After homeschool on our second day at the Quinault Casino we drove South to the nearest vehicular beach access. Cars can be driven on this length of Washington’s shoreline, so we drove North for a bit on the beach and then got out to walk.
The kids took it upon themselves to make sure that the birds got in their flight time for the day:
The ocean carves out interesting patterns around driftwood:
The kids found a long strand of kelp:
B stood at the rear bumper of the truck to compare the kelp’s length with that of the truck:
In the afternoon, I rode north to check out how to access Copalis airstrip, the only public airstrip in the US which is in fact on the beach. Turns out access is three miles north at Rosevelt Beach, followed by a three mile drive south on the beach to get to the airstrip. Here’s the view from Roosevelt Beach looking south:
I won’t have time to fly my PPG from Copalis today, but hopefully on Sunday.
By late afternoon, most of the spots here at the Casino were full of RVs. We will have to find out what’s going on.
Good Shabbos from the Quinault Casino in Ocean Shores, Washington!
Last night was very windy, and I had to get up in the middle of the night to stow the WiFi cowling, which had blown off the roof of the RV where I store it when it’s been unscrewed. Towards dawn, I got up again and hitched the RV up to the truck since the RV was moving around in the wind so much that I was worried the front jacks would snap off.
The high winds continued this morning. After homeschool, we wandered down to the beach where we leaned back into the wind:
Last night’s storm flooded the path from the casino to the beach:
Before dinner, the kids built the Great Wall of China out of sugar cubes as part of geography class. They also recorded another Roadschool Minute podcast, which we will post in the future:
Towards sunset, the sun actually came out for a couple minutes. Hopefully we will have better weather tomorrow!
This morning we left the Walmart of Port Angeles and drove west to the town of Forks, Washington. Forks is an unremarkable town, but it happens to be the setting for the Twilight series of vampire novels, along with the village of La Push on the Quileute reservation. From Forks, we turned off US 101 and headed West towards La Push. Along the way, we spotted local features targeted towards fans of Twilight, who no doubt provided a healthy economic boost to the region, especially during “Stephenie Meyer Day” every September:
At last we reached Rialto Beach, which is within the coastal unit of Olympic National Park and is across the Quillayute River from La Push. It was a typical cloudy day on the Washington coast:
Rialto Beach is a sandless beach made up entirely of pebbles. James Island is just offshore:
Driftwood details:
The fearless explorer:
Sometimes retreat is in order:
Looking North towards what might be Cape Johnson:
From Rialto Beach, we drove back to Forks, then continued south until the turnoff that took us east into Olympic National Park’s Hoh Rainforest. Hoh receives 140 to 170 inches of rain per year, making this area the wettest part of the continental US. With all this water, plant live thrives so there’s intense competition for real estate. As soon as a tree falls over, plants start to grow on it, since seeds that fall on the tree trunk aren’t in the shadow of already established plants on the ground:
Moss festoons everything that doesn’t move:
Baby ferns grow on a newly fallen tree:
Another view of the fallen tree. Note the saplings growing out of it:
Trying to move a tree:
Many trees here have vaulted roots, as they started life on a fallen tree which has since rotted away:
Living biomass covers every square inch of surface here:
A foggy day on the Hoh River:
Peeking mushrooms:
This row of trees is growing out of a single fallen tree trunk:
The kids examine a slug:
Up close with moss:
Even streams are choked with plant life:
We left Hoh Rainforest and continued South to Ruby Beach, which is also within Olympic National Park:
It was low tide, so we were able to walk around on the rocks which are underwater most of the time:
Marine life thrives on these rocks:
We even found small fish swimming in some of the tidal pools:
On the trail down to the beach, we found a credit card, and we managed to find its owner down at the beach. She was very happy!
Leaving Ruby Beach at sunset, we drove south to overnight at the Quinault Beach Resort and Casino which is beachside near Ocean City, Washington. We will be staying here as guests of the Quinault Nation for a few days, enjoying the beach here. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
Update: The kids completed a podcast for today, play it below:
This morning we left Walmart and drove down to Willie’s Coin Laundry. Something had gone horribly wrong with another customer’s wash cycle, resulting in many cubic feet of suds being generated. M couldn’t just let it go to waste:
After finishing up the laundry and doing a bit of homeschool, we drove down to the Feiro Marine Life Center, which has a number of aquaria and touch tanks showcasing local intertidal and marine life:
The docent showed us around, sharing with us interesting facts about the various creatures:
Here, the docent is explaining to us the life cycle of the female octopus:
Feeling a Sea Urchin:
For me, the highlight was picking up a living sand dollar, flipping it over, and watching its hundreds of legs wiggling around.
Our last stop was the used bookstore to trade in read books and buy a new set of used books. We then drove back to Walmart to overnight.
Tomorrow should be a big day. Rainforests! Beaches! Casinos! Stay tuned.
This morning we said goodbye to the Seven Cedars casino and drove West to Sequim, where we found the cheapest diesel I’ve ever seen:
From there, we continued West to Port Angeles and Olympic National Park:
The kids worked on the Junior Ranger workbooks and received their badges:
The road to Hurricane Ridge climbs about 5000 feet of vertical over 18 miles from the visitor center, so I decided to give it a shot:
It was raining on the way up with 20 mile and hour winds and it was in the high 30s at the top, so I was soaked and pretty miserable by the time I reached the summit:
Not much of a view today:
4895 feet of vertical over 17.9 miles:
After the ride, we drove back into Port Angeles to overnight at the Walmart. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
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