A New Extreme

I like the fringes. I've been to the far northeast (W. Quoddy Pt. Maine). I've been to the far south points of the US (Key West FL, and Ka Lae HI. I've been to the Cape of Good Hope (Africa). Now I can add the most northwestern point of the contiguous US, Point Flattery, WA.


Last week we took a couple days off of chores around the homestead. With a clear forecast for the WA coast, we headed to the Olympic Peninsula, and stopped for the night at South Beach, an Olympic National Park campground about 35 miles south of Forks. Flush toilets but no potable water. Hand sanitizer dispenser conveniently mounted on the bathroom door. No showers. Alina was NOT happy about that. By the second night, neither was I. Note to self, no more than two nights at campgrounds with no showers. We ladies like showers. And even more importantly, we like our menfolk to have them. And I won't mention salty dogs.

But, it was a peaceful, beautiful, clear day at the coast. No wind. This was the view from our site.


We had a big picnic table, and a fire ring.


Cooked us up some New Braunfels smoked sausages for dinner, with a big salad and a bottle of wine. And contemplated the meaning of life.


The short trail to the water was right next to our site. You had to climb over some big wood to get to the beach. That is not a rock to the left, it's a LOG!

Remember, Beach Logs Kill.

As the sun went down, the moon came up.

The sunset was spectacular.

Pictures don't come close to how beautiful it was.


Thursday morning, after the sun opened all the buttercups in front of the tent, we set out for Forks, where we picked up info on how to get to our desination. The Chamber of Commerce info place was full of tween Twilight fans and their parents, looking for maps to sites described in the books. I've never read them. No one was going where we were going. Whew.


We passed through Neah Bay and picked up our pass to use the Makah tribe roads and land. The parking lot at the trailhead was pretty empty. We headed out through the thick woods, and the path turned to boardwalk.


At the end of the trail there were several observation decks to fully appreciate the view.

As we stood on the point, a bald eagle flew by us. That's Victoria Island, Canada in the background. You can't see Russia from here.


As we turned to head back, a mob of 200 eighth graders and their teachers on an end of year field trip from Port Angeles descended on the decks. Five busloads. We high tailed it back up to the car to get out ahead of the bus parade. I made Lloyd stop in Sekiu so I could get a picture of Rosie. I had to. She reminded me of the giant shrimp just across the Brazos River in Richmond. I thought Susan would get a kick out of Rosie.

Rosie's got a great view.

So then it was back to the campground for dinner (chicken with Trader Joe's Green Thai Chili sauce, jasmine rice, and salad, oh, and another bottle of wine). A mighty wind came up and I thought we were in for a rough night, but it stopped after an hour or so. We were on the edge of a front that blasted through Portland and the Gorge all night. I'm not sure the camper would have held up, so it was good that we were spared.

Four hours home on Friday to the shower. Alina beat everyone to it. And loved every second.