Indian Valley Motel Port Angeles

... world, the construction of a new. Neat bark paths weave past them now, accessible to buggies and wheelchairs. Ropes and fences make people keep their distance, and everything is explained by helpful boards. This accessibility will widen the audience this forest receives, and hopefully make more people value it. But I preferred the other side, where the trails tended to vanish and the air of wilderness remained ...

... none . . . to bask in the
freedom of not having to be anything, anyone, or anywhere. Are you smart enough to need no motto to live by? Are you resourceful enough to rely on nothing but the raw truth of the present moment? If so, you will thrive in the coming days.

O - k - a - y. Well, I guess this is not the time to get all organized on just how I am going to plan the return leg of the trip. I will just ride...

The ride from Port Townsend ...

... on to Forks. At the visitor center we saw Bella's red pickup truck and got a map of the local sites. We saw the high school, Bella's house, the Cullens house, the hospital, and the police station. The town of Forks is playing along with all of the tourists, so it's a fan-friendly place. There's a parking space at the hospital for Dr. Cullen. The bed and breakfast that is the Cullen's house has the Cullen name on the mailbox and a daily note from Esme at the ...

... tourists from as far away as Europe coming to see where these characters live their angst-filled heart-wrenching lives. Mostly young girls and their moms buying all sorts of memorabilia, with dads rolling their eyes and sighing in the background, pulling out their wallets. We are amazed, and shake our heads, refuse to pay extra for a Twilight-themed room in the motel, and go to sleep with half an eye open in case a vampire comes to visit...

... back up again afterward—a lot of work for a cold and windy night on the beach, but it would be really cool if we knew this was possible. I guess that will have to be a future trip! We were happy to finally get back to our cabin, rinse off our numb, blistered feet, and warm up with our decadent heater. Watched Swiss Family Robinson on the laptop (we feel very much like them) and enjoyed cheeseburgers and fresh ripe peaches for dinner. Had ...

... in the air was a perfect blend of sweet cedar and pine. The drive up the ridge was simply gorgeous and we encountered several black-tailed deer grazing by the sides of the roads. Unfortunately, just outside of the first stone tunnel we came to, the camera batteries went ka-poot, so I didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked. The visitor's center, at the top of the ...

... a big undertaking! Nevertheless, everything went really smoothly, the food was gorgeous, the kids played happily, and Meg introduced us to the joys of ''S'mores'' (not sure of the spelling here) which are toasted marshmallows and chocolate between Graham crackers - a big hit with the kids. It was a lovely evening sitting around the campfire, drinking lovely wine and chatting, before a good sleep. Sunday 18th May Alison: We got up ...

... actually appeared on maps. For our first national park, Olympia was hopefully a typical example of what the rest have to offer. Within minutes of leaving the visitors centre, still clutching our incredibly cheap annual pass we had passed from a crisp blue skied morn and a gritted road to Hurricane Ridge, a realm where snow chains and traction tyres ruled. The road is a snow corridor with snow walls as high as the car and the trees ...

... Graduate Programs at George Fox University Seminary. After that it only took a couple of e-mails and phone calls. We spent a wonderful evening with them, reminiscing about our time in Peru, and catching up on events in our lives over the past couple of decades. As we headed north through Washington on a so-called scenic route, we were remarking that one of the drawbacks of a climate that supports such lush and profuse horticultural wonders was that it was ...

... purchase a Recreation Permit to enter the Makah Reservation and visit the sites there. Neah Bay is close to the place (Ozette) where, in about 1970, erosion began to reveal a mudslide which buried a 500 year old Makah village. The mudslide preserved the whole village, homes, artifacts, even cedar clothing. I know of this place as it is a place my folks went in the early 1970s with the Vancouver Natural History (or was it Archeological) society to visit the ...