See Ya Canada...enjoy our bikes

We got up early, walked down to the pier, shot some pictures, and stopped on the way back for a really tasty egg, bacon, and cheese breakfast sandwich at a local deli. Of course we also had to stop at Starbuck’s for our morning drinks.
After breakfast we drove to a town called, “Sookie”, to hike along the shoreline and possibly get some nice ocean shots. We found a 3 mile hike complete with cedar groves, big ferns, moss covered trees, and views of the ocean. After the hike we drove to the Bouchart Gardens but changed our mind about going in because it was getting late. We turned around in the parking lot and headed back to Sydney. Driving back down the road we had just been on, we came up on a huge auto accident. We’re not sure how it happened but there were multiple cars, trucks, and buses involved and one truck was completely upside down and people were talking to someone trapped inside. There were no police, firemen, or ambulances there yet so we figured it must have just happened!
We got back to Sidney and walked down the quiet, quaint street looking for a place to eat. After checking out quite a few menus we settled on a Thai restaurant. Now you might think that we’ve gotten along extremely well on our trip, but like Ricky & Lucy, we’ve had our ups and downs and this meal was definitely one of our “downs”. Luckily the food was incredibly fresh and delicious and saved us from a serious argument. We didn’t talk much the rest of the night, but after being together 24/7 for the last 11 days, it was understandable that we needed a break from “couplehood”. Tonight, we didn’t mind that we were sleeping Ricky & Lucy style.

The morning brought a better mood for both of us and we checked out after visiting Starbuck’s and the deli with the delicious breakfast sandwiches one more time.
We visited Bouchart Gardens, happy we hadn’t missed it, as the grounds are amazingly breathtaking and gorgeous. We could have taken thousands of pictures but tried to control ourselves because we had to be at the ferry by 1:30pm in order to catch the 3:00pm boat back to Port Angeles, Washington. We were now veteran ferry users and knew exactly what we needed to do to board the boat. Kevin even enjoyed some dog tips from a seasoned dog training professional while we waited in line. “Better watch out Sophie and Zoe; Kevin’s got some new tricks up his sleeve when we return”.
The boat ride took about 90 minutes and once again we shot more pictures. We were very happy to set foot on American soil. There really is “no place like home”! The wind was blowing really hard on deck, which gave me the chance to try out some new hairdos…check out my latest Sanjaya hairdo.

We were pretty tired and decided not to drive too far down the coast before stopping for the night. We looked for a campsite and found a state park about 30 miles outside Port Angeles. The campground was located on the western shore of Cresent Lake. It took a while to decide on a site but we finally chose one and setup camp. I had to make sure we were in close proximity to a restroom, and made Kevin find the trail to it before agreeing to stay at the site he liked. Poor Kevin! The things he puts up with. Kevin cooked dinner, and I sprayed us with mosquito repellent as the bugs were as thick as thieves. After dinner we went on a short hike to shoot some night photos of the lake and then turned in around 10pm. It rained off and on during the night—a quiet, peaceful rain—and we woke early, packed up, and got back on the road. We had breakfast in Forks, Washington at their local café. Forks is a small logging town on the western edge of Olympic National Park and there were quite a few locals eating breakfast with us as well. For $8 bucks you get two eggs, hash browns, toast, and about half a pound of bacon…Kevin loved it! As we left the café, the rain was coming down in sheets. We were a bit disappointed because we wanted to start taking some photos of the Washington coast and with the bad weather we didn’t know if we would get the chance. We headed out to an Indian Reservation called La Push where there was a chance we’d get to photograph sea stacks and arches along the ocean, but it was raining so hard we decided to drive on. Farther down highway 101 we stopped at Ruby Beach and saw some excellent photo opportunities that we couldn’t pass up. We wrapped the camera up in a towel, put it the case, and carried it down the trail to the beach. My job became chief assistant to the head photographer. We worked great as a team and Kevin was able to shoot numerous pictures without getting the lens wet. Kevin carried our other camera in his backpack under his jacket and looked like the hunchback of Notre’ Dame walking down the path. There were a lot of tourists like us, bent on getting a picture of this amazing coastline in spite of the poor weather. One man on the beach was wearing a camouflage kilt and had no jacket on. He looked like a woman wearing a skirt (a very ugly woman). We got our photos and moved on. The rain was pouring down and so we decided to check out “Lake Quinault Lodge”. We had read that Theodore Roosevelt stayed at this lodge many years ago so we thought it was worth a side trip. The place overlooks a beautiful lake and looks a lot like the Ahwahnee Hotel in Yosemite, but costs a heck of a lot less to stay at. Lucky for us they still had rooms available and we booked it immediately. The AAA card we have brought the price down to a reasonable rate. It’s been raining all day and the hike we planned had to be curtailed, but we’ve enjoyed spending the day catching up on our blog in a nice warm lodge, filled with overstuffed leather chairs and couches, and a large stone fireplace with a crackling fire. There is an entire wall of window panes that lets you look out to the lake and watch the water. We would love to return to this lodge one day for a family vacation. We are really glad we stopped here and especially glad we decided to stay. Tomorrow we plan to make it to the Oregon coast.