To pass the weekdays between Pop-Pop’s brithday weekend and Adrienne’s wedding, we decided to head down to the Peninsula and check out The Olympic National Park.  

We got many looks of “you are crazy” when we told people our plans of camping with 4 kids in a cold/wet rainforest.  

We also got many comments and looks from fellow park visitors.  Most were along the line of “your kids are so cute”, “you’ve got your hands full”, “We saw you guys yesterday…”, and my favorite was while passing people hiking we got lots of, “how many of you are there?” :)  

We stocked up on rain gear, brought our winter clothes, boots, lots of socks, clothes to layer and invested in a very good tarp.  

The preparation worked and even though it rained everyday and night, we all stayed dry and warm.  Which resulted in very happy campers.  

This trip never would of happened without Paul.  I am not much of a camper, but he made sure we were prepared, he stayed calm when things got a bit crazy, and he got up and started breakfast each morning while I mentally prepared to exit our comfy and warm bed into the rain.  

Since most Washington schools were still in session, our camp ground at Lake Cresent was practically empty.  Gave the kids plenty of room to roam and explore.  

We had a pretty sweet set up.


I had brought cards and coloring books to pass some of our downtime with, but there was so much exploring to do we never pulled anything out.  


This is Miles being a gnome one night. It was very entertaining.  


We soon realized we were about 2 years early on perfect ages for this trip.  Meaning, Paul and I never got to sit down and relax, because Ruby always needed adult supervision and was everywhere.


and she tended to get a little cold at night, because she has a hard time keeping clothes on. :)  

All in all though, she was a pretty happy camper.  


We did some exploring around Lake Cresent (where we camped) and would of spent some time swimming and hanging out more if it was actually above 60 degrees.  


It was absolutely gorgeous though.  


And our view out the tent door, is kind of hard to beat.

We visited Hurricane Ridge, where it was snowing.

it was gorgeous and almost kind of erie up there.  Made sense why some people think Vampires could live in the area. :) 

We hiked to Marymere Falls, where it rained on us the entire time.  

eating lunch in the car before the hike. 

This hike was a blast though.  Trees to hide in, bridges made out of tree trunks, and a river…all before we made it to the waterfall.  I don’t think any of the kids complained, which is a first for us. 

Ruby loved touching the moss on the trees.  



 

We spent our last day visiting the **Hoh Rainforst.  

**
Where is actually didn’t rain, but when we got back to our campsite we learned that it had rained all day there.  


We could not get over these trees.  They were so tall and completely covered in moss.  


Slugs were a huge highlight of this hike.  Slugs are not something my kids are familiar with, so we had to stop EVERY TIME one was spotted on the trail.

We learned about Banana Slugs at Northwest Trek, so apparently that meant my kids thought all slugs were named after fruit. We found green apple slugs and blackberry slugs on the trail. :)


This was the trip of balance beam tree walking.  


The trees also proved to be nice resting spots too.  

The last stop was Ruby Beach. 


It was amazing.  


There was driftwood everywhere and the Pacific Ocean was just right there on the edge of the forest.    



Wish we were prepared to spend all day there.  


Next time.  

We had planned to spend a day in the Sol Duc area, but the weather was suppose to be perfect in Bellingham and the kids were really sad we didn’t find any crabs at the beach.  So, we decided to head home a day early, skip Sol Duc, and find a beach in Bellingham to explore.  

It was a good choice.  But, I am hoping to make it back there again one day when kids are older.