Back to the US - Olympia, WA
Thursday, 31 August, 2023
View from Mt. Walker, Olympic National Forest, WA.
We rose early in the morning for the crossing back into the United States.
Eric photographed beautiful Victoria harbor as we were waiting for immigration processing and to board the ferry. As Eric says, what you do on Vancouver Island is wait in line in your car.
Eric photographed a seaplane landing in the harbor.
A drawbridge, which we had crossed a few times in Mather, opened to let the ferry through. Photo by Eric.
Our agenda for the day was to drive the leg of US 101 between Port Angeles and Olympia. This may seem silly, but we have driven most of the length of US 101 together, from the Canadian border into Los Angeles, and we would like to complete the entire thing. We docked in Port Angeles at 12:00, and had plenty of time for the drive to Olympia, about 4:30. We could take our time and stop and see things.
As we set out, I asked Eric whether he wanted me to take him to Portland to try to spend the weekend, perhaps gaming, with friends there. He said, no, he wanted to go to the volcano. I was pleased, but I had wanted to make the offer.
We stopped to find a geocache in the lovely garden at Gardiner Bird Store.
Eric took my picture with a lawn sign.
We drove up to the top of Mt. Walker and looked out from beautiful overlooks. We were happy to have the view obscured only by fog and not smoke. On a good day, you can apparently see Rainier from there.
The road was forested and lovely. There were a couple of traffic slowdowns for some tree trimming to protect utility wires, nothing horrible. We poked into a couple of state parks, but didn't find them interesting enough to stop. I thought maybe we could get a nice sit-down dinner in Olympia and have a relaxing evening.
And then yet another thing ruined even these simple plans for the day.
When traffic came to a sudden standstill, we initially figured it was just more tree work. But then, after ten minutes or so of not moving, a tow truck drove by in the oncoming lane with a sign announcing "ACCIDENT AHEAD."
After we had been sitting without moving for half an hour, a tow truck with so many rapidly flashing lights, I couldn't even look at it, came up and told us to turn back and go the long way around the Hood Canal on WA Route 3. So many things had gone wrong, we couldn't even accomplish a simple goal like driving a leg of 101! And so much for all that extra time we had had.
By this point, it had begun to seem like the universe was really messing with us.
The other road, even though it was a state route and not a US route, was a much less pretty, freeway-type road. At least Eric got to take a picture as we drove over the infamous Tacoma Narrows.
It was after 19:00 by the time we arrived in Olympia, so, after picking up a Target order, we had Middle Eastern food from a truck stand near this beautiful mural. Photo by Eric.
Eric photographed our plain but reasonably large room at the Red Lion Governor's Inn.
Eric's view from our room. Mather, with his rooftop carrier, is visible in the foreground, next to another Crosstrek.
The inn had a generous 12:00 check-out time, and we did not have to meet the Into the Volcano tour until 17:00, so we slept in and took our time.
Eric photographed the capitol of Washington as we left town.
We had a late lunch at an ice cream and fried food stand in Randle, WA before driving up a curving road that had been significantly ruptured by the volcano.
On to Into the Crater.