i didn't sleep well, but i slept and for that i'm grateful. my teeth felt a bit weird in the morning because the sleep guard moves them a little. well my bite was a bit off. no biggie small.
the day dawned glorious and sunny, ripe for adventure. speaking of adventure, heather brought her toaster. i plugged it in on the night stand between our 2 beds and toasted some cape seed cobbs bread, smeared some adams peanut butter on them and peeled an orange. voila. adventure day breakfast!
eventually heather unveiled her eyes and joined in the toasting adventure. i spent some time studying lehi's dream. then we did some mobility moves and justin's 'gentle jacks'.
heather had a shower and i got dressed. do you need to know? yes you do.
our first stop was hurricane ridge, a view point of all the mountains in olympic national park, but we soon found out it wasn't open yet. we kept driving up, hoping to still catch a glimpse of a beauty-view.and we found a bit of a one in a pull-out.
we got busy taking pics. i had an idea to take pics on the road.
then i was like, lets sit on the road! which, with considerable difficulty did. as i was fiddling with camera settings heather heard a car coming. i had time to scoot to the edge of the road but my shoe came off in the process. after the car passed with great effort i got on my feet, and we tried again. i set the timer and ran over to heather and plopped myself down just in time. the result was hilarious to me. h and i blurry and the asphalt in focus. this time h let me use her shoulder as a prop to get myself up. my heart was thump a thumping in my ears. laughing and out of breath i woefullly remarked to h how this used to be a lot easier.
after another view point we drove back down the mountain and headed west towards forks.
along the way we drove past crescent lake and stopped to take a look, met a duck who was collecting tolls and our cohort for the day. our cohort was the group of people we kept running into at each spot.
this arbutus tree had hundreds of carvings on it, much to heather's disgust.
eventually we made it to forks. heather almost gave me a heart attack when she saw the sign. i was driving across a bridge and i thought she was indicating that i was doing something dreadfully wrong. but no, it was the forks sign. lol.
obviously we stopped for pics.
then we stopped for gas and pee break and made our plan. we decided to go to the southernmost point on our bucket list, which was ruby beach, then go up to hoh rain forest and move up to the beaches by la push.
the view from the parking lot at ruby beach took our breath away.
it was a steep walk down. sometimes that's the price one must pay. here's my head haloed by the sun.
the beach had a lot of driftwood and weathered flat stones and pebbles. we set up on a log and ate a lunch of veggies, hummus and salt and vinegar pistachios.
then we explored. there was a haystack with a hole in the rock. this is an upclose of the cool texture of the rock.
heather had her moments with the wild pacific saying her good byes while i took pics and searched for rocks to pilfer
eventually we pulled ourselves away and headed back with full hearts
next the hoh rain forest. it felt like a long drive inland. then we waited in line to be let in.
when we got in we checked out the visitor centre. my fave facts were about my brothers from another mother--banana slugs. they eat poop and have over 2000 teeth. cool lil slim-os.
we took the short 'easy' path hall of mosses but almost died at the sharp incline to reach the path.
h, in h fashion, worried that the mosses were killing the trees. meanwhile foot was plum worn out. we took a lot of breaks. the loop seemed to go on forever but at the same time was gorgeous.
hoh rainforest kicked my butt but we emerged happy and tired. there was more i wanted to do but body said, nah, no thanks, and soul had to capitulate.
just after leaving the park we stopped at a cute roadside cafe called hard rain cafe. i got a grilled cheese w ham and heather got a tshirt.
then we drove home to our sketchy motel, and ate some bagged salad, a quarter of a burger each, and some smoked gouda.
and we chilled. and i snuggled into the covers before 10. a day lived the the fullest.
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