Today we got an early start on what promised to be an ambitious day. The free breakfast at the hotel was lame today, just muffins and granola bars. We were on the road by 7:30. Most of today was spent on US-101, the Pacific Highway. It begins in Tumwater, WA, and on the first leg, it is called US-101N. This passes by on the eastern side of the Olympic National Park, and runs adjacent to the Hood Canal, the westernmost portion of Peugeot Sound. The road itself is a great motorcycle ride, plenty of twists and turns, ups and downs, as it follows the coastline of Hood Canal. The scenery is beautiful, and Peugeot Sound is a spectacular body of water.
     As US-101N hits Gardiner, WA it suddenly turns left and becomes US-101W towards Sequim and Port Angeles . Since Sequim was the first sign of real civilization since we left Tumwater, we were looking for McDonald's for another cup of coffee. As we followed the signs, we somehow got turned around and ended up in front of a Starbucks. What Luck! Revitalized with coffee and a cinnamon role, we were ready to head for Hurricane Ridge. It's 17 miles from the Visitors Center in Port Angeles to the Visitors Center at the top of Hurricane Ridge, and the elevation changes from basically sea level to 5200 ft in that short distance. It's a fun road to ride, because there are no 180 degree switchbacks to the top. The entire road just heads up the mountain with a series of easy left and easy right turns until you are suddenly near the top. The last 5 miles are on the side of the mountain with spectacular views of the valley below.
     Unfortunately for us, today ended up being a cold, cloudy day, and the visibility at the top was limited. In talking to the ranger, she said that the Washington peninsula is usually cold and cloudy or rainy, and that she only breaks out her shorts a few days out of the year . Definitely too cold for us! Before we headed to the top, we got our passports stamped, and watched the obligatory 20 minute movie. By the time we got to the top, there was an additional passport stamp, and much better t-shirts.
     When we reached the parking lot at the top of Hurricane Ridge, there were two deer just grazing next to the cars. One came down to drink some of the water spilled on the ground in the parking lot. They were tame as could be, and not at all skittish about people being around. It gave us an opportunity for some close-up deer pictures. As we were getting ready to leave, two rental RVs pulled out in front of us to head down the mountain. I contemplated being a jerk and racing past them to get out in front, but thought better of it at the last moment. The speed limit was 35 mph, and these guys were doing 15 -25 mph all the way down the hill. About halfway down are three tunnels followed by a scenic overlook that we had spotted on the way up. By the time we reached the tunnels, we were done with these slow pokes and pulled into the overlook to take some pictures . A parade of about a dozen cars were stuck behind them.
     The pictures at the overlook were wonderful. We were below the clod cover, so we could see well into the valley below. By the time we finished with our picture taking at the overlook, the rental RVs were long gone, and the traffic had cleared up. When we arrived back in Port Angeles, we headed west on US-101W until we reached our next stop at Crescent Lake. The lake was huge, and nestled between the mountains, it looked picture perfect. Or it would have, if the temperature wasn't still hovering around 63 degrees. We too a bunch of pictures, and continuesd west until we reached the town of Forks, where US101W suddenly turned south and became US-101S. I've never seen a road change markings like this before, but it was accurately describing the direction of the road.
     As we continued south, it was now about 4:00 and the hotel was still a couple of hours away. We had skipped the Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort, but were now trying to decide whether to take the side trip to the Hoh Rain Forest . When we reached the Rain Forest Entrance, it was only 18.5 miles to the Visitors Center, so why not? The road to the Visitors Center was awesome! It twisted and turned, uo and down everywhere. I don't think there was ever a straight stretch the entire 18.5 miles. The road was also surrounded by forest on both sides withe very old growth, extremely tall trees everywhere. This was rain forest, so it was even denser than a normal forest, because of all the hanging moss and ground cover.
     By the time we reached the Visitors Center, there was just enough time to get another passport stamp, before we headed out to look at the hiking trails. There were several that looked really interesting, and with the interesting look of the rain forest, we really wanted to do a few. But it was getting late, and we were getting hungry, so in the end we settled for the quarter mile short loop, and a walk around the parking lot and picnic area to take a few more pictures. We could have used a couple of more hours .
     When we left the Rain Forest, we still had a couple of more hours to the hotel, so we only ended up making one more stop. As US-101S moved over to the Pacific Ocean, we had to stop to take our first pictures of real Pacific Ocean, before heading back down US-101S through the Quinalt Indian Reservation. The point at which we decided to stop for the night was a spot where US-101S was not next to the Pacific,, so we had to make a turn to head further west.. the name of the town where we made this turn was called Humptulips, WA. I don't know where they get some of these names, but that was the actual name.
     It was a short ride on Wa-109 and WA-115 to Ocean Shores, WA. A typical Washington Beach town if you can call it that. Our hotel was advertised as "beachfront" and I guess it technically was, except there was at least a half mile of sand dune and overgrowth between the hotel and the water. We followed the trail right about unset, and it was quite a hike. In the end we were concerned that as the sun went down, we may not be able to find the path in the dune to the hotel, so we left before the sunset was complete.
     We were too tired to do anything special for dinner tonight, so pizza at the pizza shop across the street was all we needed. Tomorrow is just a travel day as we make our way to Portland, OR. We will be staying slightly east of Portland in a place called The Dalles, at the entrance of the Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. It should be great!

376.3 miles today'
9146.1 miles total

11.205 gallons today
217.935 gallons total