Ups and Downs, Highs and Lows

It's been an up and down day. We started in Sol Duc Hot Springs (Olympic National Park) which is one of the most remote places I have ever visited. Olympic National Park is beautiful, but it takes a lot of time to get from one place to the next. Thursday afternoon we were at Hurricane Ridge in the heart of the mountains. Then off to Sol Duc Hot springs in the forest. Then the highlight of today at Beach 1 on the Ocean. Finish it off with a drive through the rain forest on our way out and we had quite a diverse trip to Olympic National Park.

Leaving Olympic around noon, we realized that we would have to decide between visiting Mt. Raniier or Mt. St. Helens. It was a beautiful day and I wanted to photograph both, so I decided to drive between the two parks thinking I would have views of each. Bad decision. Once we left the Interstate we didn't get a decent view of either mountain for over 40 miles. We decided to head to Mt. St. Helens because it was on the way towards Portland where we would be spending the night. Another bad decision as by the time we got there the light was terrible and I didn't even get 1 picture. (and I didn't find the picture Verlee was looking for. :( Sorry) It then took 3 hours of winding roads to get to Portland at which point we had all been in the car waaaaaayyyyyy too long. Thankfully the hotel I got us for $50 on Hotwire was a BRAND NEW HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS. Very nice hotel, and cheap.

Here are some pictures from yesterday and today: