Port Angeles, Washington-Salt Creek Recreation Area

June 19-July 3, 2016

Salt Creek Recreation Area was a great place to spend two weeks.  It was beautiful and fairly close to Olympic National Park.  You'll see the beauty from the pictures but I will admit that most days I was complaining about the dreariness and the cold.  Just like in Monroe, I was having to put on layers just to stay warm.  Not my usual June and July.

But weather aside, this campground had some beautiful views and fantastic tide pools to explore.  

There were plenty beach areas to check out as well with shells, bull whip kelp and driftwood.

A little gross but there was even a dead harbor seal on the beach.  (It was removed later and we did get to see some live ones as well)

It was always a little too cool but we did get a little time to spend on the beach so the kids could play in the sand and water.

And most days you could look out across the water and watch the whales go by.  Every once in awhile you may see them breach but mostly we saw the water spray from their spouts.

In Port Angeles, the kids and I went to Feiro Marine Life Center.  It was great!  While not real big, they had some amazing tide pool exhibits to check out.  And there was an employee there who was fantastic at sharing her information about all of the sea life.

(Check out the size of that sea star!)

In a separate room, we found an octopus!  It was feeding time so she was moving all around in preparation of her meal.  This gave us a great opportunity to see it up close.

We visited several parts of Olympic National Park.  One day the kids and I went to the Visitor Center to get their Junior Ranger Badges and checked out the kids Discovery Room. They enjoyed putting together huge puzzles, 

putting the sea life on the felt wall and learning about skulls and more

We also went to Hurricane Ridge and hiked the Hurricane Hill trail.  It was a bit hazy but we still were able to see some great views of the surrounding mountains.

I enjoyed all of the different wildflowers

And we saw lots of rabbit, deer and even some marmots

We drove over to the Hoh Rainforest as well.  It was pretty with lots of green and tall trees.

Jacob found some really cool-looking slugs in some fence posts.

Then we saw the beautiful blue of the Hoh River.

From there we drove to Rialto Beach.  Greg and I just hung out on the beach and enjoyed the view while the kids built driftwood forts.

We also took one more ferry trip to Victoria, BC.

It was mostly a kids' day of fun but we were able to see some of the pretty places as well. And nothing beats sitting in the front seat of the top level of a double decker bus!

Our first stop was a petting zoo.  It was free but they were happy to take donations.  The kids favorite part was the goats.  Jordan loves grooming them!

And I crack up every time I see this photo of Greg.  This little guy was really making himself right at home!

From there, we went to the Royal BC Museum.  The coolest part was the exhibit on mammoths and other prehistoric mammals.

They even had Lyuba on display!  Not a reproduction!  She is a one month old woolly mammoth found frozen in Siberia and is the most complete mammoth specimen ever found!

Then we went to a ropes course.  The kids went off with an instructor while Greg and I were off on our own after a short training session.  It was both fun and scary!  The kids loved it and look forward to doing it again someday.

The final place we visited was Lake Crescent. 

We walked through towering trees along the Moments of Time Trail

and then saw some of the bluest water I have ever seen along the Spruce Railroad Trail. 

We made it to the Devil's Punchbowl where many enjoy jumping into the water from the cliffs.  On this particular day, we only saw a few who waded into the water.  Way too cold for me!

We have one more stop in Washington.  We are heading to Seaview.