Seattle, WA - Olympic National Park, WA

After a second day spent in Seattle (wandering through the Arboretum, learning about the plant life of the area) and a morning of lovely tea, I ventured up to the Edwards-Kingston Ferry. There is something about being on a huge floating vessel - one big enough to carry TONS of boats - that makes you feel like a small child. I ran all around the ferry the entire time it was churning it's way across the water. And then proceeded to drive THROUGH water. The positive side to all the rain here is that the vehicle I am driving can be temporarily relieved of the excess weight it has been carrying in bug death. Rain or shine, I decided to go up to Hurricane Ridge once I arrived at the Olympic National Park. On a "shine" day you get incredible views of all the mountains. I've never been one to want the traditional experience though, I guess, so I got to see it on a rain day. Which means literally driving into clouds. Not the spectacular view that would have been nice but a really incredible experience in itself. Every once in a while a segment of bright blue sky would peek out of a hole in the white and startle me into realizing how far I could see from those heights. But there really is only so much you can see in the floating water droplets, so I moved on...

Drove US 101 down to Ruby Beach just in time for the sunset! I have technically been TO THE WEST COAST on this trip! I plunged my toes into the frigid evening tide waters and watched the sun slide, pastel and perfect, into the Pacific Ocean. The beach was amazing - huge dead trees lay scattered in various natural sculptures. The sand is dark and the rock formations all along the coast are like enormous drip castles. But not wanting to get caught sleeping on the beach (toooo coooold!) I drove to the Rain Forest Hostel I had passed on the way down. $10 a night plus 15min of morning chores. Not a bad deal at all! Dave checked me in - a traveler by his own right - and Jim, the house parent, explained how he started the hostel. It was a nice place to lay my head down for the night...