(no subject)
While exhausting it's been really pleasant having my parent around this past week. I never realized how strangely contained my room messes are until you have two other people taking up what little personal space you have. My parents were mostly excited to get out of the 100+ degree heat in Texas and it took much coaxing for them to leave my air conditioned room while I was away interning/going to class. Last weekend we hopped into the car and drove to the summer part of the Olympic National Forest. I hadn't really thought it out too much and figured we could start at Quinault Lake and figure it out from there. As we made a stop nearby, I hear something familiar or something pre-familiar because I just hear voices and before I can even consciously process it, I uncharacteristically scream loudly at the sight of one of my oldest friends asking the same question about fishing that I had just pestered the waitress with. After apologizing for scaring the shit out of the waitress and slightly pondering at my strong reaction, Kristen and I catch up with her parents. I think part of the reaction was seeing her months after her bodily transformation after her stomach surgery. I had never realized how fine boned she was and my mother (who has known Kristen as long as I have) didn't even recognize her. Very serendipitous.
We say our goodbyes and make it out the lake to eat our sandwiches and some some hiking. While a nice hike, it didn't seem very rain-foresty to me and it wasn't until I really looked at the map that we were hiking along the wrong side of the lake if that's what we wanted to see. After a 4 mile hike and dealing with my mother obsessing about casinos, I acquiesced her request after sitting under a record breaking Sitka tree. I tried not to get too frustrated with her but it's amazing how bratty one can be when it's just you and your parents, and one of them refusing to just silently hike throughout the wilderness. We got back into the car and headed to the coast, stopping off at a beach after getting a tad lost. The sand and sea stretched out for miles and I was amazed how far I could walk into the water. We finally found the casino and I attempted to enjoy gambling only to end up on a sofa in the lobby, playing with my phone and reading a book by the fire. It felt good to make my mother happy and get some silence while watching the sun go down over the sea. My father and I talked about the green flash that cannot be seen from this part of the world and after awhile went into the casino to search for my mother who was probably hiding from us. We drove back to Aberdeen and settle into our crappy motel only to see that horror movie Vacancy, detailing exactly what happens to hapless people stuck at a crappy motel in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning we had a longer drive to head to someplace that may or may not be exactly on the map. Guided only by the idea of a place, we drive for what seems like ages on a dusty dirt road, past a correction center and finally into a 3 site free campground at the South Fork of the Hoh river. My mother at this point has already started stress eating and I set out to chat with some of the campers to see why we drove out here in the first place. The view of the river was staggering but sobering as you could see how much more water should have been running through. A woman there who has come every year for 30 years told me this is as bad as she's ever seen it. This did not bode well for the rest of our exploring into the Olympic National Forest as my prior recollections of moist green splendor had been replaced by sad dry creeping moss and muggy afternoons. At this point we had been in the car for ages and we stop in Forks, WA to get some memorabilia for my 15 year old cousin who loves the stuff. Looking at this little sleepy town, I tried to empathize with someone who would actually plan a summer vacation to come out here and take "tours" of the fictional home of Twilight. Mostly the stores just gave me the heebie-jeebies as I tried to find something that didn't look like you could purchase it from Hot Topic. I settled on a plain black tote bag with Forks and La Push written on it and couldnt help but regret that the Quileute natives where not taking advantage of the fandom but were being taken advantage of. Perhaps that was the feeling of unquiet that pushed me to leave as soon as possible and head to Port Angeles. I was sorry to see my imagined trip to La Push out of the picture, but my insistence towards finding that little campsite had lost us too much time. After grabbing a delicious dinner at some Italian restaurant (due to lavenderfest week, mom got a lavender cream lasagna that was really tasty). We find another casino to appease my mother and I make a second attempt to enjoy gambling, sitting at the slots. After watching this woman walk in with 40, win to 350 and then lose it all, I lost my taste for the stuff as my twenty was gone anyway.
I take a light nap on the ferry back as we head home, my head troubled by the rainless weeks within the rainforest and the uncertainty for the things waiting for my return.
We say our goodbyes and make it out the lake to eat our sandwiches and some some hiking. While a nice hike, it didn't seem very rain-foresty to me and it wasn't until I really looked at the map that we were hiking along the wrong side of the lake if that's what we wanted to see. After a 4 mile hike and dealing with my mother obsessing about casinos, I acquiesced her request after sitting under a record breaking Sitka tree. I tried not to get too frustrated with her but it's amazing how bratty one can be when it's just you and your parents, and one of them refusing to just silently hike throughout the wilderness. We got back into the car and headed to the coast, stopping off at a beach after getting a tad lost. The sand and sea stretched out for miles and I was amazed how far I could walk into the water. We finally found the casino and I attempted to enjoy gambling only to end up on a sofa in the lobby, playing with my phone and reading a book by the fire. It felt good to make my mother happy and get some silence while watching the sun go down over the sea. My father and I talked about the green flash that cannot be seen from this part of the world and after awhile went into the casino to search for my mother who was probably hiding from us. We drove back to Aberdeen and settle into our crappy motel only to see that horror movie Vacancy, detailing exactly what happens to hapless people stuck at a crappy motel in the middle of nowhere.
The next morning we had a longer drive to head to someplace that may or may not be exactly on the map. Guided only by the idea of a place, we drive for what seems like ages on a dusty dirt road, past a correction center and finally into a 3 site free campground at the South Fork of the Hoh river. My mother at this point has already started stress eating and I set out to chat with some of the campers to see why we drove out here in the first place. The view of the river was staggering but sobering as you could see how much more water should have been running through. A woman there who has come every year for 30 years told me this is as bad as she's ever seen it. This did not bode well for the rest of our exploring into the Olympic National Forest as my prior recollections of moist green splendor had been replaced by sad dry creeping moss and muggy afternoons. At this point we had been in the car for ages and we stop in Forks, WA to get some memorabilia for my 15 year old cousin who loves the stuff. Looking at this little sleepy town, I tried to empathize with someone who would actually plan a summer vacation to come out here and take "tours" of the fictional home of Twilight. Mostly the stores just gave me the heebie-jeebies as I tried to find something that didn't look like you could purchase it from Hot Topic. I settled on a plain black tote bag with Forks and La Push written on it and couldnt help but regret that the Quileute natives where not taking advantage of the fandom but were being taken advantage of. Perhaps that was the feeling of unquiet that pushed me to leave as soon as possible and head to Port Angeles. I was sorry to see my imagined trip to La Push out of the picture, but my insistence towards finding that little campsite had lost us too much time. After grabbing a delicious dinner at some Italian restaurant (due to lavenderfest week, mom got a lavender cream lasagna that was really tasty). We find another casino to appease my mother and I make a second attempt to enjoy gambling, sitting at the slots. After watching this woman walk in with 40, win to 350 and then lose it all, I lost my taste for the stuff as my twenty was gone anyway.
I take a light nap on the ferry back as we head home, my head troubled by the rainless weeks within the rainforest and the uncertainty for the things waiting for my return.