Falling Water and Frozen Water in Washington

We left the coast in a constant drizzle and reached our inland destination bathed in spectacular weather.

We had lunch at Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park.  What a beautiful glacial lake with water nearly every shade of aqua that you can imagine.

Our luncheon parking spot made for a great jumping off point to hike the trail to Marymere Falls.  The scenery and plant life was somewhat similar to what we had been experiencing on our hikes in Oregon although it was much drier.

The size of some of the trees brought back memories of our time in the California Redwoods.

                                Marymere Falls

                               Marymere Creek

Following our stint at the lake and falls we headed into Port Angeles to roost for the night.  First things first, we headed to the library for a bit of internet.  ‘Last Call’ was announced followed by (unintelligible speech) followed by ‘So, we will close for a half hour to set up before opening again.’  Huh?  As we were exiting we noticed that set up included a stage and musical instruments of the electronic (non-library-esque) variety.  It appears that the Friends of the Library were hosting a concert and we were invited.  Well, everyone that wanted to come was invited but we sure felt special to have stumbled onto it.  So, we went out to the parking lot to eat dinner and then proceeded back to the library where it was standing room only for the Chamber Pop Band called Hey Marseilles.

      Check out their stuff on the Tube named You.

What a great time we had.  Seriously, how often do you get the opportunity to break literally every library rule in the book?! 

The next day we visited with family friend of Nicole’s.  Lois and Nicole spent several years writing (yes, pen and paper, envelopes and stamps, old school) letters back and forth.  They’ve forged a neat friendship and now that Lois is 49 (flip that!) Nicole was thrilled to get a chance to visit her again.

Behind them you see the view from Lois’ front yard of the mountains of Olympic National Park.  We were too busy enjoying our visit and her backyard view of the North Cascades, Mt. Baker, the Port Angeles harbor, Victoria and the Strait of Juan de Fuca to take a photo of the bald eagles that flew within 20 feet of her ‘wall of glass’.  Perhaps you can picture it.

On one of our days in town we took a trip up to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic NP.  The weather was spectacular and the views equally so.

                                                        Mountain Side View

                           We’d say the snow was a little deep.

                                                      Harbor Side View.

                                    Whiskey Jack a.k.a Gray Jay


                                                Snowsquatch

                                                    More beautiful views.

               We think we’ll hang around these parts for a while. They’re quite nice.