The Olympic Peninsula
At first light, the Sea Lion crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca and quietly slid into the slip at the Makah village of Neah Bay. On the dock, a lone male California sea lion stood watch as we disembarked and made our way to the wonderful Makah Museum just up the road. We were honored that Edie, one of the Makah elders, escorted us through the amazing exhibit featuring five hundred year-old artifacts from an excavation in Ozette, a nearby town that had been perfectly preserved in a mudslide. The museum also houses several beautiful ocean going cedar canoes and a remarkable longhouse lovingly hand built in the old way.
Our adventurous group continued south by coach to Olympic National Park, where we entered the Hoh River watershed and the ancient realm of the rainforest giants. After a luxurious picnic lunch, we walked the park trails among huge Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, and western hemlocks, and happily watched two river otters playing near a stream. These breathtaking trees were draped with mosses and decorated with licorice ferns and vine maples. Though we could imagine them all moist and dripping with beautiful reflective raindrops, we had to content ourselves with blue skies and temperatures in the 70’s. Oh well.
The coastal odyssey next stopped at Kalaloch to enjoy a bit of the sunny weather at the beach. A short walk brought us to an endless sand beach covered with stacks of driftwood and hoards of gulls. The afternoon was windless and very blue while the ocean swells broke ever-so-gently on the shore.
The trip ended in Westport, halfway down the Washington coast, with a fine dinner in a local waterfront restaurant. Just as we sat down to our evening repast, the faithful Sea Lion sailed past the breakwater and tied up in the nearby port. What a fine adventure indeed!
At first light, the Sea Lion crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca and quietly slid into the slip at the Makah village of Neah Bay. On the dock, a lone male California sea lion stood watch as we disembarked and made our way to the wonderful Makah Museum just up the road. We were honored that Edie, one of the Makah elders, escorted us through the amazing exhibit featuring five hundred year-old artifacts from an excavation in Ozette, a nearby town that had been perfectly preserved in a mudslide. The museum also houses several beautiful ocean going cedar canoes and a remarkable longhouse lovingly hand built in the old way.
Our adventurous group continued south by coach to Olympic National Park, where we entered the Hoh River watershed and the ancient realm of the rainforest giants. After a luxurious picnic lunch, we walked the park trails among huge Sitka spruce, Douglas fir, and western hemlocks, and happily watched two river otters playing near a stream. These breathtaking trees were draped with mosses and decorated with licorice ferns and vine maples. Though we could imagine them all moist and dripping with beautiful reflective raindrops, we had to content ourselves with blue skies and temperatures in the 70’s. Oh well.
The coastal odyssey next stopped at Kalaloch to enjoy a bit of the sunny weather at the beach. A short walk brought us to an endless sand beach covered with stacks of driftwood and hoards of gulls. The afternoon was windless and very blue while the ocean swells broke ever-so-gently on the shore.
The trip ended in Westport, halfway down the Washington coast, with a fine dinner in a local waterfront restaurant. Just as we sat down to our evening repast, the faithful Sea Lion sailed past the breakwater and tied up in the nearby port. What a fine adventure indeed!
