We sadly said goodbye to our little cabin. I HIGHLY recommend The Cabins at Beaver Creek for anyone wanting to explore this area of our country. I only wish we had an extra day to just spend time relaxing and exploring the property. It is a little slice of heaven!
This is the main house that the owners renovated themselves.
These are the guest cabins. They have two that sleep 4 and 2 with a loft that sleep 6. The beds were comfortable, the shower was huge, and the kitchen well stocked. John and Michelle have not missed one detail. There currently is a burn ban in Washington, so Michelle put out a gas grill for all to use. They have pairs of Adirondack chairs hidden all around the property. The location is ideal for exploring ONP. I could go on and on about this magical place.
Mama was tired today! I finally hit a wall, and I am very thankful it waited until the last day. Getting motivated to see sights today was a struggle, but we all managed to push through.
Our first stop of the day was Ruby Beach. We had heard that all the beaches in this area have slight difference and unique personalities. We found this to be true. The closer we got to Ruby Beach, the foggier it got. It was eerie to look out and only be able to see so far. It was chilly, but not as chilly as Rialto the day before. Despite not having much mojo, we couldn't resist exploring.
Next we stopped at the Kaloch Ranger Station for the girls to pick up another Junior Ranger Badge. This badge was for the ONP Ocean Stewards Program. We enjoyed chatting with the ranger at this small center and asking her a few questions. There were a few more beaches we could visit on our route and we opted to try Beach 1. Kaloch consists of Beach 1, 2, 3 and 4. Not to be mistaken with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and further north.
To get to the beach, we walked down a short little trail and then had to climb over a jungle gym of drift wood.
The fog was crazy! You could only a see a few yards around you in any direction.
This is the only shell I found the entire time...
James couldn't resist putting his feet in the frigid Pacific Ocean.
I felt like he was having a little moment down by the water. The first thing he said when he came back up was, "this place is spiritual."
Our next stop was Quinault Lake
My peeps are tired!
While I would have loved to do the longer hike around the lake and into the forest, none of us had it in us. We opted for the shorter rainforest loop which was still fabulous.
I heard water and had to go find it. Look at this magical little spot! Everyone was too tired to come share the magic with me.
I wish I had a zoomed out for this picture. There was a huge log crossing a gorge to lead to these trees. My crazy people wanted to walk it. I couldn't watch!
Back in the car to leave the park and head to Tacoma. We had about a 2 hour ride. I was so tired and fighting to keep my eyelids open, but didn't want to miss any of this amazing country. The girls did not have that issue...
When researching places to stay, it is so hard to tell the personalities of the different areas. As we were really just trying to get closer to the airport for the next morning, I wasn't putting too much pressure on myself to find the perfect spot. At first I booked a chain hotel near a shopping mall, but it just wasn't sitting right with me. I continued to look and found The Silver Cloud Inn, a hotel literally on the water in Tacoma. This ended up being such a really neat town. Parts of it reminded us of San Fransisco.
I had made reservations at Dukes which was a mile from our hotel. We walked the waterfront the entire way. Some ladies were looking at this dot in the water and told us it was a seal. This was the highlight of wildlife for us this trip. Normally, I make a log of all the wildlife we see. This was more of a wildflower trip than a wildlife trip!
We slowly walked home not wanting our trip to be over. But alas...
