Week One - Into Prince George, British Columbia

Well it has been one week already with 7 days of solid driving. I've been driving almost 10 - 12 hours per day and have covered about 3,300 miles so far and have just about 1,800 more miles to go.

Spent 3 gorgeous days exploring the Olympic Peninsula and the city of Seattle, WA. I could have not asked for better weather. Some small showers but sunshine for the most part of my stay in the Seattle area. My visit to the Olympic Peninsula took me to Port Townsend; the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge; Port Angeles; La Push; Rialto Beach and the Hoh Rain Forest.

At Port Townsend, I visited the lighthouse at Point Wilson. First established in 1879, the light was originally on top of the lighthouse keeper's house. The name of the light and the point it stands on comes from Captain George Vancouver, who first sighted the point in May of 1792. In 1913 the present distinctive structure was built. The fixed white light with a red flash every 20 seconds comes from a 1000 watt bulb through a rotating fourth-order Fresnel lens. The light has a range of sixteen miles. Before electricity, the light was produced by an oil lamp which is said to have burned three gallons of oil a night.

Lighthouse at Point Wilson

  

Next, it was Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, one of the world's longest natural sand spits that has a quiet bay and harbor, gravel beaches, and tide flats. Here wildlife finds food, a place to rest, and protection from winds and pounding surf.  When I arrived, I quickly took the trail to the spit. Most of the spit was closed due to nesting birds in the area and unfortunately, I hit the area at high tide on my visit and I was not able to hike very far. The surf was unbelievable. The pounding of the waves thundered along the beach.

Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge

 I traveled across the northern part of the Olympic NP to La Push. La Push is a small community in the state of Washington. It is located near the town of Forks and houses the Quileute tribe. It is also well known for surfing and whale-watching. It is one of the main settings for the second book of the Twilight and New Moon. I really enjoyed the La Push and Rialto Beach area. I spent a long time strolling the beaches looking at all the logs that have been deposited by the surf along the beach. At La Push, I had a great opportunity to photograph a group of Sea Lions that were fishing near the shore line. This area is very spectacular and I highly recommend a visit if you are in the area.

Sea Lion at La Push

 Later I headed to the Hoh Rainforest. Throughout the winter season, rain falls frequently in the Hoh Rain Forest, contributing to the yearly total of 140 to 170 inches (or 12 to 14 feet!) of precipitation each year. The result is a lush, green canopy of both coniferous and deciduous species. Mosses and ferns that blanket the surfaces add another dimension to the enchantment of the rainforest.

The Hoh Rain Forest is located in the stretch of the Pacific Northwest rainforest which once spanned the Pacific coast from southeastern Alaska to the central coast of California. The Hoh is one of the finest remaining examples of temperate rainforest in the United States and is one of the park's most popular destinations.

The Hoh lies on the west side of Olympic National Park, about a two-hour drive from Port Angeles and under an hour from Forks.

After my visit to the Olympic Peninsula, I took the Washington State Ferry from Bremerton to Seattle. A short 40 minute ferry ride takes you across Puget Sound to the city of Seattle. Here I enjoyed visiting the famous Market and its fabulous foods.

Today, I got ready to travel north into Canadian soil and up to Alaska. I left Seattle early morning and fueled the vehicle and made last minute checks to make sure I was not going to have any issues crossing the US/Canada border. Got rid of all my fruits, nuts etc and anything that could become an issue at the border. I was very concerned about all the stuff I had in the van as I always seem to have the worst luck with inspections at border crossings. This time it was not an issue. I was certain that they would search my vehicle but I crossed without a hitch even though I had 3 boxes labeled Dole Bananas in the back seat. No, bananas in the boxes, but I am glad they did not notice the boxes in the back seat!!