Olympic rainforest vacation

TEMPERATE rainforest, that is, not a tropical rainforest (a fact that plagued me all through school).

Our family got to spend a week in the Seattle area this month. It was amazing! Both my husband and I grew up there and we both still have family in the area. We started out our trip with some camping out on the peninsula... in the actual rainforest. Guess what? It's rainy in the rainforest, even when you're camping there and camping in the rain isn't your favorite. (But it wasn't so bad - just a little muddy.)

I always say that Seattle is the opposite of Albuquerque. Well, the Olympic Rainforest is REALLY the opposite of Albuquerque! It was like being in another world entirely, especially for our kids, to whom a "forest" is an exciting thought. Giant slugs! Trees bigger than tall buildings! Green everywhere! Actual rain! We got some incredible beach time too, but I think that's a post for another day.

We went into the Hoh rainforest - just outside the Forks, WA area (yes it's true, we were in Forks on the very day Eclipse premiered, but that is another story. Or, sadly, it's not, because there were no Cullens to be seen in Forks).

Anyway - along the side of the road would be these signs:
"Big Spruce"
and you could turn off. Sure enough, that is a BIG spruce!


First of all, how do those phonebook pages stay dry?


We did actually see an elk, but no calf, and we weren't chased. Kind of disappointing after a sign like this.








The whole state is an Albuquerque photographer's dream!




When you're not used to running through mud, it can be slippery! I can only post this picture because 30 seconds later she was happily running through the mud again, after we wiped her face clean with some socks I'd had in my pocket. (Handy.) It was a true face-plant, and not the last of the trip either.


Think of the forts you could make if you lived here!


The sign here:
"Big Cedar Tree"


And to prove that we really were in Forks:

I remember when my grandpa used to get out his slide projector.... more slides, anyone? :) I'm calling it a night - catch me again next week?