Enchanted forest

I have always wanted to visit the Black Forest, to see first hand the inspiration of Faerie Tales. For me though, I will never again think of an enchanted forest without picturing the Maple Glade in the Olympic NP near Lake Quinalt.

The rain forest was different here, the giant firs and spruce were accompanied by maples which were coated with moss. The sun was shining today, making the ethereal wood even more magical, and lighting up the hanging moss. Everything was green and gold, even in February. We saw a deer grazing on the other side of a stream, and she paralleled our course for a while, always pretending to ignore our presence. It was something out of my favorite fiction. We half expected to be challenged by faerie folk riding giant dragonflies or eaten by dinosaurs.

If I ever go missing, you can find me living in the hollowed out base of the giant cedar, living off toadstools and faerie dust.

-- Post From Sara's iPhone

Location:Olympic rain forest

Wildlife

I like waking up on the West Coast. It feels like I'm sleeping in but the clock says I have the whole day ahead of me. We started driving north today, because what Olympic journey is complete without spending some time in the Olympic National Park. Last night it was raining but today the sun came out. We went hiking in the rainforest and took pictures of the light filtering through the masive trees and prehistoric ferns and moss.

We have been here before. Almost nine years ago we spent our honeymoon admiring giant firs, waterfalls, nurse logs, and wildlife. Today we felt about nine years yonger as we reminisced about that trip.

We are naturalists at heart. We name trees, identify birds, admire mushrooms; all we need is a heavy dose of khaki to make it official. As naturalists we succeeded today, in addition to seeing the worlds largest spruce and some interesting bracket fungi, we also saw the following wildlife:

Black Bear
Herd of Roosevelt Elk
Deer
Two Bald Eagles

One of the highlights today was the roadside Merrimam Falls that was spectacular from the recent rain.

We are staying in a lake view room at the Quinault Lodge. Franklin Delano Roosevelt stayed here in 1937 while deciding if Olympic National Park should be founded. Luckily he enjoyed the area just as much as we do. We witnessed a beautiful sunset over the lake before an amazing dinner at the lodge's Roosevelt Restaurant. Salmon served on a cedar plank and yummy pork chop with banana foster and white wine poached pears for dessert.



View from our room.

-- Post From Sara's iPhone

Location:Quinault Lodge