Lush Coast

Headed back down through Seattle and looped around to the Olympic Peninsula to stay in Port Ludlow.

Port Ludlow

We stayed at a park run by the city and it was very nice.

Port Ludlow campground

Tons of trees and felt very much like a small state park, but was right near the middle of town.  "Middle of town" meaning the one gas station, post office, Italian restaurant, and hair cutter in town.
It was a short drive to several things we wanted to see and the spot was perfect for our purposes.


The area felt like the rainforest meets the ocean.  I could feel the humidity, there was an abundance of greenery and every cliff looked down over the sound or the ocean.  It was very beautiful.  It was one of those places where the drives are really great.

Neighborhood in Port Ludlow. Houses are built down with one starting at the others roof level.

There is a really great trail system throughout Port Ludlow.  Not major hikes, but well maintained paths through the woods and down to the shore and up through neighborhoods.  One really great one was right off of the campground and led down to a beautiful stream.

If it had been warmer outside it would have been a perfect place to play in the water.

A drive to Port Townsend one day took us down a beautiful stretch near the water.  I knew the water was just off my right side no more than a half mile, and I passed signs for this or that "beach", but the tree tunnel was so thick that I could have been in the middle of the woods according to my surroundings.
We had been to this port town for the wooden boat show the week before, but came back to explore a little bit more.

Olympic National Park is on the peninsula and we spent a day out there,  We did a very pretty hike up to Marymere waterfall.

Tree near the entrance of the trail to Marymere Falls

On the way to Marymere Falls

Olympic National Park

Marymere Falls

The trees are getting bigger

Lake Crescent in Olympic NP

Once we were passed Port Angeles the scenery once again became so beautiful.  Winding roads through gorgeous trees.
We stopped on the way home for dinner in a town called Sequim.

I had planned a few other things for that stop, but it seems I may be wearing out my day time companions.  They requested that we not hike so much, so I changed things around a little bit for the sake of peace.  We had a lot of down time that week to aid in their recovery.