So much to see and do

We started the day with a bike ride to Breakfast. We ate breakfast at this really cute place in Port Angeles called the Oven Spoonful. When we got there I was a little worried because it seemed all quiches and pizzas with lots of cheese. The girl behind the counter was like what are you looking for when Deb told her I was Vegan she was like oh, for breakfast we have..... She was having a hard time coming up with something. I could tell that she was perplexed. She did say, we have a really good vegan sandwich for lunch and I was like ok, can I get that now? The answer was sure why not. The bread was really good and the sandwich was tomatoes, cucumbers, spring mix, hummus and avocados, I approved.

After breakfast we took a bike ride along the waterfront and I really enjoyed seeing more of the little city. It was really nice there and I was told by one of the ladies in a tea/coffee/massage shop (see below) we stopped at that it rarely gets below 30 degrees and almost never snows.

 I found some truly awesome handmade chocolate bars (at the afore mentioned shop). They didn't have milk listed as an ingredient, so I got a caramel and sea salt dark chocolate bar and a caffeine free chai tea soy latte. I was on cloud nine. We actually came back on the way out of town so I could buy one of each of the chocolate bars that they offer. I had asked the lady if they shipped the bars and she said no, I am pretty sure this was the only place that they sell the bars, so if you are ever in this area - GO to Renaissance and get you some cause you better believe that I will be hogging all of mine.

After that we went off to explore Olympia National Park. There was a waterfall right before the entrance to the park, so we went to check it out. Madison Creek Waterfall  was a really short walk and a nice waterfall.

Exploring Olympic was a lot of fun and during our hiking we came across a huge felled log with a giant C in it and at one of the park gift shops I found this really cute necklace that I fell in love with and had to buy.

There was a turn off for Maymere Falls along the way and I was shocked that Deborah even questioned the should we stop. I was a firm yes even though we had planned to eat dinner around 5-6 that night in hopes to move it up some since the night before it was almost 10 pm when we finished eating. But I was more than willing to push back food for a waterfall. I know you are shocked beyond belief, but pick yourself up off the floor and keep reading there is more. Here is a pic of the falls.

We went into Forks for Dinner. I was craving Mexican and right at the entrance to the city was a Mexican Restaurant. I ordered Shrimp fajitas (they had carrots in them).

It was kind of weird, but I love carrots so I went with it. I have had seafood 3 days in a row. It is so hard to pass up when you know it is fresh, and there have been very few options despite people telling me that eating here would be easy. I think it would have been in Seattle, but the only place we ate there was the Space Needle. Oh well that just means I need another trip to explore more and eat :)

After dinner we went to a few stores to try to find our traditional sweatshirt buy for the trip. It all started on the first trip in 2007, we got Yellowstone Sweatshirts and a few years ago when we were in Maine we got Bar Harbor zippered sweatshirts, so we decided that as a souvenir from this trip we needed Olympic National Park zippered hoodies. We looked, but there was really only one store open and the selection was more geared toward Twilight than the massive and beautiful park that was mere moments away. After that we drove down to Rialto Beach to try to capture the sunset. There was a lot of cloud cover, so there was not much to see except some massive pieces of driftwood.

 

It was really late by the time we finally settled in for the night (after 10:30). We tried to find lodging in Forks, but it was either booked up solid, ridiculously overpriced or the rooms only had one bed. So we kept looking. We drove towards the Hoh Rain Forest entrance thinking there would be something there, but there wasn't. We decided that we would go 8 miles past the entrance to the park and if nothing appeared, we would go back to Forks and spend a small fortune. Six miles past the entrance for the rainforest we see a sign that say lodging 1/4 mile. I was ecstatic. It was even better that it was a B&B and the rate was only $55 for the night. Deb was excited to get a full on home cooked breakfast and the young guy that checked us in assured me that they would be able to make some kind of arrangements for me too. So we settled into what was quite literally a room in someones home, not your typical B&B. The room was clean, but there was a dog and several cats about the property and in the common areas, so if you have pet allergies it is definitely not the place for you. Here is a picture of the house in the daylight. These were actually taken the next morning.

 Hope you will come back tomorrow for more of the adventure.