Tubing Fun (Day 14)

A pretty benign last morning here, but one with a necessary task for some: laundry. We drove into Forks to a laundromat and did a large load. Man, am I glad we have our own washer. Laundromats are expensive! It cost $5 to wash in a big washer. A tiny washer is at least $4. While I manned the laundry, Will took the kids to the library in town. It was misting a bit, which made the park a bad option. And it turned out that the Forks library was actually quite nice. And Will was able to get online and read the newspaper. And I had 3G at the laundromat, too, so I was able to send and receive texts, read my emails, and check in with the world. I called my mom and also talked to my friend Susie for a bit as well. Felt good to be back in the world, if only for a bit. Will came back to pick me up and then I went to the library with the kids for a bit while Will went to the store. The kids played in the nice kids' area. 

Back at the cabin, we made some grilled cheese, ate outside, and I packed our suitcases up nicely. Then, we drove down Undi Road (the road our place is off of) further than we had walked the other day. We knew it became a trail eventually. We parked a ways down and then found the trail actually not too far from where we parked. It was called the Bogachiel River Trail, and it was a really awesome trail! I wish we had driven to it our first day. It starts up high and then goes down into the valley and eventually crosses a small creek with a homemade bridge made of a fallen tree. It is rain forest, too, so the trees are full of moss and the grounds are covered in ferns. It has a fairy tale look to it. We didn't hike the whole trail but went a ways down before turning around. 

In the later afternoon, we ventured down to the river with our suits to try tubing. Ethan went in one, and Eleanor and I in the other. The river is so low that my back side got caught on quite a few rocks, but we were able to keep chugging. The current had us go around a couple curves and then there was one section at the end with some pretty good "rapids." It gave us a feel for how it must be with the river is higher. It was so fun! Unfortunately, the fun ended there because a tree blocked the river after that. Then came the not so fun task of walking back up river, carrying our tubes over the rocks. Eventually, we had to cross to the other side, which is difficult with the very slippery rocks in the water. But we made it back. Will, who has been in the freezing cold Pacific and Crater Lake when the air temp is in the 60s, thought it was too cold to go in the river today. The Bogachiel, by the way, is the warmest river in Washington, we've been told. Truly, it felt great. Well, Will saw our fun and changed into his suit to try it out. Not sure he was as thrilled by it as me and the kids, but it was certainly an experience. I would love to take the kids on a tubing trip sometime!

Dinner tonight consisted of leftovers. I got creative with the steak since I knew reheating it would make it tough. I cooked it low and slow with a little seasoned water for a few hours. Then, I added our last cup of instant rice to the water near the end and let it soak up the broth. Lastly, I added the last bit of shredded cheese we had. The result was a delicious cheese rice with chipped beef type of meal. Will had a similar meal with cheesy rice and leftover chicken. We both ate ours out of the pot around a fire in the pit. We felt like pioneers! 

While we were eating, Lyle Senior stopped by to ask us if we knew the Nat Geo show called The Legend of Mick Dodge, or something like that. We hadn't, but I had seen the name mentioned in the guest book. Apparently, Lyle's son, the one who built our cabin, was on one of the episodes that aired in January. He lent us the dvd to watch it. We had another batch of s'mores and then came inside to watch it. The show is about this wild man, Mick, who dresses like a Native American, has a big long white beard, and walks barefoot through the forest and such. In this episode, he was helping a friend build a huge, homemade staircase into the trees on his property. When they ran into some trouble, Mick Dodge went to find Lyle to help. There is a scene, then, that opens up with views of the cabin we're in and then cut to Lyle up in a tree. He is a very successful lumberjack, apparently, and he zip lines down to help. He is in the rest of the show a bit, helping with the staircase. It was neat to see. And the kids think we are now famous because we stayed in a cabin that was (very briefly) on a tv show. 

We will leave here early tomorrow, determined to have the afternoon in our next destination. Strangely, I'm going to miss this crazy cabin. The view upon waking up in the loft is pretty awesome, and we have enjoyed a lot of time exploring this area. I will be happy to have a kitchen sink in the kitchen again, as well as a shower that doesn't run out of hot water mid-shampoo, but I think I will look back at this off the grid cabin with pleasant nostalgia.