From Ocean Shores to Lake Quinault

We went on a weekend retreat to Ocean Shores, WA, and took a day trip out to Lake Quinault Lodge and the Quinault Rainforest.  It was unusually sunny and mild for the rainiest spot in Washington, so we were blessed.  We checked out the razor clams at Ocean Shores but resisted the urge to take them home (tho' I'll definitely be back someday when it's open razor clam season!).

We saw a flock of brown pelicans at Damon Point hunting for their lunches.  It was fun to watch them soaring and swooping gracefully above the ocean only to end with a rather awkward ker-plunk drop and splash into the water.

The Lake Quinault Lodge where Teddy Roosevelt visited back in 1937 had a really lovely rain gauge--the record level of rain recorded in one year was 15 feet!  13 feet was recorded in 2011.  I guess we really shouldn't complain about rain over here in Seattle.

We finished the day with a pleasant 4 mile loop walk around the lake, seeing the various native flora and fauna.  My personal favorites were the ferns (sans spores, of course!)--lovely green fiddleheads just unfurling--and forget-me-nots as well as a visit to the world's largest Sitka Spruce.  Almost a thousand years old, it had a circumference of almost 59 feet that we could only hug but not encircle with our arms.  Lunch on the lawn of the Lake Quinault Lodge afterwards is de rigueur!