Travelogue

Hurricane Hill TrailWe woke up in our Port Angeles motel to bright sunshine, which meant we would finally be able to do the Hurricane Hill hike in nearby Olympic National Park. We had been thwarted twice already - once two years ago when the weather was awful, and our way up the coast a week ago when the Hurricane Ridge Road was closed for tree removal.

The Hurricane Hill trail starts at the end of Hurricane Ridge Road. Even though we got there early, the parking lot was full, so we drove a short distance back to the overflow parking.

From there we walked on a past through the woods to the actual trailhead. The trail is paved and quite easy, but it did lead us through a beautiful subalpine meadow with spectacular views of the glacier-covered Olympic Mountains and the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Hurricane Hill TrailThe trail is 3.2 miles out-and-back (with 800 foot elevation gain), but we managed to do over 4 because we were running around so much at the top enjoying all the views.

Okay, now that we checked off this hike, I think we have pretty much seen and done all of Olympic National Park.

Actually, there was something we hadn’t done - the section of the Olympic Loop Scenic Drive from Port Townsend to Olympia. It was a beautiful drive, tracing the shores of the Hood Canal for a good part of it. Unfortunately, Herb slept through most of it, as he likes to do when I take over the wheel.

Hurricane Hill TrailNow it was time to head south towards Bishop, California where our son and daughter-in-law live. It wasn’t exactly on the way home, but we missed them, and Bishop is such a beautiful place that we pointeds the car in that direction. Google Maps told us it would take 16 hours to get there, so we started thinking about places to stop along the way.

Originally we were hoping to spend some time in the Bend, Oregon area, but the smoke was so bad that Oregon was going to pretty much be a drive-through state this time.

So our plan was to just keep driving until we felt like stopping, hopefully some place that would be fun in some way. We didn't want to go much more than 4 hours.

Then I found the Campbell House Inn in Eugene, Oregon, a highly-rated B&B with a lovely garden with gazebos and adirondack chairs to sit in. Oh, and a jacuzzi in the bathroom. Sounded perfect!

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