Exploring Seattle’s Olympic Peninsula

Seattle, WA is most definitely a great city to visit, this is my second time here. But the best thing is the countryside that surrounds the city, and today that includes a visit to the Olympic Peninsula. I am kind of lucky to be staying with a friend who took some time off work to show me around. Otherwise, there is a good chance that I would not have got to visit this area, especially considering the rather inclement weather today.

Lake Quinault

One of the first areas that we stopped in on the Olympic Peninsula was Lake Quinault. It is around, a three-hour drive from Seattle, some 160 miles, so it does take a little to get here. The rain and cloud give the area a certain gloomy look and feel today. But I can imagine the area on a beautiful sunny day and think it would be a great place in summer. The area has an extensive amount of walking and hiking trails, which would be perfect on a dry day.

 

Around this area of the state is home to some of the biggest trees of their respective species as well. Unfortunately, with the rain I was far from the right mindset to record details, so cannot recall which species this tree is.

The Lake Quinault Lodge is a beautiful older building which was built in 1926. There are options to stay at the lodge as well as a restaurant and some other large open areas. We stopped in and very much enjoyed drying out a little beside the fireplace.

Kalaloch

Even with the weather what it was, we did continue north along the Olympic Peninsula to an area known as Kalaloch. A further 40 miles along the road from Lake Quinault we arrived at Kalaloch Lodge. The area is right on the coast of the Pacific Ocean with the beach and forests surrounding the area.

The area does not look at lot different to some beach areas closer to home in Queensland. The biggest difference is a significant amount of debris on the beach. However, if the sun was out, I could easily see plenty of Aussies enjoying the waves here.

Today is the last day that I have in Seattle on this trip, and it was great to see some of the countrysides. Even if the weather was bad, there was still some interesting sights to see, and you can sort of expect a little rain in this part of the country. Overall my time in Seattle exploring with my friend that lives here has been fantastic. However, tomorrow it is time to head onwards for the next stage of my journey. Things will continue tomorrow from San Francisco before I head further south again to San Diego.