Ocean Shores and On
Our first day we drove up Washington State Road 109, stopping at all the state parks and most of the beach access points along the way to Talohah, capital of the Quinault tribe, at the north end. After Labor Day, this area is deserted. We had the beaches mostly to ourselves. At the North Jetty in Ocean Shores, I spoke to a birder from South Carolina who is driving all around the country with his wife. He pointed out wandering tatters and black turnstones among the rocks. Another beach had a family flying kites which is a big pastime here. That was about all. Restaurants, fewer. This does not seem to be a tourist area.
On the south end is Oyhut Bay Seaside Village, a Destine-like planned village. We could buy a condo here if it weren’t so far away. Everyone looks like us, perhaps 10 years younger, but the same. Dinner at the Oyhut Bay Grill was delicious, blackened ahi for Grant, candied cranberry pecan turkey salad for me. We’d just had clam chowder at Bennett’s Fish Shack the night before, which was all Grant could manage with his upset tummy.
The next day we drove east to Lake Sylvia State Park outside of Monsanto. I’d gotten the sides of the lake mixed up, so after walking what I said was the moderate section on one side, we started up what we thought was the easy side. We did not see the cougar that signs warned had been sighted. I did find blackberries along the way. Of course I ate some, bears be damned. Unlike the first half, which was a gravel road along the lake, on the second side, we trudged up and down dirt trails along the hillside. But we did it, and were quite pleased with ourselves. However, that was it for the day.
Our first walk in the temperate rainforest, and I think the best, was the next day at the half mile loop at the Quinault entrance. Damp, lots of dripping moss on huge trees, ferns covering the forest floor, stream on the edge, exactly what I expected. And up and down enough to be interesting without exhausting us. Next stop was the lodge to look at Lake Quinault, then a .3 mile stroll to see the world’s largest Sitka spruce. We drove around the lake and on to Forks.
When I had been investigating activities in the area, a Twilight Tour was suggested. Sounded nice, riding along at sunset, perhaps seeing the moon rise. Oh, so wrong. Twilight referred to the vampire books by Stephanie Meyer which are set in the Forks area. We would have been fairly confused if I’d booked the tour. I was a sport and read the first book in the series to get a gist of what #ForeverTwilight meant. I was going to watch the first movie until I read that it wasn’t filmed in the area. The most vampire-wannabes we ran into were at the Three Rivers Resort, with many young adults dressed in gothic black. One young man even had red contacts, or perhaps he really was a vampire.
We’d been warned that traffic backed up at the Hoh Valley entrance to Olympic National Park and to be there no later than 9:00 AM. To that end, we were eating breakfast at the In Place by 6:30, eavesdropping on crusty locals, one who complained about tourists. If I were to return to the area, I’d have a bunch of bumperstickers printed “and eco tourism” so I could slap one on every sign that says, “This town is supported by timber dollars.”
We were parked and out of our car by 9:10, and had the Hall of Moss trail mostly to ourselves. Dry and dusty, it wasn’t nearly as nice as the Lake Quinault trail. Probably should be here in late spring. The Spruce Trail was the same, with the ferns next to the trail all covered with dust.
That afternoon, we drove to La Push, another vampire book location, and ate lunch at the Riverside Grill, salmon on iceberg lettuce for me, fried cod for Grant. All the customers were old white retirees like us, unless they are secret vampires.
As long as we were this far, we decided to drive to Cape Flattey and walk to the beach, the most northwest place in the continental US. On the Makah tribal reservation, the trail through the forest is beautifully maintained, with enough benches at the steep places to let us recover from each uphill section. Lunch of fry bread tacos at Pat’s Place: basically a huge unsweetened doughnut with lots of sautéed hamburger, iceberg lettuce, grated cheddar cheese, and tomatoes. We got one supreme and one regular, sharing the sour cream. Grant ate the onions and jalapeños. We should have shared one, but we didn’t. Slow learners.
A stop at the museum to see Ozetti artifacts from a coastal village uncovered by a storm in 1970 and carefully dug up for the next 10 years. The village had been inundated in a mudslide approximately 500 years ago.These were preEuropean contact so a big deal. I was particularly intrigued by the recreated longhouse that used 20’+ long planks only 1/2” to 3/4” thick. Impressive that the people could create them using stone tools. Everything was made from wood or other plant material. No ceramics. Beautiful exhibit but needs better labeling and explanations. For example, why did the dig stop in 1981? Another storm?
On to Port Angeles, and our vacation rental by owner, VRBO, Chez ZigZag, a two bedroom apartment in downtown. At the hosts’ suggestion, we ate dinner at Sabai Thai, our best meal of the trip. I had the special, khao soi, a chicken curry with both boiled and fried noodles. I definitely will try that again. Grant had pnkpow pork, which he slurped down. The next morning, his tummy was back to subpar, so I didn’t have to share my raspberry and blackberry donuts from Sashquash Donuts.
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