Day 1: Vacation at Olympic National Park & Forest: Hurricane Ridge, Lake Cresent Lodge

Because of my wife's company one-week shut down, we took the opportunity to Olympic National Park and Forest in Washington State near Seattle.  I am a fan of green tree and she is a fan of hiking in national parks.   This is the first time I actively involved in planning our trips.  It took about 2 weeks to search for quality deals at affordable rates.

For overview about the park and rain forest,
http://www.olympicpeninsula.org/
http://www.nps.gov/olym/planyourvisit/wilderness-trip-planner.htm
Web 3-D interactive Olympic National Park Booklet  (This is the coolest one)

The trip lasted from Sunday through Thursday.  The result:  it is better than our honeymoon Mediterranean Cruise.

Day 1 (Sunday)

We parked our car at 6am near San Jose Airport and took Southwest flight to Seattle.  I preferred not to wake up this early anymore.  At Seattle, we rented car from Alamo using United MileagePlus points, took Seattle Bainbridge Ferry, then drove to Port Angeles.

Starting from Bainbridge Island, the scene is all trees, warm weather with sea wind breezing.  We drove to Hurricane Ridge visitor center.  The magnificent view of the mountains was breath-taking to us.

I played with my new Ultra-wide panoramic lens.  No luck, our digital camera malfunctioned.  Indeed, iPhone 4 camera was very helpful in the next few days.  We toured the area and left after 3 hours, as our focus was Lake Crescent, which is another hour-drive away.

Once arrived, speechless ...

The lake looks surreal, quiet; water is pristine, has no bubbles.  We saw numerous retirees along the way, did not know that we booked retirees frequented places, with Lake Crescent being one of them.  There was canoe/boats available to be rented.  I took several steps out to the shore and took a shot.

Our bedroom in Lake Crescent Lodge was not cheap, about $180 including tax.  (Next time, we decide to go camping instead).

Our bed ... tree

It was a day full of driving and walking.