Last Friday we jumped in to the 4 wheel drive with Bruce, Deb and Bella the dog and headed up to the Olympic Peninsula. The Olympic Peninsula is the large arm of land in western Washington state that lies across the Puget Sound from Seattle. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the east by Puget Sound and the Hood Canal. We took the route from Seattle; down through Tacoma and Olympia and across where we passed through Aberdeen, where Kurt Cobain came from and of which I can say is one of the most miserable towns I have ever been through; he had plenty of inspiration for Nirvana’s songs.
Map of Olympic Peninsula.
From there we headed up the 101 where we drove on to the beach at dusk to join lots of completely mad people busily digging fro razor clams. Bruce had all his gear with him, pulled on his waders and grabbed his net and shovel and went out to join them. Within a short time he had successfully found and dug deep to retrieve 13 clams. You have to have a license to go clamming here and you are limited to taking only 15 per day.
Deb wrapped up warm, it was bloody cold!
Bruce digs for clams whilst Dave gets dragged in to the sea wearing his canvas trainers by Bella the dog. Dave was really impressed as you can imagine.
From crazy clamming we drove off the beach and 30 minutes up to Moclips to stay at the Gullwing Inn, a small 3 apartment motel based on Moclips Beach. Bruce cleaned and cut the clams and Deb cooked them up in our kitchen for a late dinner before we all bedded down for the night in flannelet sheets like your Grannie used to put on your bed when you were a kid. The Gullwing Inn is a real find – we loved it.
Driftwood on Moclips Beach the next morning when the sun was shining brightly.
Bruce and Deb compare fossilised clams and driftwood finds.
Midday Saturday we left Moclips and drove higher up the western coast of the peninsula driving inland through the Olympic National Forest to Lake Crescent where we stopped off to take in some more stunning scenery and wander through a forest of moss covered creepy looking trees. We saw small black squirrels who chirped at us and several deer as well as a lot of bird life. We drove across to Port Angeles and instead of stopping over went on to Sequim where we visited the 3 Crabs restaurant and were serenaded by an elderly couple called Jany and Hugh! They go to the restaurant every other week for dinner and gave us an impromptu performance of some old show songs from their dinner table before Hugh went outside to feed his favourite seagull who waits patiently for him every week. After a hearty crab based meal and unexpected free entertainment from the regulars; we drove to Kingston at around 8pm and caught a ferry back to Seattle. No photos as I didn’t even realise we had left port and were actually moving – it was that quiet! But we did spend the 20 minute journey racking our brains for the name of the group who sang ‘In the Year 2525’ which I had been humming most of the weekend. We later worked it out – but do any of you guys remember the song and the artist(s)?
Map of Olympic Peninsula.
From there we headed up the 101 where we drove on to the beach at dusk to join lots of completely mad people busily digging fro razor clams. Bruce had all his gear with him, pulled on his waders and grabbed his net and shovel and went out to join them. Within a short time he had successfully found and dug deep to retrieve 13 clams. You have to have a license to go clamming here and you are limited to taking only 15 per day.
Deb wrapped up warm, it was bloody cold!
Bruce digs for clams whilst Dave gets dragged in to the sea wearing his canvas trainers by Bella the dog. Dave was really impressed as you can imagine.
From crazy clamming we drove off the beach and 30 minutes up to Moclips to stay at the Gullwing Inn, a small 3 apartment motel based on Moclips Beach. Bruce cleaned and cut the clams and Deb cooked them up in our kitchen for a late dinner before we all bedded down for the night in flannelet sheets like your Grannie used to put on your bed when you were a kid. The Gullwing Inn is a real find – we loved it.
Driftwood on Moclips Beach the next morning when the sun was shining brightly.
Bruce and Deb compare fossilised clams and driftwood finds.
I found this piece of driftwood – a full tree, a little too big to take home for a garden ornament.
Moclips Beach houses.
Quirky driftwood.
We thought these must be remnants of an old dock or landing jetty as the sea washes in here and gets deep when the tide is in; but apparently these timbers are the remains of a warehouse.
Driftwood sculptured by the sand.
Driftwood sculptured by the sand.
Midday Saturday we left Moclips and drove higher up the western coast of the peninsula driving inland through the Olympic National Forest to Lake Crescent where we stopped off to take in some more stunning scenery and wander through a forest of moss covered creepy looking trees. We saw small black squirrels who chirped at us and several deer as well as a lot of bird life. We drove across to Port Angeles and instead of stopping over went on to Sequim where we visited the 3 Crabs restaurant and were serenaded by an elderly couple called Jany and Hugh! They go to the restaurant every other week for dinner and gave us an impromptu performance of some old show songs from their dinner table before Hugh went outside to feed his favourite seagull who waits patiently for him every week. After a hearty crab based meal and unexpected free entertainment from the regulars; we drove to Kingston at around 8pm and caught a ferry back to Seattle. No photos as I didn’t even realise we had left port and were actually moving – it was that quiet! But we did spend the 20 minute journey racking our brains for the name of the group who sang ‘In the Year 2525’ which I had been humming most of the weekend. We later worked it out – but do any of you guys remember the song and the artist(s)?
The Travel Diarist 