for a fly-fisher. Forks apparently is a nice little town –  even though it has a bit of a  Vampire problem!

JP’s been wanting to fish but it just hasn’t worked out for him. He’ll be making up for lost time once we’re back on home turf!

June 3rd – June 5th, 2019

Monday June 3rd – Today was a drive day and we headed up to the Olympia Peninsula. We pulled into Hoquaim River RV Park and made ourselves at home.Tuesday June 4th – We headed north for a little look-see. We saw lots of beach, drove through Ocean Shores and found a 2.99 breakfast at the friendliest casino we’ve ever visited! We stayed at Quinault Beach Resort and Casino for hour or so. Even though it isn’t a big casino, they had tons of new machines. Today’s winner was JP! 

From there we drove a bit farther North and found Seabrook, a community/town that is still evolving. It started in 2018 and the cool contemporary downtown had some stores that are in and up and running but lots of shops still in progress. No shops were open while we were there – mid-day on a Tuesday? Lovely new homes surround Seabrook, and some look to be occupied (or maybe they’re airbnb’s). We only saw a few people while we were there. It felt a little eerie – like an old Twilight Zone episode I vaguely remember, but it really was lovely.

Wednesday June 5th-  JP needed to finish up with some computer updates and we’ve had nothing but awful Wi-Fi so we spent some time at the Timberland Library. Their Library has a section of wall art in all different sizes that you can check out for 3 weeks at a time. I’m not exactly sure what situation calls for renting wall art but it was a novel idea!

Atlas Obscuru listed a stop to check out so we found  Sucher and Son’s Star Wars Store.  It was absolutely packed with Star Wars stuff! The owner has his own special way of displaying the thousands of pieces of memorabilia in a really small space. It made me a little antsy, I wanted to get in there and organize everything by movie, year, category and and character – but alas no . It was an interesting and quirky though.

The sign in Sucher’s says there have been 45,000 visitors last count and JP added us to the map. That little red pin on the left pin is Bandon, Oregon.

On our way to Sucher and Sons we came across this cool downtown mural.

The Westport Winery was lovely and we sampled several wines. Its a bit of a stretch for me since I’m not a wine drinker but we did find a little something in blueberry to take home. 

We finished the day with dinner at the 8th Street Ale House so JP could get clams and I could have a steak salad. Now that we’re moving north I’ve changed my search from margaritas to flavored vodka. So tonight I tried two flavors cranberry and grapefruit. Two down – dozens to go. I love a quest! 

Saturday June 1st – Sunday June 2nd 2019

It was a great day for a drive and it took no time to get settled in Netart’s Bay Garden RV Resort in Tillamook.

 We walked the trail along the river near our camp spot in-between rain showers. The old railroad tracks that ran through here have been all but swallowed up by the forest. 

JP found this cool old fishing pole stuck in a tree.

Two days is way too short to cover a lot of territory, so we used this stop as a preview for a longer stay  somewhere down the road. We did a little looking around and made a trip to the beach.

Next time around we’ll plan on staying at least a week here. Tomorrow starts the last leg of our trip. North to the Olympia Peninsula. Washington here we come!

Monday May 27th –  Friday May 31st, 2019

We parked Lucky in Gwen’s drive for a little break. We must have needed some retail therapy.  We’d apparently been missing Costco, Sportsman’s Warehouse and The Pro Bass Shop (formally known as Cabella’s). JP had fun getting all the bass fixin’s he’ll be needing this summer. He is really excited about this bass biz!

We had business, and doctor appointments to take care of and a chance to give Lucky a proper cleaning.  The best part of our layover was getting to spend a little time with my gals Jean and Gwen. A friend fix and a full fridge – we were ready to hit the road again.