the Olympic Peninsula is WET! in April

Walla Walla ferry just coming in--Space Needle right behind ferris wheel

SAT
Judd flies back from Connecticut (two cousins' memorial service) and I pick him up at Pasco airport (for a hotel stay with Papa Johns delivered pizza--a first splurge on a low-carb diet spree.)
SUN
Brief visit to Snoqualmie (biggest in WA) Falls--
Catch Seattle ferry to Bainbridge Island for a visit with Bill Watts (a grade school friend of Judd's from Kittery) and wife Joy and daughter Nikki -- walk to Cooperstown brewery and wine and discover they're all kindred spirits.
Arrive at State Park camp in Sequim ("skwim") --barely sprinkling.
MON
visit historic Port Townsend-- lots of old architecture--raining.
We check out Deer Park campground on the mountain--i.e. Mt. Olympus (7980 ft) with many sister peaks between 5000-7000 feet) --nice drive but campground still closed for the season.
Lunch at The Landing in Port Angeles to get real seafood by the sea.
Camp at Hearts of the Hill --only camping is Loop A-- pop up our camper in the rain; eat leftover chicken -- play: Books, backgammon, cribbage, whist from 3:00 to bedtime in the real rain  
EXCITEMENT:  propane leak alarm goes off  (we had filled up the tank today and *maybe* didn't tighten everything properly.)  It cools right off when you open all the windows and turn on the fan!

TUES
Break camp and drive to find the gate to Hurricane Ridge just opening. We DO have a clear view at the Ridge but Visitor Center still closed.  Lots of BIG snow removal equipment. Driving to Sol Duc Hot Springs we discovered a severe list to port of the truck:  one of the two "air cushions" under the truck,  installed to absorb the shocks of the camper, has deflated and is un-inflatable. Three rogue blue jays try to steal our egg salad lunch while we decide if the hot spring are worth it.  (Victor says they've been commercialized.)  So we drive back to Sequim to "fix the air cushions."  No can do. So we drive, with the list and decide to camp in Sequim since it's already pm.  Dungeness Recreation Area where the wind is OUTRAGEOUS!  I debate taking my contacts out before taking a walk down to the Dungeness Spit. Judd makes an amazing bison dirty rice  (using pulsed cauliflower rice which I pre-prepared!) 

WED
Drive to Cape Flattery-- the tip of the peninsula-- most NorthWest point of the contiguous United States.Stop at Calvin's Crab Hut (but crabs are out of season... no oysters... no sightings of otters or sea lions....YES..eagles and ducks and gulls...and Sasquatch!
Camp at Bogachiel State park in the rain because we're done driving for the day-- chicken & shishito stew inside the camper as the rain is unrelenting.  The drips off the trees are louder than the actual rain....

THUR
We ditch breakfast and eat almonds and tea in the car all the way to the Hoh Rain Forest.  It's raining.  But the moss dripping off the trees is amazing.  Mystical fog. We walk through the Hall of Mosses--tree poems from around the world on the placards. It does seem that the rain lets up a little every time we stop for a walk or making camp.

We stop at Ruby Beach and Judd makes friends with an AT-hiker by virtue of recognizing his hat. We stop at Kalaloch Lodge for a fancy chowder lunch (and to warm up/dry off.) Then a  hour dash, listening to Gone Girl on Audible, to Cape Disappointment State Campground with a view of the Pacific Ocean.

FRI
On the am beach walk, Judd wants to know what a couple old timers are doing with their buckets and wagons.  They're panning for GOLD!  They say anywhere there's black sand, there's gold mixed in, and they have a system where they dig up sand, sluice it down a little homemade sluice box, with a battery set up to pump the water.  They claim, by the end of the day, they'll have some gold.  Huh?  We were just thinking we should take some pans for when we travel through the Yukon this summer.....
We hiked up Cape Disappointment where Lewis and Clark noted the Columbia River falling into the Pacific.  Their Interpretive Center was open and quite good.  We lunched in a parking lot on our way to Seacrest State Campground.

SAT
We were unable to get all the way up Mt. St. Helen's for a view (AND the foggy rain precluded the view) but the Visitor Center was very interesting and the film, accounts, photos of the volcano's 1980 destruction were incredible.  I didn't miss not being able to camp in the blast zone.  Last pic below is from window shopping in Port Townsend. We had a great vacation week and a good deal of practice trouble shooting the camper for our next REAL big trip: San Diego or bust for May!