5 September 2019 Local Treats

David worked in the morning and early afternoon. Leslie went to another Walmart hairdresser and once again was disappointed with the results. The color was good but they took too much hair off when they trimmed. Never mind…it grows back. In the afternoon, we changed out the window on the living room slide with the new one sent by New Horizons. It went in pretty easily, but Leslie almost took a tumble climbing up the ladder to hold the window in place while David screwed it in from the inside. The window is held in place by compression between the outer frame and inner frame. It’s not screwed into the wall like windows in sticks and bricks. In the evening we joined David’s cousins Jeff and Deborah for dinner at their favorite restaurant in Sequim where they own a townhouse. The restaurant uses only ingredients from the local farms. It was excellent! Thank-you Jeff and Deborah for a delicious dinner!

4 September 2019 Corner of the Lower 48

We decided we needed to visit this corner of the lower 48 states since we would be visiting the opposite corner of the country in March next year. So we drove to Cape Flattery on the Makah Indian Reservation, which is the furthest northwest corner of the lower 48 states. We have been to Homer Alaska, which is the furthest west you can drive on the American Continent when we did our Alaska Cruise a few years ago. Cape Flattery is not the most western point on the Lower 48 states, that is a few miles south of Cape Flattery, nor is it the furthest point north, that is in Maine, but it is the most Northwestern point. The trail down to the point of the Cape is wet, slippery and steep in places, but the views at the end are beautiful. We even took Etta with us! It’s been a while since we’ve been able to include her on hikes.  We had to stop at the Reservation Museum to pick up a Recreation Pass to be able to drive to the Cape and hike the trail, but the nominal fee ($10) was worth the views! We then went to dinner at LDs Woodfired Grill for a dinner that was excellent. Our first good seafood since we arrived on the peninsula. 

2 September 2019 Hoh Rain Forest

Once again the weather forecast was for rain in the morning as we headed out for the west side of the park. It was a two hour drive to the Hoh Rain Forest visitor center. We checked out the exhibits and checked with the rangers on the trail conditions. We decided to hike the Hoh River Trail to the first set of waterfalls. The hike through the old growth trees, hanging moss (6.1 miles, 220 ft of elevation gain, 1507 calories burned) was humid! But it was a rain forest, so it was supposed to be! The first 2.5 miles were fairly flat but the next .5 miles was some steep up and down. We made it to the first waterfall in quick time. There was a bridge over the stream, but the really big drop was higher up in the forest and there was no trail to climb up to it. We decided to go on up to the second waterfall indicated on the All Trails map. That was only .2 miles further, but it was more of a babbling brook than a waterfall. The trees were massive and all of them were covered with moss and lichens. The ground was covered with ferns. Even here, the trees were starting to change colors. The reds and yellows contrasted with the deep greens. We came across some elk poop on the trail but did not see any critters beyond a squirrel. We have become quite the northwest hikers. We can tell elk poop, from deer poop and bear poop! We can even tell the difference between black bear poop and grizzly bear poop! Black bear poop has seeds and berries in it. Grizzly bear poop has those little bells they sell the tourists to wear to scare the bears away!

Its Mossey

Waterfall #1

David on the bridge by waterfall #1

Colors are changing already!

1 September 2019 Rialto Beach

We checked the weather when we got up in the morning. The prediction for the coast was for rain in the morning but clearing in the early afternoon. So we decided to chance it. We reviewed the various beaches and decided to go to Rialto Beach. The drive over to the beach was an hour and a half. When we pulled into the parking lot it was pouring rain. After finding a parking spot big enough for the Behemoth, we sat back and watched the rain pour down for 30 minutes. People were still walking out to the beach in raincoats or under umbrellas and coming back soaked. After about a half hour the rain began to slack off and eventually stopped. We climbed out and walked down to the beach through massive tree trunks piled up on the shore to our first view of the Pacific Ocean. Stunning! We walked onto the beach and just soaked up the view. It was still misty and the clouds were hanging low. We could see islands and rocks sticking out from the sea, waves crashing on the shore, sea gulls flying overhead. We decided to walk down the beach to the north. It was captivating. Before we knew it, 2 miles had cruised by and we came to a point where the in coming tide made going any farther a wet proposition. We misjudged how fast the tide was coming in and getting back became a dodge game with the waves and the piles of tree trunks on the shore.  We were certainly surprised by a couple of waves. So we can definitely say we dipped our toes into the Pacific Ocean. We were soaked from the knees down. Rialto Beach is a very special place. Critter Sighting: We saw a Sea Otter and lots of Loons from the beach. On the way back, we spotted several deer on the road out and some elk as we got close to the RV park.

31 August 2019 Lake Crescent Area

After assessing Etta in the morning, we decided we could get away for a short hike or two. We did not want to leave her alone too long. So we headed to the Lake Crescent area of Olympic NP. We had several people tell us we needed to visit the area. So we checked out our options and picked out a couple of short hikes to waterfalls that looked good. Our first stop was Madison Falls. It’s a very short (.3 miles, 46 feet of elevation gain, 73 calories burned) hike off the Hot Springs Road. It’s a pleasant stroll through old growth trees to a pleasant little waterfall. Our next hike was the Marymere Falls Trail (2.5 miles, 387 feet of elevation gain, 511 calories burned), which starts out by the Storm King ranger Station. It too was a pleasant hike until the last quarter mile where it turned into a steep slippery climb to the waterfall overlook. On the way back, we took the side trail to the Lake Crescent Lodge where we stopped for a couple of brews on the porch overlooking Lake Crescent. Beautiful view, good people watching and good beer! We were reluctant to leave! But knew we had to get back to check on Etta (She was just fine). 

Madison Falls

Marymere Falls

Crescent Lake

Crescent Lake Lodge

30 August 2019 Teeth and Toilets

Leslie got up early to take Etta in for her teeth cleaning. We already suspected she would have to have one tooth extracted. The poor dog is going to be gumming her food pretty soon. After Leslie returned, we went out to the Fairmont restaurant for breakfast. As soon as we walked in and saw all the single old guys sitting around the food bar, we knew it was going to be a good breakfast. And it was. After breakfast, David pulled the toilet out and replaced the broken water valve (Stinky job). So the electric toilet is back in full operation again. 

Later in the afternoon, we went and picked up Etta ($813 for the teeth cleaning and oral surgery). She had an upper back tooth extracted that was cracked, leaving her with only one back tooth between both sides. She was excited to leave but was pretty wobbly and out of it. So we kept a close eye on her the rest of the evening.

29 August 2019 Busy Day

David worked in the morning and early afternoon. Then he took the Behemoth to get the oil changed. Leslie heard back from the vet. Etta’s tests showed signs of Cushing’s Disease but a $450 test would be required to verify it for certain after the $354 in tests we had already paid for. The treatment would involve expensive monthly tests and drugs; this is not reasonable for our lifestyle.  It currently is not impacting her quality of life. So we decided to continue observing her for now. We arranged for her to get her teeth cleaned in the morning. The part for the toilet repair came today as well, so we will work on that tomorrow.