Last month, we packed our bags and took a flight to Seattle, WA for an almost week-long Pacific Northwest extravaganza. We met up with our friend Vincent (a citizen of Gloomville), who went to good old ACS way back when, and who is an Admin at the Unofficial ACS Alumni Forum, and he had thoughtfully planned an itinerary for us. We arrived in the evening and Vincent took us out to a lovely dinner (but we didn’t take any pictures because we were so out of it from the flight that I forgot to take pictures). We checked in to our hotel and Vincent said goodbye, but he would be back early the next morning for the first thing on our Pacific Northwest itinerary was to go to the Olympic Peninsula for a couple of days.
This means an early morning ferry ride on a weekday (to escape the huge summer crowds). Thanks to Vincent’s excellent planning, we didn’t even have to wait to get on!
[[image:pacnw01.jpg:Edmonds Ferry Terminal:center:0]]
Here are a bunch of pictures taken during the ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston across Puget Sound. Don’t play play, this ferry is a wi-fi hotspot! I guess people commute to and from work via this ferry and need to be able to check emails and stuff?
[[image:pacnw02.jpg:Driving onto the uncrowded ferry:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw03.jpg:Huge enclosed area for people to sit in:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw04.jpg:Vin and Vincent:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw05.jpg:Vin and me:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw07.jpg:Vincent enjoying the fresh Puget Sound air:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw06.jpg:The Spokane:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw08.jpg:Flag billowing:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw09.jpg:Spokane’s wake:center:0]]
We got to Kingston on the Olympic Peninsula in about 30 minutes. Then off on our journey we went! Our first stop is Crescent Lake. It’s a beautiful glacier formed lake, and one day we’ll come back and rent a cabin by the lake and hang out, kayaking and fishing.
[[image:pacnw10.jpg:Vin and me at Crescent Lake:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw11.jpg:Admins say- Want to get banned, ah???:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw12.jpg:Our rental car:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw13.jpg:Gorgeous scenery:center:0]]
The lake was just gorgeous and peaceful and serene. But see all the clouds? Mr Weatherman called for rain today! We drove on a couple hours until we got to Forks, WA which is where we would spend the night.
[[image:pacnw14.jpg:Forks Motel:center:0]]
Unfortunately, the skies clouded over and it rained for a lot of our drive. When we got to Forks, we decided to have lunch first to see if the rain would stop. We contemplated changing our plans (which was to go to the Hoh Rainforest for some short hikes), but Mr Weatherman was unkind and predicted even more rain the next day. So we decided to put on our raingear and go hiking in the rain in the rainforest. Seems appropriate, no? Temperate rainforest, here we come!
[[image:pacnw15.jpg:Looking up into a tall mossy pine:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw18.jpg:Beautiful fallen tree:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw26.jpg:Want to play hide and seek?:center:0]]
Here’s Vincent in his rain poncho!
[[image:pacnw16.jpg:Oi, whatchu looking at?:center:0]]
First we took the Hall of Mosses trail. Look at this club moss that just completely covers the trees and trails down so long!
[[image:pacnw17.jpg:Mossy branch over a creek:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw21.jpg:More mossy trees:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw22.jpg:Can you believe the mossiness?:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw24.jpg:Lagi moss:center:0]]
I kept expecting the trees to move and talk to me. The moss gives them such an otherworldly feel. These trees are pretty old and the forest is a national forest so there’s no logging here. The trees have to be here a long time in order for the moss to grow so thickly and hang down like that. It’s like impressionists came and painted these trees with moss! We then took a second trail that took us by the Hoh River.
Here we are in the rainforest in the rain:
[[image:pacnw19.jpg:Vin and me in our raingear:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw20.jpg:Vin and Vincent with moss hanging behind them:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw23.jpg:Vincent’s camwhoring!!:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw25.jpg:I feel small:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw27.jpg:Jumping to reach a fallen tree:center:0]]
[[image:pacnw28.jpg:Vin likes to put his height in perspective:center:0]]
So let’s say sayonara to the rainforest and head on back to the hotel to change. The raingear helped a lot, even though it was raining pretty hard. But my jeans were pretty much soaking wet. Luckily I wore waterproof shoes so at least my feet weren’t cold and wet.
[[image:pacnw29.jpg:Bye Rainforest!:center:0]]
Photostitching attempts:
[[image:pacnwst01.jpg:Crescent Lake:center:0]]
[[image:pacnwst02.jpg:Ferry at Edmonds:center:0]]
