August 16, 2025

Today we decided to venture from the northeastern point of the Olympic to the western most point and see what new things we could find along the way.

We started with breakfast at the Blue Moose Cafe – lots of locals and a scramble with olives and artichokes to start the day. After acquiring provisions for the car from the Safeway we were off.

The fort around Point Wilson Lighthouse in Port Townsend is where they filmed a lot of An Officer and A Gentleman. For a future stay, apparently you can stay at the lighthouse for a week at a time. Something for the future.

From there we drove to Hurricane Ridge. Driving up through the clouds as fun and the ridge lived up to its name but afforded us some great views. We did not brave Obstruction Point Dr but next time.

After we got back down the winding road, I handed the wheel to Elliott to drive us out to Devils Punchbowl on Lake Crescent. He did great but when the road narrowed and the center line disappeared, that gets tricky for the best of us – he did great and we go to the trail head.

I asked Elliott for thoughts on the drive, “they should have made the road wider.” I told him the story of how my parents let me drive an RV across the Golden Gate Bridge at 15 and feel that they can always make the roads wider.

Walking through the woods and along the lake was beautiful and relaxing after drive. We arrived at Devils Punchbowl and enjoyed the water (visually – we were not brave enough to dive in)

We headed out for Cape Flattery on the Western – the snacks paid off and we did not run out of energy.

The trail was rugged but not too hard – we made it out to some fantastic views including the lighthouse.

From here we drove down to Kalaloch Lodge where we stayed for the evening. After getting settled we went down to the beach and ended up skipping rocks. During the trip in 2016, we covered much of this ground. Imogen was with us on that trip. It has been lovely and hard to see the same things we did and know that she is not with us any longer. As we skipped rocks, I remembered doing that in many of these same spots – life moves forward and there are many amazing things but also sadness that Imogen is no longer with us and did not get the chance to come back.

Elliott is better at skipping stones (got some 7+ hop ones) and watching all of the kids grow is such a source of joy.

From there we went to dinner and enjoyed the evening. It was a great day and a long one. Off to sleep and new adventures tomorrow.