Olympic Peninsula Getaway

The Laschen house has been under the weather and some stress over the last couple weeks; so we decided to take a quick mental health vacation and head over to explore the Olympic Peninsula.  Map courtesy of funmapsusa.netBoth Mike and I had asked around about places to see and things to do and we also scoured the Internet.  We knew where we would start and we just thought we would wing it and see what happened.  We were both so glad we did.  Traveling with 2 little ones you never know what the trip is going to be like!

So we started off about 10 and headed to the ferry.  The kiddos love riding on the ferries and watching the birds, boats and water as we traveled to the OP side.  Once we got back into the car seats, Elin took a nap and Thomas happily watched his Tarzan movie.  Mike and I decided we would go to Port Angeles to start our trek.  Port Angeles was about 1/2 way to the Washington coast and on the North side of the Olympic Peninsula.  Once we arrived we grabbed a bite to eat at a dive diner that was apparently "the place to go" in town. It was packed, completely opposite of the first place we entered and found empty. After some good ol fried food we headed to do our first hike to see the Elwha Dam that had just recently been removed.
If your a friend of fish this project will interest you. It has been a major movement in the Pacific Northwest to get the power plant removed and to try to restore the natural Chinook salmon (and other fish) that inhabit the river. The before pictures and after view was breathtaking. The river is slowly rebounding and I can only hope that one day will be close to normal.  There is a 2 year fishing ban in place to also help the habitat return to normal.
After our hike it was nap time and we decided that we needed to make a plan.  Continue towards the coast or head back towards the Sound. We decided to head towards the sound and after a little research on the ol iPhone we had a place to stay. Seriously, how did people travel years ago without their iPhone?
We arrived at the Inn on Port Ludlow and were presently surprised.  Up until this point in the trip, the epic adventure had been anything but.  The Inn turned that all around.  It is the “off season” so we were among a handful of guests.  There was a private beach in the bay and the tide was out.  We checked in, brought our stuff to the room and headed out to play.   Stella ran her heart out, dug and checked out the sea life along with Thomas and Elin.  It is an added adventure bringing Stella with, but it is so worth it. 

As we were playing on the beach we noticed an eagle flying over the bay.  A closer look and we saw it was a bald eagle with a fish in his talons.  Pretty amazing, and I didn’t have any other camera lenses with.  Sooo, I could only zoom up a little bit and boy was I disappointed.   We watched the eagle for a few minutes and then another eagle came to check things out.  It was either an immature bald eagle or a golden eagle (or something along those lines). We were also able to go find baby dungeness crab, sea anemones, shells, mussels, and oysters.  Playing on the beach was hands down the best part of the trip. 

As the sun started going down we wrapped things up and headed in for dinner.  Conveniently there was a cozy restaurant in the inn and we ate before heading up to get the kids cleaned up and ready for bed.   When the kids went to bed Mike and were able to have a little down time.  What did we do, we drank wine and watched Pit Boss on TLC.  Not going to lie we had a few good chuckles and before long we were both crawling into bed to snuggle our littles.  Sunday morning we were up and heading back to the restaurant to cash in on our 2 free breakfasts, this is why I love the offseason.  We tried to get a family photo and we did partially succeed. We also had a few great outtakes! My favorite photo of the whole mini vacation is the kiddos and Stella on Saturday night.  I can’t wait to get it into a frame to remember this great getaway!