A Drive-Through Rainforest

You would think, given the time of year and our location, we would have done some research into what happens to cars in sub-zero temperatures. Rather, we decided to be intrepid (intrepid, not stupid) travellers and learn by experience. And so when we awoke on our last morning in La Push to find our car covered in ice, we thought ourselves surely intelligent enough to deal with the weather (something which you'll note we've had plenty of success with thus far). After some serious scientific experimentation the only progress we'd made involved carving humourous yet appropriate song lyrics onto the side of the car.

Ice Ice Baby

It took us half an hour of idling the car, running the windscreen wipers and pouring slightly warmer water over the windscreen before finally feeling brave enough to run the window heaters – we’d been scared of shattering the glass – and leave the car park. Leaving the Olympic Peninsula was desperately sad for the both of us, and we hope to be back there before too many years. The sunrise as we drove out was nothing short of spectacular – the sky was blue, and the horizon held masses of fluffy white clouds. As the relatively warm waves broke on the sand they spawned an almighty mist, which rose and rose before drifting back out to the ocean, obscuring the Quileute needles in an other-worldly haze. Magnificent.

Five or six hours south, Portland, Oregon, awaited us, but we took a detour along the way. America is a country built around the automobile - drive-through coffee, Dunkin' Donuts, ATMs, and a rainforest. Specifically, the Quinault Rainforest, surrounding Lake Quinault. A couple of days earlier we'd gone out to Hoh rain forest, which was quite spectacular. But, we had to get out and walk. I mean, really. Apparently a lot of the locals prefer Quinault, because Americans don't like walking, and the loop around Lake Quinault allows you to drive through this particular rain forest.

Hoh Rainforest

Quinault Rainforest

The most incredible thing about both was the contrast between the lush green that covered every surface and the burnt orange fall leaves that were equally abundant. The wildlife was also easy to encounter - we haven't hit a deer yet, but it's not for a lack of trying. We also found a bald eagle, but it was eyeing us off with murderous intent, and so we didn't hang around too long.

Evil Eagle

We eventually made it to Portland, but not before doing a scenic loop of the inner-city freeways and bridges. Daniel insists that he simply liked one particular bridge enough that he wanted to drive over it not once, not twice, but three times. I've been letting him think I believe him.

La Push

After three luxurious nights in Sequim we headed round to the western coast of the Olympic peninsula, to a small community called La Push, on the Quileute Indian Reservation. It's a tiny community - only 370-odd people live on the Res according to Wikipedia - but it's home to big beaches, big forests and even bigger trees.

A Very Big Tree

The tree above, on which I am standing and in which Daniel is standing, is driftwood - it actually washed up on First Beach and has since been pushed further ashore by the tail-end of the Japanese Tsunami. The beaches are covered in trees of various shapes and sizes, which have washed up over the years and now sit together in a tangle at the high tide line. Some are byproducts of the logging industry that dominates the area and would have fallen off trucks or the like. Others, possibly including the behemoth above, would have simply fallen off the cliffs into the ocean, whether from the mainland or one of the many rugged islands that are dotted along the coastline.

Rialto Beach

Second beach

Second Beach

Sunset from our balcony

We stayed in a (brilliant) motel room at the Quileute Oceanside Resort and could actually see the giant tree on the beach from our balcony. Up close, it was covered in "Team Jacob" graffiti, because La Push, and First Beach itself, is where much of the Twilight series takes place. The Quileutes have embraced the phenomena with a sense of humour - at the entrance to the reservation there is a sign saying "Treaty Line - No Vampires Allowed Past This Point." However, they had a tourism industry well before Twilight and will continue to have one long after, simply because La Push is such a beautiful and magical place.

The same cannot be said for the nearest town, Forks, which is where most of the Twilight action takes place. It feels like a tough, no-nonsense little town, which makes the ‘Dazzled by Twilight’ shop and the Twilight tour buses seem even more out of place. I think it’s a fairly hard-up place – there’s at least two trailer parks and they’re truly dilapidated. There’s a nice small-town feel though, and the people seem friendly enough. In any case, the checkout girl at the grocery wanted to know what we were doing in America, and if we saw lots of Kangaroos back home.

The Teddy Bears Picnic

We went down to the woods today, and we sure got a big surprise.

Un-bear-ably beautiful (groan)

In truth, we went down to the drive-through Sequim Olympic Game Farm, and these incredible creatures were behind electrified fences. It was a complicated experience - the sense of amazed wonder at seeing them, especially up so close, competes with the acute awareness that we're not supposed to see them, let alone from only a few meters away. They're supposed to be rambling around the mountains and forests, hunting hikers, not voluntarily doing tricks for the bread tourists are allowed to throw to them. For, you see, many of the animals at the Farm are ex-entertainers.

 

The Kodiak bear above reminded me of my brother's childhood teddy bear and sauntered over when he saw us sitting in our car watching him. He was well aware we had bread and was, or so it seemed, performing small tricks in the hope of edible rewards. He would, for example, stand up on his hind legs or wave his hands in the air, one after the other. It actually broke my heart a little bit.

The native animals were certainly the standout, among them wolves, deer, elk and bison. For the most part, the animals were in large open encloses that we drove through - the predators were obviously kept separate - and they would rush the car windows, hoping for a share of bread.

The neighbourhood bison getting friendly with the car in front of us...

The neighbourhood bison getting friendly with us...

Baby Elk

Many of the Farm's tenants, however, were a long way from home; tigers, lions, zebras, and a herd of Tibetan yaks also call the farm home. 

A Tibetan Yak

One resident in particular was as far from home as us:

Emu

It was enough to make one just the tiniest bit homesick!

Things We Wish We'd Never Eaten #1: Voodoo Doughnuts

The inaugural edition of 'Things We Wish We'd Never Eaten' is dedicated to the Portland (Oregon) institution that is Voodoo Doughnut. I suspect this doughnuttery may, in fact, also be the only reason Daniel wanted so badly to visit Portland. He keeps mumbling something about an impressive bookstore, but I haven't seen one yet... So, onto business.

What goodness hides inside?

Froot Loops

Mini M&Ms

Daniel devouring a Maple Bacon

Ole' Dirty Bastard (Oreos, peanut butter etc)

The Voodoo (filled with jam)

So far I've had one bite of each and I'm not sure if I'll ever want to eat another doughnut. At the very least, there's something to be said for the delicious simplicity of an original glaze. Daniel, on the other hand, took to them with a different level of enthusiasm and now seems quite content.

Daniel post-VD

Til next time.

Lost Mountain Lodge

After being miserable bastards in Seattle, at least to begin with, a few days of relaxation and down time were sorely needed. We’d been eyeing off a place called Salish Lodge and Spa, east of Seattle, but it was too far out of our way. The problem was it sat on the edge of a waterfall and each room had a Jacuzzi bath with a view – how could we equal that? We found a suitable replacement in Sequim, to the north of the Olympic mountains, which seemed appropriate even though the cheapest room cost three times our nightly accommodation budget. Lost Mountain Lodge didn’t have a waterfall, but it was tucked out of the way, surrounded by forest and had a hot tub on the back porch which overlooked a whole lot of prettiness.

One view from the hot tub

Excuse the mess

It was just what we needed. Originally booked in for two nights, we organised a third upon arrival. This gave us two full days to relax as well as visit some of the local sights. It also allowed the time for an epic Monopoly battle which I, of course, won. This was, of course, followed by an equally epic tantrum from Daniel, who dislikes the fact I beat him at everything. The following picture is, sadly, a reconstruction – he threw the board across the room after I forced him to surrender.  

He should know that I even control his monopoly money

We were the only people in the Lodge the first night, and one of two couples the second and third. A chef comes in to make breakfast each morning - a continental spread of cereals and yoghurt, followed by three courses - a fruit course, a pastry course and a cooked course. Day 2 was the standout - a strawberry parfait, followed by an apple oat-bran muffin, followed by eggs benedict with smoked salmon, capers and asparagus. Needless to say we didn't have lunch once during our time in Sequim. And we really shouldn't have had dinner.

Daniel's Driving

I thought I'd had enough of the cheesy, alliterative post titles and was going to give you all a break from them. Then I changed my mind - you're stuck with them. For the next three months. 

I just want to backtrack for a minute and mention our travel day from Danvers, North Boston, to Seattle. At 0631 we were sat in our car, in the parking lot, pleased as punch. We were only one minute late, a new record by far, and according to our Tom Tom only thirty-five minutes away from the airport. If we arrived just after 0700 we'd have plenty of time to return the car and catch a shuttle to the terminal for our 0900 flight. All was good until we turned out of the car park and hit a wall of traffic - the fact that it was pitch black and pissing down with rain didn't help. After seventy-five minutes (and two trial separations and a near-divorce) we pulled into the car yard, jumped out into the rain and straight onto an empty shuttle bus which took us direct to our terminal. Crisis averted. Marriage counseling still necessary. The flight was then late off the tarmac so we arrived in Detroit with just enough time to make our connection. The plane was full of soldiers, most in uniform, which was kind of cool - it felt very American.

For the most part the driving is going well. I've got a few gray hairs now, but at least we returned the car in one piece. Some of the road rules over here are bizarre, mainly because we haven't yet figured them out. We still have no idea what to do at a 4-way stop-signed intersection. We just sit there looking like dumb tourists until someone waves us through or honks at us loudly enough. Our current car has California plates, so up in Washington that worked surprisingly well.

Not Our Hire Car (Boston)

Sleepless in Seattle

We actually were sleepless in Seattle, because we stayed Thursday and Friday nights, in a hostel, and at 0200 Saturday morning the rest of our floor decided to hold an impromptu party in the hallway. At the same time a group of people on the street below us were in the middle of a similarly raucous gathering. It's Halloween on Monday night, you see, and it's much more fun to have the parties over the weekend. On that note, we're a little sad because the hostel is having it's Halloween party tonight, but we'll be staying in Sequim (pronounced Sqwim) at a posh and secluded and Halloween-party-less lodge. [I've just read that out to Daniel and he looked at me with a grimace and said "we've kind of messed up, haven't we?" Technically, that's the PG-13 version of what he said.] Never mind. Our bedroom has a view of the Space Needle, which makes being awake in the middle of the night slightly more enjoyable.

Our room

The view from our room

The lack of sleep was a particularly annoying because we hit a wall when we got to Seattle - we'd been going pretty hard the last few days in New England and were also short on sleep. The stressful journey here didn't help either. As a result, I don't think we've given Seattle the respect it's due - it really is a wonderland. Pine trees everywhere, mountain vistas and lots and lots of water.

Seattle dot points:

• The mountain backdrop of the city is so beautiful, but because of the weather we've only seen bits and pieces of it. They're almost mirage-like, and you can't decide whether the shadowy silhouettes are merely a figment of your imagination.
• There's homeless people everywhere, and they're all holding comical begging signs about how they need money for beer and hookers - it's a little cliche to be honest. Nonetheless, their plight is quite clearly problematic.
• There are as many hairdressers as homeless people. Daniel finally got a much-needed haircut.
• The bus system is very strange. Sometimes you pay as you get on, sometimes as you get off... They run off cables like trams.