Disasterous Camping Trip = Fun

We packed up the car, baby and dogs and headed to the Hoh Rainforest on Friday afternoon. We planned on staying in Forks at a hotel the first night (yes - the current home of Twilight fever). We ran into our first problem on trying to reach Forks. There are two ways to get to Forks and they are equal distance from Seattle, but in opposite directions. The way we went led to the bridge - that had closed for repairs the night before. So we turned around and went the other way. Our 3 1/2 hour drive took close to 6 hours. At least we drove through some beautiful scenery.

Saturday we headed to the Hoh Rainforest inside the Olympic National Park. It lived up to it's name. We got a great campsite right by the river, and it stopped raining long enough to put up our tent. Kendra promptly settled in for a nap. Dan and I worked on putting a tarp over our picnic table to try and have a dry place to eat. It worked great, until the wind started. The crazy wind ripped the tent stakes out of the ground and flipped our picnic table tarp all over the place. And it was freezing.

It basically rained all day. Dan and I finally rigged an umbrella to the baby backpack so we could go on a little hike. We did a 3/4 mile loop called the "Hall of Mosses." It was beautiful - even in the rain.

After a wet and miserable night, we woke up to bright sunshine, cold air and the relaxing sound of the river flowing by. We packed up and headed to Ruby Beach a few miles down the road. We took the dogs and Kendra down to the beach. It was gorgeous! Mickey and Turtle loved it, but were unsure on what to do with salt water. Both tried to drink it, then settled on chasing the foam from the waves.

We arrived back home yesterday afternoon. After a nice, long, HOT shower, I crashed for a nap. Dan played Xbox with our neighbor and started laundry. Everything smells like campfire smoke and dampness.

Despite the rain and cold, I'm already planning our next adventure. Perhaps Mt. Rainier for Father's Day weekend...