A Three Month Smoko: The Pacific Northwest

We took another ferry south from V.I, to Port Angeles on the northern coast of Washington state. It was a bit bumpy, with about a 2m swell - nothing to a seasoned Cook Strait traveller, eh? - but the two American ladies next to us complained and vowed never to set foot on a ferry again! Oh well.

The place we stayed in was in a small town out of Port Angeles, called Sequim. Apparently it is pronounced "Squim", according to the US Customs officer who greeted us at P.A....who knew?
After over-nighting there, we drove up into Olympic National Park. Another stunning park, but with LOTS of people.

Olympic NP, Washington.

Aahh, high again....

Olympic main range. Mt Olympia somewhere in the centre there.

I bought some trinkets from the gift shop, we went for a short stroll around the local tracks, then headed to our next stop: Ocean Shores, on the West coast.
This hotel condo was set right on the beach, with only some sand dunes between it and the sea. Great sunsets.

One of the great sunsets

And very tame Blacktail deer..........

One more wafer-thin slice of apple, madame?

Mum and baby.

We went for a hike along one of the stunning beaches, even seeing a Bald Eagle!! Very Cool.

Hello Baldy....

Further up the beach.

Aaahh, again...

Split rock viewed through Hole-in-the-rock (original names, eh?)

After a few days mostly relaxing (actually recovering from lots of travel - call it a tactical pause, if you will), we saddled up again and headed south to Oregon.
Oregon was great. We stayed a few days in Portland (another one), checked out the famous "Pearl district" - including breweries galore. I even got something the Americans call a "growler" - no, not the same thing in NZ; this was a draught beer you order, they can it right there and you take it away. All 1 pint of it. I loved it.

A large can of "Semper Fi" anyone?

While in Portland, we went for a hike near the Columbia river gorge, up part of the famous Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), which stretches from Canada to Mexico. Not feeling quite that energetic, we only did a couple of miles of it. Still a nice walk in the trees, again...
A bonus while here was being able to catch up with a good mate of mine and his family. They graciously hosted us for a couple of days and we had a jolly good catch-up, with lots of laughter and a few wines down-range. Oregon is home to a couple of well-known knife manufacturers; one being Leatherman multi-tools (which I love); and Benchmade knives. And yes, I did buy a couple of things from their factory shop, since their knives are my all-time favourite.

The factory floor as viewed from above.


Dry creek falls in Oregon. Not actually dry, is it?

Yes, we got to hike on part of the PCT...the bit that is the lowest part of the 5000km trail with an incorporated town (whatever that means).

New hat, new trail to hike on...

After bidding Dan, Jenny & family farewell, we headed further south, via the only National Park in Oregon - Crater lake. So named because of the lake formed from a massive volcanic eruption thousands of years ago. Not as big as Lake Taupo, but the colour of the water kicks Taupo's arse!
We didn't go for a hike here due to time constraints, but did get out and look around. As the photos show, it was absolutely stunning. Well worth coming back to, I reckon....