Good People! Greetings from Salt Creek Campground near Port Angeles, Washington. We have finally resumed our travels after a quick trip back to Boulder to bail water out of the basement. Words can’t express our gratitude to neighbors (The Hendricks!), friends and family for the help, support and good thoughts. We are so very lucky. We made our way from Seattle back to Port Townsend where we found Big Lil in excellent spirits and full of welcome back gifts.

A huge thank you to Stacy, Craig and Thor for everything. They served as Personal Physician, Hospitality Host, Big Lil Handyman, Tour Guide and Designated Object of Affection. I will let you all ponder who was who.
I have been struggling to process (no, Richie, not that kind of process) everything that has happened over the past few weeks especially in Boulder. I finally decided that rather than trying to blog about that experience, I would put that all away for a bit and just try to relax a bit and be in the moment. We were still a bit down because we were unable to meet up with Jacki and Bonnie as planned..love you chicks and hope you found some sunshine on the way home. The forecast had been for rain, which really is not much of surprise in this area, but we are finding that the weather rarely obeys the forecast and we have experienced surprisingly small amounts of precipitation which have had little impact on our fun as of yet.
We arrived at our amazing campground last night -thank you for the recommendation, Craig). We drove about two hours from Port Townsend and were weaving our way along a forest road when we drove right out to the edge of the ocean. There were probably eight other campers here so we had our pick of sites.

We selected one overlooking the ocean and from our front door you can see the San Juan Islands and Canada. We called it an early night mainly because someone over the past few days managed to share the gift of a nasty head cold with Kim.
We got up this am to sunshine despite rain on and off throughout the evening.

I love sleeping in the camper when the rain is falling. You can hear it ricochet off Big Lil’s metallic skin and it reminds me of the prolonged sound of BB’s hitting the floor. I love hearing everything going on outside while I am warm, safe and sleepy inside.
Our first order of business for the morning was to bring Basil Boy into the camper from the truck where we had inadvertently left him overnight in colder temperatures. During transport, Kim noticed that Basil Boy had a stow away from Stacy’s Port Townsend garden.

We extracted him from the underside of one of Basil Boy’s leaves and set him free in the grass by the ocean.
Because Kim was feeling punky, we decided to drive into Port Angeles to visit the Olympic National Park Visitor’s Center, go to the portion of the park called Sol Duc to enjoy the hot springs and call it an early day back at the campsite. Ah, the best laid plans. In the Visitor’s Center, Kim heard the Ranger say that Hurricane Ridge had and was expecting more snow and therefore, today was probably the only window of good weather available if anyone wanted to go up. Enough said, we enjoyed a scenic drive up, some cool tunnels and overlooks along with ever present National Park road construction crews. We got to the summit just in time for some snow

and clouds which obscured and thwarted my Ansell Adams intentions.

As much as I wish we would experience less rain, I love the way the clouds and fog combine to create some amazing views. Often we are driving below, through and above the clouds with the sun teasing us from various angles providing some striking visuals.
We toured the Visitor Center and enjoyed the obligatory National Park movie before heading down to soak in the springs. On the way back down we pulled over and got a wonderful view of the Dungeness Spit Wilderness Refuge.

We had hiked all the way out to the end of the spit (11 plus miles) a few days before with Stacy and Craig and it was amazing to see it from high above despite the haze.
We arrived at the Sol Duc portion of the park and quickly paid our $12, changed clothes and immersed ourselves in the sulphur hot springs.

I was convinced they would magically cure Kim’s cold. We soaked and people-watched for about an hour until we heard two of the ladies who were from the senior center saying their bus would be leaving in 30 minutes. Picturing the two of us fighting 12 “vintage” ladies in a hurry for the six nozzles in the community shower, we decided to exit the springs as quickly as we could. For the most part we were successful, but that did not keep Kim (who MUST have been delirious with fever) from befriending a number of the ladies during and after the group shower. At one point, I came in and she was standing in the middle of the room, surrounded by no less than four, very prim and proper, unclothed women chatting away like they were her long lost friends from back in the day. Kim Hodges -Friend to All.
We decided to grab dinner on the way home because the cook called in sick for the night. The only place between us and home was the Lake Crescent Lodge.

It had gotten great reviews and was absolutely adorable. It featured lots of little cabins for rent and a retro main building with windows throughout for views of the lake from every part of the lodge. It had a great feel to it. People throughout sitting by the fire, playing cards, reading and sipping wine. Peg and Bill, you should stay here for one night if Olympic National Park is on your list for your spring trip.
I got a few shots of the sunset over the lake;


and we headed on back to our campsite on the ocean. Love the sound of the water right outside our door. FYI, we are out of cell phone and WIFI range here and expect to be tomorrow in Mt. Rainer. Kim keeps asking me if we are EVER leaving Washington. Here’s hoping Kim feels a bit better tomorrow (although she was a trooper today) and that our good friend, Renee had a most wonderful birthday.