Motel stay: $58/night; Rental car: $21/day; Weekend in the Olympics with superpals: Priceless
I just got back from a weekend that easily ranks among the top 10 weekends of my life. Wow.
Friday:
Shaun and I got picked up quite early (7:30 AM) by the Enterprise people. They'd given us a free upgrade to a Chevy Cobalt, which had more room, a CD player (which remained unused), and the amenity that became our best friend: "Tom" Cruise Control. By 9:45 we'd picked up a weekend's groceries from Wal*Mart and were headed on the highway, yours truly (yes, me of the subtle dislike of driving) at the wheel. The fab four - Nick, Adele, Shaun (all from my suite), (and me) provided enough entertainment to keep the drive to Cle Elum for lunch short. I've found I always love driving this direction (west) across WA state - it's great to reach Ellensburg and have the sagebrush on the hills abrubtly turn into coniferous forests marching up to the snowy peaks of the Cascades. Shaun took over driving after lunch, through the green grandeur (and easy driving) of Snoqualmie Pass and down to Puget Sound and Seattle. The ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island was worth the long wait in line (and almost worth the hefty price-tag); the views were spectacular and we all enjoyed getting out of the car and into the wind and scenery. All too shortly we were back in the car again and headed across the Olympic Peninsula to our motel.
As I'd remembered, the drive around Crescent Lake is absolutely gorgeous. We had a clear day and the water was perfectly clear; the lowering sun glinting off the water in bright waves of light. We took a short break in front of Lake Crescent Lodge, relaxing on the dock and all of us sincerely wishing we had the money to stay there. It's just as peaceful as I remembered it being six years ago. Alas, the road called and we drove the last 40 miles to our motel, The Hungry Bear Cafe & Inn. It was as "quaint" as we'd expected it to be, but turned out not to be as sketchy as we thought it might be; we didn't need the "hobo stab insurance" as Nick had suggested we might...
After a quick "Mom and Pop" style meal at the Hungry Bear Cafe (a tolerable bacon burger for me), we drove out to La Push to watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. We got there just before the sun dipped below the seastack-strewn horizon and were thus able to view the beach in full setting-sun splendor. As the light faded, we clambered over the giant rocks and driftwood logs of the jetty to find the perfect view...and then back to the beach again, where all except our DD enjoyed a glass of wine as the last of the western glow faded. Parfait, my friends - just perfect! Back at the motel we discovered the worst part about our motel was that the shower was very cramped...and only allowed a trickle of water to come through. However, it was warm and enough to get us at least moderately clean. All of this day was accompanied by enough friendly banter to keep us laughing almost every minute.
To be continued...
Friday:
Shaun and I got picked up quite early (7:30 AM) by the Enterprise people. They'd given us a free upgrade to a Chevy Cobalt, which had more room, a CD player (which remained unused), and the amenity that became our best friend: "Tom" Cruise Control. By 9:45 we'd picked up a weekend's groceries from Wal*Mart and were headed on the highway, yours truly (yes, me of the subtle dislike of driving) at the wheel. The fab four - Nick, Adele, Shaun (all from my suite), (and me) provided enough entertainment to keep the drive to Cle Elum for lunch short. I've found I always love driving this direction (west) across WA state - it's great to reach Ellensburg and have the sagebrush on the hills abrubtly turn into coniferous forests marching up to the snowy peaks of the Cascades. Shaun took over driving after lunch, through the green grandeur (and easy driving) of Snoqualmie Pass and down to Puget Sound and Seattle. The ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island was worth the long wait in line (and almost worth the hefty price-tag); the views were spectacular and we all enjoyed getting out of the car and into the wind and scenery. All too shortly we were back in the car again and headed across the Olympic Peninsula to our motel.
As I'd remembered, the drive around Crescent Lake is absolutely gorgeous. We had a clear day and the water was perfectly clear; the lowering sun glinting off the water in bright waves of light. We took a short break in front of Lake Crescent Lodge, relaxing on the dock and all of us sincerely wishing we had the money to stay there. It's just as peaceful as I remembered it being six years ago. Alas, the road called and we drove the last 40 miles to our motel, The Hungry Bear Cafe & Inn. It was as "quaint" as we'd expected it to be, but turned out not to be as sketchy as we thought it might be; we didn't need the "hobo stab insurance" as Nick had suggested we might...
After a quick "Mom and Pop" style meal at the Hungry Bear Cafe (a tolerable bacon burger for me), we drove out to La Push to watch the sun set over the Pacific Ocean. We got there just before the sun dipped below the seastack-strewn horizon and were thus able to view the beach in full setting-sun splendor. As the light faded, we clambered over the giant rocks and driftwood logs of the jetty to find the perfect view...and then back to the beach again, where all except our DD enjoyed a glass of wine as the last of the western glow faded. Parfait, my friends - just perfect! Back at the motel we discovered the worst part about our motel was that the shower was very cramped...and only allowed a trickle of water to come through. However, it was warm and enough to get us at least moderately clean. All of this day was accompanied by enough friendly banter to keep us laughing almost every minute.
To be continued...