A Western Washington Road Trip...

With my Croatian adventure on the horizon, we felt more pressure than usual to make use of the few sunny weekends we had left together. One item on my summer 'bucket list' was to explore the Washington State coastline. I'd never been.
Glenn, being the camper that he is, was immediately keen. It didn't hurt that he'd read about a stretch of beach that was 'jeep friendly'. We've planned a couple of getaways together in the last year, and true to form, we left this one to the last minute. A few nights before leaving, we pulled out the map, and booked a spot at Cape Disappointment. This is a state park in the southwest corner of Washington. It's definitely 'car camping', but the proximity to pristine beaches, bike trails, and a lighthouse, made it a pretty cool area to camp in.

Here is our set-up on night one. This photo was taken just after I sprayed bug spray on my feet causing the deet in the spray to peel the colour off my sandals, and melt my nail polish. In an unfortunate order of operations, I then headed barefoot to the beach, where the black sand adhered to the mushy nail polish. Excellent. I was a hot mess (see photo below).

Due to a stormy winter, there were some great driftwood piles on many of the beaches. I loved it.

The start of our 'beach drive' began in a coastal tourist trap called Long Beach. We had some excellent made-to-order deli sandwiches at the Cottage bakery, and then headed out to the sand. Long Beach is one of the longest beaches in the world (but I didn't have to tell you that).

The trip was wonderful, as the drive was part of the adventure. We stopped for countless coffee breaks, ice cream, and of course to pose with giant Sitkas.

The highlight of the trip was pulling off at South Beach Campground just as a pod of whales was going by. We set up our site, and watched the whales for over an hour. You can pay for the site in a lockbox upon arrival, so it wasn't necessary for us to stop at the local ranger station to get a park pass (I'm a rule follower).

This little rascal ('Frederick') was bold. His best move was climbing right up on our picnic table in broad daylight when we were sitting right beside it. Clearly used to the campground life.

On Monday morning, we packed up and headed towards La Push. Ruby beach is a must see. It's a quick walk down from the parking lot, and absolutely gorgeous.

Not shown in our pictures is our picnic lunch at La Push, and our scenic drive up the 101, along Lake Cresent (beautiful). We drove through Port Angeles (another coffee break),  to Port Townsend where we caught the ferry to Whidbey Island. If we hadn't been pressed for time, I would have stopped for a photo op at Deception Pass. The Bridge was breathtaking.

We arrived home truly feeling like we'd taken advantage of the weekend. You know it was a good 'mini-break' when you spend the entire week wishing you were still there.

I have a few older entries to post. Somehow they were never posted and gathering dust as drafts. I'm thrilled to have this creative outlet in my life again, and have some exciting adventures on the horizon.

Looking forward to sharing...