DAY NINE
Today was a significant moment — this was the first time we reached the Pacific Coast, and therefore the proper start of our road trip down the coast. This made Cai very happy indeed.*
* Cai has asked me to note that the real reason she looks so pleased in this photo is that she had just discovered a crop of tasty blackberries in the bush behind her.
Next stop on the road was Lake Quinault for a relaxing picnic on the shore and a visit to the historic Lake Quinault Lodge, famous for being the location President Roosevelt visited shortly before signing the bill that created the Olympic National Park. The views of the water were amazing but we were even more impressed by the beautiful and HUGE trees — perhaps unsurprising given that we were in the Quinault rainforest.
While up at the Lodge, we met a couple of local sasquatch who looked strangely familiar…
… so we decided to take one of the Quinault loop trails to seek out some more sasquatch in their natural habitat. Despite being near a busy tourist spot, the trail was nicely quiet and offered some great views of the rainforest.
We then drove to Olympia — a city that is perhaps best known for being the capital of the state of Washington but we we there for a different reason. This was the birthplace of the riot grrrl movement and we were much more excited about seeing the road sign for Sleater Kinney Rd than visiting any of the conventional tourist spots. In fact, we were disappointed that the city didn’t make more of its musical heritage — surely we’re not the only people who would want to visit Olympia to learn about its pivotal role in the ’90s US music scene?
We then travelled to one of the places we had been most excited about while planning the honeymoon — a Tiny House on the bay. After watching far too many episodes of Grand Designs and Amazing Spaces, we were very familiar with the idea of a Tiny House but this was to be the first time we had actually stayed in one. Our host Brittany had clearly put a lot of thought into making this a lovely place to stay and a great introduction to Tiny House living.
We then decided to ‘class it up’ with our final destination of the day… Dirty Dave’s Gay 90’s Pizza Parlour. It was a slight change of pace after the fancy seafood restaurants of Vancouver and Seattle, but it gave us a great taste of the offbeat eccentricity of Olympia.
