NP #10 - Day 4 August 12, 2014

Day 4: August 12, 2014:

We were up at 6:00, well, all of us except Ryan who was woken at 7:00.  Grant went out and fed the bunnies again, we all ate some breakfast and we packed up.  A little after 7:00 the kids walked down to The Eatery (the restaurant on the resort) and each of them ordered a Tootsie’s famous cinnamon roll.   

They were amazing but full of raisins so more amazing for grownups.  But still, we can say we’ve had them.

It had rained the night before and drizzled the whole way in to the park.  At around 8:30 we started out on the Thunder Knob trail (3.6 mi round trip) to a stunning overlook of Diablo Lake.  The trail was spectacular – the very first of it involved crossing two small streams via log bridges.   

We took turns being the hiking leader and the sweep and the kids were, once again, complain-free.   

We then drove all the way east on Hwy 20 out the other side of the park and stopped at the Washington Pass Overlook where we stopped for a picnic and went on ¼ overlook hike out to a stunning view of the mountains.

At around 12:30 we left the picnic area and headed a few miles back west to the Rainy Lake Trail.  I was a little bit concerned that we were running out of time and wasn’t sure we should take the hike.  I also thought it was one mile, round trip and it turns out, it was 1 mile, one way.  But we went ahead and did it and the payoff was huge – my favorite part of the trip so far – a miniature Crater Lake with a  ~250 ft (just guessing) water fall feeding into it that wasn’t even mentioned on the map – don’t even know if it has a name.

We got back in the car at 1:30 or so, and crossed the street to a PCT (Pacific Crest Trail) trailhead and just ran up and down a portion of it so that we could say we’ve run the PCT!!

At 2:00 we hit the road to Sequim, Washington, a small town outside of Olympic National Park. I originally thought we would drive back through Seattle, which had me a little bit worried about the traffic again, but my phone directed us straight west towards Anacortez, then south through Whidbey Island and took the ferry over to Port Townsend.  The ferry ride was about $20 and took 30 minutes.  It was well worth the extra time but it did get us into Sequim quite late.   

(We did stop at a DQ just east of Burlington on Hwy 20 for treats.  I still don’t know the name of the town but it was very cute.)

We first stopped at the Black Bear Diner in Sequim for dinner a little after 7pm and after being told there was a 20 minute wait, I felt this strange need to go check into the Days Inn (4/10 of a mi from the diner).  Earlier in the trip I couldn’t find my email reservation confirmation and for some reason had a bad feeling about things.  Turns out they did not have our reservation but informed me that they were the only place in town that still had rooms so luck was once again on our side – it really had been the entire trip.

Ryan and I got our room key then returned to the diner and had a great dinner.  (Nick and I had eaten at a Black Bear Diner in Sonoma, CA earlier this year and had liked it and knew the kids would love it too.)

Back at the motel at 8:30, we changed into swim suits and walked down to the indoor pool/spa.  The spa was closed so Nick and I stayed out and planned our next day in Olympic while the kids swam.  Despite advising Grant not to go underwater due to a swimmers’ ear infection, he did anyway.  We’ll see…

We finally got to bed around 10pm – it was a VERY long day.