The next stop on our 30th Wedding Anniversary Road Trip was Olympic National Park.
After visiting North Cascades NP and Mt. Rainier NP, I was looking forward to being on the Washington coast.
We stayed at Kalaloch Lodge, on the west side of the park on a tiny strip of park property. Olympic NP is huge and has small park areas along the coast, with a majority of the park in the mountain and rainforest areas.
We were there for three nights, and I wish we had an additional night because there were areas we missed. But we saw the main areas, including Hoh Rain Forest, Quinault Rain Forest, Hurricane Ridge, and parts of the beach area.
We had great weather, although the beach was very cool at night. Lots of sunshine and no rain. Overall a fantastic experience!
We were just a short walk from the ocean:
Sunset (easy access to the beach below):
Our first morning we went down at low tide to visit the tide pools. It was beautiful!
Much more to see than we expected. Totally worth the time.
I loved this old truck in an old homestead area in Quinault Rainforest:
Ruby Beach:
Hurricane Ridge:
Lots of deer!
On the Big Cedar walking path near our lodge:
I had a hard time getting Big Cedar all in the pic:
A few of my favorite sunset photos:
peace of life today 
What a fabulous trip , Lisa. It’s a unique landscape in the Olympics. You captured the magic of it! And happy anniversary.
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Thank you Donna! 😊
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Happy anniversary! I loved your pictures, there are some really beautiful compositions and moods that capture my imagination. Thank you for sharing them
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Thank you Ritva! It was amazing to see the different ecosystems in one park! I would have loved to visit Ruby Beach at sunset, but it wasn’t very convenient for us. It was still beautiful.
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Wonderful captures of what sounds and looks like an excellent anniversary trip! Congratulations to both of you!
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Thank you, Terry!
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That looks kike a fantastic place to stay, with all those beautiful sunsets and the rock pools to explore on the beach! Your shots of Ruby Beach are magical 🙂 I very much enjoyed this virtual revisit to an area I loved when we were there some years ago.
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I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Sarah! So much to see there. And overall we had wonderful weather! I would have like to drive further up the beach if we had another day. But it’s ok, it all worked out! Isn’t it interesting to see familiar places through someone else’s camera lens?
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Yes, always – although sometimes I see things we missed and wish that we hadn’t!
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oh wow, the closing sunset photos ended the post with a nice setting feeling!
And is that your hubs in the cowboy hat looking out at the water between the rocks? Needs to br printed and framed.
Also, like that old truck – and how cool to see the sea stars and other goodies left as the water pulled back…. really fun captures
happy 30th
💚💚💚
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Thank you!!! Yes, that is my hubby! I just love that photo! I was surprised how amazing the sunsets were, maybe because of the expanse of beach. It really was an amazing road trip visiting the national parks. We won’t forget our 30th! 😊
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😊
and our 30th is coming up next year and we might travel abroad to walk the Camino – but I hold all ideas loosely because we could always do that on the 31st – or whenever
and I actually told me husband about how you and your hubs spent your 30th (while we were out walking the dogs)
and so we just want to be together and it seems like you did what was perfect for you both for that year
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Awww, thank you! Yes! The idea of this trip came up unexpectedly when he saw something on Facebook about the Nat’l Parks in WA. We were thinking about Hawaii but just wasn’t totally “feeling it”. What a different direction, huh?! 😆 Also, the older we get the more proud I am that we can still enjoy creative adventures!
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yes – and I think when couples really enjoy each other’s company and are still so in love – they do not need the obvious (and touristy) places like Hawaii – ya know
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I looked it up, your idea sounds very adventurous!
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well there are many “levels” to walking that path – and one can make it easy or hard – hmmmm
anyhow, wishing you a lovely weekend
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Pretty photos – happy anniversary!
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Thank you, Nora! 😊
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