Way Off the Grid (Days 11-13)

Days 11, 12, and 13

Wifi at the Forks Public Library - Praise the Lord!

All of these will be posted at one time once we are back in civilization with wifi. Sorry for the absence, those of you who check in regularly: Mom, Lisa, Bill and Betsy, and Susie. :)

Our drive from Seaside to just before Forks, WA was long, but mostly uneventful. It was not as windy as other drives, but, for some reason, it made me feel worse than normal. I think the road itself was rougher. I was feeling lousy enough to take a second dramamine, which seemed to do the trick. Getting into WA was fun. We took a huge, long bridge over the Columbia (I think) river that leads into the ocean. But once we were in Washington, there was nothing for miles and miles between small towns. It was a bit different from our drive up the coast of Oregon. 

We stopped about halfway, in the town of Aberdeen, WA, to pick up groceries because it was the last place with a Safeway. The small town grocery stores have big prices and poor selection. We were shopping for four days, so we had to get creative with ice and bags and packing the car. 

We finally made it to our place, which is about 3 miles off of 101 (the coastal highway), along the Bogachiel River. It was a very curvy 3 miles in to find our place, and it is very secluded. There are a few neighbors, but we can't really see them from our place. 

The cabin itself is interesting. It is run on solar and everything is run on 12 volt plugs. There are outlets (I don't know why), but our things don't work in them. There is one converter, so if I want to charge something, I use that. Not that there is much need to charge anything since there is no wifi. This was a bit of a surprise to us, I guess, but this place is mostly used for weekend fishing getaways and such, so I guess they don't see a need. There is not cable or tv reception, either, so the only option on the small tv is to watch a dvd. They have a pretty big collection to choose from, though we haven't used it much. I did put on A River Runs Through It last night while I made dinner, but that's it. 

The kitchen is tiny and consists of a gas stove, a tiny oven that doesn't work, and a small fridge. There is a small counter as well. The one sink in the place is in the bathroom next door to the kitchen. It has a shower, some cabinets, and double sink (with small counter space for drying dishes), and a toilet. The toilet looks sort of like one on a plane. There are foot pedals to fill it with water and to flush. The kids think it's fantastic! I think it's fine, but look forward to a normal toilet. 

The cabin itself sits on a large piece of land, facing the river. We can walk just a 100 yards or so to the river bank, and we can see it from the loft bedroom, where Will and I are sleeping. Unfortunately, the river is very low, so it will be a bit hard to swim in. There is a small current, and we have tubes to use with the cabin, but I don't think we will be using them. One side of the cabin has a pretty large yard (the kids have been playing baseball) and the "backyard" has a nice cement space with seating a fire pit, and a nice grill.

This first night, I made "hobo dinners" on the grill, with sausage, potatoes, peppers, and onions wrapped on foil and then steamed. They were a hit with the kids and hit the spot after a long day of driving. We ate outside. Afterwards, I did the dishes (in the bathroom), and the kids played outside with Will. 

Getting the kids to bed proved a bit difficult, as there are taxidermy bears and other animals hanging up everywhere, and they were a bit anxious about them. In fact, They were both up at night from it. Hoping tonight (because I'm writing from day 12) goes better. 

Will and I have gotten used to watching an episode of Sons of Anarchy on the ipad after the kids are asleep. But because we have no wifi, that is not an option. The kids are sleeping in the room with the tv, so a move is out, too.  So...we had to just...read. There are lights throughout the cabin, but the are weak. I ended up using Ethan's book light to have enough light. 

Another thing about this place is that it was terribly hot at bedtime. There are only windows on the non-lake side. The lake side has a sliding glass door, and door to a balcony off the loft, but neither have screens. We badly needed a cross breeze, but did not want to invite bugs in. As I type, I am sweating upstairs in the loft area. I have the door open, but there is not a breeze tonight, so it's still so hot. Fortunately, it definitely cooled down at night and we were call chilly in the morning. I had to go downstairs and put a blanket on Ethan. Hoping it cools down soon!

Oh, in addition to the bear rug on the wall, the bust of a bear, and various other small heads in the cabin, Will and I sleep with a giant Elk staring at us. Will named him Laurence W. Elk.

Day 12

Since not a one of us had a very restful night's sleep last night, we were all loathe to get out of bed. Except Ethan. Ethan LOVES getting out of bed and trying to get the rest of us up and at 'em. 

Last night, I had read through the guest book to see all nice things written, but one complaint over and over was that there was no coffee maker. I noticed last night that someone had donated what I thought was a french press (which I don't know how to operate and lack the means to look it up) but realize might just be a drip coffee maker type thing used for camping. There is basically a stainless steel pot with a stainless filter of sorts on top. People had left coffee, so I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, all I got was coffee with a ton of grounds in it. My guess is it should be used with whole beans. So...no coffee for me. 

I made some scrambled eggs for breakfast and when we were all ready, we went outside to walk along the road near our place, which is also a trail through Olympic National Park. On the way to the road, we encountered two dogs, a wiener dog (who the kids named Weenie), and a black lab. Ethan welcomed the wiener. Not so much the lab. The lab came running from a house and Ethan did what he now knows to do - he stayed still. She came up and smelled him and then moved on to Eleanor, who freaked out. The dog was as big as Eleanor, and she scared her quite a bit, even though Eleanor is our huge dog over. She is used to approaching dogs on leashes. We heard an owner call out Maggie and the dog left. We continued on our way and got out to the main road when Maggie appeared again. She had decided, it seems, to accompany us on our hike. The kids were a big tentative at first, but, by the end, they could not get enough of Maggie. 

The whole time, Maggie would bound into the woods, after a bird or a squirrel, and then come back into the road ahead of us. She stopped for drinks in nearby ponds and even took a dip or two. But she kept coming back to us. It was hilarious. She wasn't so interested in us as far as being pet or anything, but she just stayed near us the whole way. 

We walked probably a good mile and a half before turning around to come home. When we were almost back, a car came down the road, and woman with three girls with her got out, saying they had been looking for Maggie everywhere. We felt bad, but there had been nothing we could have done about it, really. She is obviously not kept in the yard, and I don't think us telling her to stay would have done any good. The woman was not upset with us or anything, just exasperated at their adventurous dog. The kids were sad to see her go and kept wondering if she would come say hello when we walked past her house. She didn't. We imagine she was probably locked inside. :) 

Back at the cabin, we had lunch and relaxed a bit then left to find 2nd Beach. There are 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Beach around here, and we had read that 2nd Beach was really cool. We drove through Forks (small town) and Three Rivers, sites of the Twilight movies. Funny to see some of the ways they try to capitalize on this fame. Just as in the books/movies, the area has a large Native American population. It is the Quinalt Reserve, I believe.

We found 2nd Beach, and started the hike to it. We knew from the map that you had to hike to it, but the hike proved longer than expected and ended with over a hundred stairs. But it was a very pretty hike, with huge, gnarly trees, and the sun coming in through them. The beach was totally worth the trouble, and was, by far, my favorite beach so far. Huge rocks covered with pine trees, jutted out of the ocean. It is just so neat and different. All kinds of people had tents set up along the beach, as I think you can camp there. We saw a lot of backpackers.

Another great thing is that the weather was finally beach worthy. It was into the 80s today so the beach made perfect sense. Unfortunately, the ocean was freaking freezing. The waves were amazing, and I really thought I would go jump in them, but I only made it to my waist. You don't get used to this kind of cold...you just go numb. But we enjoyed reading and watching the kids play (or fight, which was not as enjoyable), for a few hours before heading back up the path to our car.

We stopped at a grocery in Forks for a few things (instant coffee for me...thanks, Starbucks Via!), and then came home. I had marinated chicken in this tequila lime marinade all day. I watched Pioneer Woman do it on her show a few days before and had been wanting it. I grilled that and then made cilantro lime rice, and refried beans to go along with it. If I do say so myself, it was a pretty darn good meal for having a ridiculously small kitchen. I'm making it work!

I made a fire after dinner but then showered while the kids made s'mores. Another thing I didn't mention is the loud water pump. You have to flip a switch for this water pump for any water. And every time you use water, it makes a loud noise, even just washing your hands. It was so annoying that we turned it off last night. Even when you are not using the water, it goes off every so often. Annoying. 

Anyway, there was more baseball after s'mores and then the bedtime battle. Eleanor tries our patience the most, as Ethan falls asleep next to her. But both were asleep faster tonight than last night. Long hikes and beach trips will do that!  

Day 13

There have certainly been times on this long trip that I thought, never again. Never again will we plan so much, stay so many places, and pick up and move so many times. But then, like today, we will have some really cool experience, and I think, this wouldn't happen if we stayed in the same place the whole time. Or, at least, that's what I tell myself...

The thing is, we have had really smooth sailing. Sure, the drives are a bit harrowing, but even those haven't been as bad as others we have had. No drive has taken longer than expected, and the kids behave pretty well. They do bicker and fight, but it's all normal. Thank goodness for books on cd! They have been an absolute life saver - seriously! 

Today, we drove into the Hoh Rainforest section of Olympic National Park. From the main highway (101 - what we took from California all the way through Oregon and now in Washington), the Visitor's Center was 18 miles away. We have learned that 18 miles is not 20-25 minutes here. With the roads, it's more like 40. We hadn't packed a lunch, mistakenly, so we stopped at a place called the Hard Rain Cafe, on the way in, and grabbed a few protein-filled snacks. Once we finally got to the Visitor's Center, we decided on a hike called the Mossy Trail. It held up to its name - all the trees were just covered in moss. The whole forest looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. So cool. Except, also, very hot. Today was almost 90, so even in the shade of the trees, it was quite warm.  We finished the trail in about an hour or so and then decided we likely wouldn't do another today since we hadn't had lunch, and it was pretty warm. 

One disappointing thing about where we are in Olympic is that we really don't have a good view of Mt. Olympus. I guess I just took for granted that it would be visible from anywhere in the park. Not the case. The Hoh Rainforest is in a valley. You can hike to Olympus, but it is 18 miles. We didn't feel up to that today. I am pretty sure I saw Olympus coming in on our drive, but the best place to see great views of it is well over an hour away. When I researched where to stay for this trip, there were not a lot of options. There only seemed to be the option of near Forks, where we are, in the Southeast, and way up north. Since we were driving up the coast of Oregon, this spot, also close to the coast, made the most sense. Looking back, I wish I would have found a spot in the southeast corner of the national park. Then, we would have been closer to our next destination, too. Going from here to Packwood, WA (our next stop) is closer to 5 hours, and we are not looking forward to it. Will even discussed leaving tomorrow and skipping our last night here to get a little closer. Honestly, part of that is because he misses the news and wants to be someplace with Wifi. Who would have thought Will would have so much problem without technology?! I think we will stay here, though, and we plan to be all packed and ready and get out of here early on Tuesday morning, hopefully shortly after 7 am. That way, we can be driving by Mt. St. Helens around lunch time. We can explore it on the way to our place in Packwood, a little bit north west of there. Our place is supposed to be between Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Rainier. But I digress...

After our hike, we left Hoh and went back to the Hard Rain Cafe for some burgers (and a grilled cheese for Eleanor). The place was very reasonable and pretty good. They must do a pretty good business as the only place to stop along the road into the park. This road runs along the Hoh River, which has a lot more water than the Bogachiel by our place. We brought our suits and were hoping to find a calm place to jump in. Unfortunately, every place we saw looked a bit too rough, so we nixed that idea. 

Instead, we went south on 101 back to a cool beach we had stopped at on our way to our solar powered cabin. We had taken some pictures of it but didn't end up walking down to the beach because we were only 30 minutes way from our final destination, and we knew the kids wouldn't want to leave the beach. It had looked pretty cool, though, so we returned. It's called Ruby Beach, and it did not disappoint. It is all smooth rocks, just up until the waves crash onto shore. There are huge boulders jutting out of the ocean, as is the norm here, and it is just so freaking pretty. The rocky beach is covered with large driftwood and, best of all, there is a giant "lake" in the middle of the beach. I don't know if it can qualify as a tide pool, as it is huge. The water in this "lake" was certainly warmer than the Pacific, and eventually the kids went in and had a great time. Ethan noticed kids using driftwood logs as boats, so he set off to find one. He and Eleanor had a great time finding just the right log and finding oars to help push the boat along. I watched, shivering, from shore. The temp dropped from 89 in the rainforest to 72 on the coast, and the wind coming off the ocean was chilly! I was only in a tank top. Of course, the chilly temps didn't stop Will from going in the ocean (he thought it might be his last chance for a while), and the kids from going into the "lake." 

We dragged the kids away a little after 5 to get home. Tonight we grilled steak, zucchini, and potatoes for dinner. No fire tonight, but we did walk down to the river after dinner. Will found the tiniest baby frog we have ever seen, and Eleanor especially (who I've nicknamed Lenny from Of Mice and Men) loved holding him. Ethan walked into the river with his crocs but then slipped and was soaked. We haven't taken advantage of being on the river yet, but that will change tomorrow, as the plan is to play in it for a bit. I think it is deep enough in the middle to float in a tube a ways down, so we will try that. Tomorrow is supposed to be cooler, but the river is actually quite warm. 

We could use cooler weather anyway. Last night, our loft was so terribly hot that both Will and I could not go to sleep. Eventually, I got my frozen water bottle I use to ice my foot and went to sleep snuggling it. Tonight, when we got home in the evening, I opened the door up there to get a cross breeze. I figured I would rather deal with some bugs than be so hot again. Luckily, we don't see any bugs, and it is so much cooler in here now than it was last night. Phew.