Our family just launched itself into an orbit that includes the Olympic rain forest and Vancouver, BC. Today was the first brutal drawn out leg consisting of 485 miles and as few bathroom breaks as a six and eight year old can manage. The drive took us across the middle (yawn) of Washington state, over the cascades, around the southern tip of the sound, and up the east side and across the top of the Olympic peninsula, and finally slumped at the Olympic Suites Inn just in Forks, WA. All the while a sheet of thin white clouds slid from the west like the lid of an eye closing. Once in Forks, the day was entirely overcast.
The Olympic Suites Inn is an array of older condo style suites that have been refurbished recently. They are a blend of old dark paneled cupboards and granite topped counters. The appliances are new and so is the paint, but the buildings are a little old and dated. All in all it was still a good stay.
We grabbed a quick bite at Sully’s Burger joint where you could get a Bella burger (with pineapple) and then sped down to First beach at LaPush.
Bella, of course, is the main character of the Twilight series which takes place in the Forks region.
It was too cold to go swimming, so we amused ourselves with wave dodging and beach combing. Wave dodging consists of running down the beach after receding waves until the next wave surges up from the ocean. You can successfully dodge a wave if you do not get wet. After teasing the ocean far too long and letting the waves catch us one too many times, we sped back to the Inn and showered. Once clean and dry, we tucked ourselves in and watched a few episodes of Ninja Warrior. Both my kids think I could successfully run the Ninja Warrior gauntlets. All four stages! My kids are the greatest.