Exploring the Olympic Peninsula

On the final full day of our Washington trip, we left Forks and drove around the top side of Olympic National Park. We started with a beautiful drive around Lake Crescent and a short hike to Marymere Falls. It was a nice shady hike with views of the lake and waterfall.

Beautiful weather made for great views of Lake Crescent.

Blues and greens of the lake through the trees.

Cool bridge!

Lots of big mossy trees on the hike.

Big tree!

Overview of Marymere Falls from the top of the trail.

From there we continued driving north and east, stopping at the Salt Creek Recreation Area. This is a county park right on the coast (technically the Salish Sea) and since it was low tide we thought it would be a great stop. We wandered around the rocks and saw plenty of little sea critters.

David and the coast.

Since it was low tide, tens of thousands of mussels were exposed.

Anemones and urchins, too!

After walking around the tide pools for a bit, we continued on our road trip. The rest of our day was spent exploring several coastal tourist cities, starting with lunch in Port Angeles. The Olympic peninsula is known for mountains and coasts, but the cute little towns are an attraction in their own right. They're all a bit different, but several that we visited had adorable waterfront historic downtowns. It's a perfect place for a little road trip.

Some treats at lunch in Port Angeles.

Downtown Port Angeles. This was a larger city, not quite as touristy, but with a nice downtown.

A big mural in downtown.

Pleasant streets of downtown Port Angeles.

Out next stop was Port Townsend, near the far northeastern tip of the peninsula. It's a cute historic town, with grand Victorian houses, a compact downtown, and sweeping waterfront views.

A big mansion overlooking the city.

Classic architecture in the downtown.

We saw a sea otter! 

Views across the sound toward the North Cascades.

We stumbled across an outdoor symphony concert on the waterfront.

A totem pole in downtown.

Our next stop was about an hour south - the very interesting town of Poulsbo, which was a recommendation of Lauren's. The city has a strong Scandinavian heritage, especially Norwegian, and plays this up for tourists. The adorable downtown is full of Scandinavian inspired architecture and shops. We walked around for a bit, stopped in a café, and enjoyed the sunny weather before continuing on.

Norway flags everywhere.

A very European-looking café terrace.

The main stretch of downtown.

A Viking mural and a church on a hill.

The Poulsbo waterfront and marina.

Our final stop was Bremerton, where we would stay the night before flying out in the morning. Bremerton is a larger city, and people commute from here right in to Seattle using the ferry system. A lot of work is being done to enliven the downtown and waterfront. We stayed on 4th street, which still has quite a few vacancies but is starting to fill up with restaurants and bars. There was even a puppet museum, which unfortunately was not open on the day we were there. 

The USS Turner Joy, a battleship museum.

New condos along the waterfront.

A theatre on 4th street.

Dinner at Axe & Arrow.

The next morning we went to the airport to head back to Atlanta. Unfortunately, due to thunderstorms across the east coast, after a lot of circling we had to land in Birmingham, Alabama to refuel. We finally made it back to Atlanta quite a bit later than planned - but at least we didn't get stuck in Alabama!

Fun times...twirling...and twirling...

Our trip to Washington was great, with a variety of hiking and outdoor activities. We didn't explore cities quite as much due to the pandemic, but did have the opportunity to see a bit of Seattle, Spokane, and coastal towns on the Olympic peninsula.