Trip to the Olympic Peninsula, May 2019

Map of road trip

We came from Singapore 3 years ago to live in Seattle; and throughout our time as a family,

even before our move, outdoor time has been important to me, the mother, while indoor time has

been important to my husband AND our three boys. Balance is the key, though I have always faced

a challenge in getting the family out of the house. Sadly I find inadequate joy in exploring the

outdoors on my own, and hence have always felt compelled to "drag" my boys out. Sorry, fellas!

Our latest trip out was one to the Olympic Peninsula, and I shall chronicle our journey here.

Memorial Day weekend was approaching, and my husband had a day off from work for the

holiday, and his mother was staying with us. “Shall we take a trip?” I ask our boys. “Yes,” my oldest

answered eagerly, “to Vancouver BC, where we shall eat to our hearts' content!” “Ooh, yummy!”

says my husband, “but sorry, we are again under a no-travel advice while our Advanced Parole

cards are being renewed.” Bummer! “So,” says intrepid explorer Mom, “let's go to the Olympic

Peninsula instead!” “Oh no,” the children say, “no hiking!” “All right, dears, we'll go to enjoy the towns

and the scenery instead. No hiking!” “Okaayy….” they go, and I have their permission!

Off I go to plan the trip. The kids aren't too hot with the hotels I chose, but they are reasonably

priced, said to be clean, and easy to get to. Their father gets concerned with the driving route I

had planned, but I try to sweeten him up by promising short routes for two out of the four days and

an early return on the fourth. My mother in law, always a dear, seemed game and happy with the

plans.

Friday came, and the children got home from school all ready for the trip. Their father came home

from work at 5 pm and we set out soon after. We were taking the clockwise route, so we went to

Olympia via the I-5S, taking SR99 part of the way to get around the evening slowdown, entering

the I-5S at Tukwila. Traffic was fine and as we drove further from Seattle, the air seemed lighter,

the roads seemed to grow wider, buildings disappeared from the skyline and were replaced by

mountains.

The Governor hotel

We reached our first lodgings of our trip, The Governor, Olympia, just after 7 pm. We were very

pleased with the hotel lobby - clean restrooms, hot water and cold water on tap, coffee, tea and

hot chocolate packs, and a friendly receptionist, as well as our rooms - comfy clean beds,

well-stocked and clean bathrooms, but not too thrilled with the elevator, which would not come to a

higher floor when called, although once in it, it would go either way. We walked to nearby Kizuki

Ramen and Izakaya for dinner, marveling at the quiet streets at 8pm. After filling ourselves with

delicious ramen, we returned to our hotel for a night of TV and rest.

Sylvester Park

Old Capitol Building

John Rankin Rogers statue

Inscription under statue

The next morning we had a satisfying breakfast in the hotel and went to Sylvester Park to see the old

Capitol Building and to fly the kids' kite. I was impressed by the statue of John Rankin Rogers -

more specifically, by what I learned about him from the inscription under the statue. He was a man

who championed the poor, and was the governor of Washington for two terms. Our visit to the park

was interrupted by a man lying on the grass next to a tent screaming and yelling at the children when

they ran past him - this alarmed the children quite a bit - but once we were a good distance away, they

accepted the explanation that his behaviour probably stemmed from much personal suffering, and

their fear turned to empathy.

Tivoli Fountain gardens

Tivoli Fountain

Washington State Capitol Building

Capitol Building

Temple of Justice

We walked on to the Washington State Capitol Building, the path to which was well-marked by

sign-posts. Before reaching the buildings - for there were several buildings with imposing stone

facades situated close together, we traversed the park and came to the Tivoli Fountain, which made

a pretty backdrop for pictures. Our younger boys did not go see the building - playing at the park was

way more fun! Many people were sitting on the steps of the Capitol taking pictures. Inside was the

seat of the senate and the Governor’s office. The other buildings were named the Insurance building,

the Temple of Justice (where the Supreme Court was situated) and several eponymous names. They

were a grand sight indeed, and certainly were the highlight of the adults’ visit to Olympia.

Tugboat Sandman

Hands-On Children's Museum

Next, we returned to the hotel for check out and subsequently drove out to Percival Landing, where

we paid Tugboat Sandman a visit. It was a hundred-year-old humble little boat that had served Olympia

for many years as a tugboat pulling larger ships into harbour, before being retired and re-purposed as a

free museum. The little ones were kept entertained by the curator, who had a soft spot for children.

Next, we visited Puget Sound Estuarium, a two-room building staffed by enthusiastic people and filled

with marine exhibits, ranging from the stuffed animal variety to live creatures in tanks to fossils and

shells for curious visitors to examine under microscopes. After that we split to bring the little ones to

Hands-on Children’s Museum (HOCM) and the other three to explore Farmer’s Market and have lunch. The

HOCM was massive, spanning two stories and packed with activities and features that allowed children

to be literally hands-on everything! From wind-tunnels made up by pipes that balls and ribbons zip

through, to a river obstructed by walls and dams that boats float downstream, to a tree-themed

stairwell and slide that the children never seemed to tire of, to a building zone with planks, nuts, bolts

and wheels; an art and craft zone, a life-size yacht, another wind-tunnel to test self-made parachutes

… two hours flew by and we could have spent more time there had we not wanted to hold the rest of

the party up. The three of us had a quick lunch at the museum cafe while the others joined us, and

from there, after we found that the neighbouring WET science museum was closed for the Memorial
Day weekend, we drove to our next destination city, Aberdeen.

Aberdeen is called the “Gateway to the Olympics” and it was a sprawling, quiet city. We stayed at the

Guest House Aberdeen, and had a huge family room which is more accurately a one-bedroom

apartment with two queen beds and a sofa-bed. We had everything we needed, especially as we

arrived early and were given the extra towels we requested, but my mother-in-law wanted some

indoor slippers, and I had not packed enough underwear for my youngest, so we drove to nearby

Walmart to get some, and along the way picked up other knick-knacks and snacks, including an

inflatable 10-foot long pool for a steal at only $19.99! This was after dinner at Mazatlan, a Mexican

restaurant a stone’s throw from the Guest House. Thus having done all we wanted to do for the day,

we settled down for another night of TV, browsing through photographs and sleep.    

Lake Quinault

Having a laugh with a friendly local dog

Kalaloch Creek

Ruby Beach

The next day was the day my husband and my oldest son dreaded the most- the driving day.

We planned to drive north to Cape Flattery, have lunch at Neah Bay, and drive east to Sequim

to spend the night. Hence we filled up at Denny’s, the hotel breakfast being rather lacking,

checked out and went on our way. I had planned stops at Lake Quinault, Kalaloch Lodge and Ruby

Beach to take in the scenery. The first leg, that to Lake Quinault, went by uneventfully, and the Lake

was beautiful, livened up by another visiting group with a whole lot of children and a friendly local dog

which had unfortunately chewed up a ball belonging to one of them and which insistently checked me

out as I stood on the meadow looking across the lake. As we went on to Kalaloch Lodge, however,

tempers began to fray and bathroom needs became urgent. At Kalaloch Lodge we had our first

glimpse of the Pacific ocean for many months, and gazed at the holiday-makers at the beach,

while taking turns to queue at the only public bathroom at the facility. Ruby Beach, too, though

not far away, was rather popular, with cars parked in line a good way away from the beach access,

and people walking from their cars to the beach and in the opposite direction. We took a few pictures

and picked up some rocks from the road, and returned hastily to our car. There we found that the

three stops had lengthened out travel time considerably, and our destination, Cape Flattery, was an

estimated two hours away, and with the that knowledge as well as of our next hotel being yet

another two hours’ drive away, our oldest launched into a full-blown meltdown and we had to listen

to his tirade throughout our journey northwards, until he blessedly fell asleep from exhaustion.

Cape Flattery

Highway 101, the freeway encircling the Olympic Peninsula, is essentially tree-lined and flanked

on one side by mountains, and offered only peekaboo views of the western coastline. To access

points of interest such as the Hoh Rainforest, Ruby beach etc, a fair bit of detour off the freeway

is needed, which we did not plan to do on this trip, having promised the children “no hiking”.

Journeying northward, however, we got onto Highway 112, which runs east-west both ways on the

northern coast. Named after the Strait of Juan de Fuca which it ran alongside, it gave stunning views

of white beaches, the Strait, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on the other side.

Driving through Neah Bay, a seaside town on the Makah Indian Reservation with numerous restaurants

and accommodation options, we arrived at the Cape Flattery parking area, where we walked on a half-

mile well-maintained trail to the lookout point. It felt good, having travelled a long way, to reach the

northwestern point of Washington and, indeed, of the contiguous United States. Beach access is

probably not far away, but we did not attempt it, and returned the same way to the parking

area, where we joined other travellers queuing ruefully for rudimentary bathroom facilities, exchanging

notes of how we had gotten there and from where while we waited.         

The driver of the day decided to skip the rest stop at Neah Bay, and pushed on for Sequim, hoping

to reach it by the late afternoon. The ensuing two-hour journey did not go too well, despite the beautiful

drive, for although our oldest had calmed down, the younger ones became restless and picked fights

with each other the whole way. Possibly the stress got to the driver, who eventually got stopped for

speeding and picked up an additional ticket for having improperly restrained children in the backseat.

Thus chastened we arrived at our last accommodation of the trip, Olympic View Inn. It looked like a

motel from the outside, but once we entered our rooms, it felt like a luxuriant oasis. We

had dinner at an Asian cafe, Sequim Bento Teriyaki, then as there were no late-night cafes in the

vicinity, bought bottled iced tea and milk at Safeway, and returned to our hotel for after-dinner drinks

and chill-out time. The rooms were as comfortable as they were beautiful, and we woke the next day

well-rested for the final day of our trip.

Sign at Mariner Cafe, just for laughs

Lavender chocolate 

It was Memorial Day, so after a delicious breakfast at Mariner Cafe, we went to a lavender farm that

we knew was open, Sunshine Herb and Lavender Farm. If we had more time, we might have gone to

Olympic Game Farm instead, a sanctuary for Disney’s retired performing animals offering a safari-like

drive-through experience. As it were, we stopped at the lavender farm, admired the few (lavender

season is in July) lavender plants in bloom, bought some lavender-infused gifts and chocolate, toyed

with the idea of buying a lavender plant but decided against it in case it drowned in rainy Seattle

(sandy, well-drained soil is essential as these plants are susceptible to root rot) and went on our way.   

We drove for over an hour to Kingston, stopping at Port Ludlow for fuel, and crossing the Hood canal
by the SR 104 bridge that was a little congested that afternoon, admiring our first view of the Puget
Sound since the start of our trip. We came to Kingston in the heat of the afternoon and, before joining
the queue for the ferry, bought our lunch at Grub Hut. Thus we were well-distracted during our almost
two-hour wait for the ferry, eating lunch in or standing around the car with the doors open in the ferry
waiting area! The burgers were delicious and our drinks from the nights before refreshing, and
everyone remained in an excellent mood. The ferry ride was fun, as always, and before long we
were in Edmonds, making our way home.

Thus ended our road trip clockwise around the Olympic Peninsula. We had our ups and downs, and

that five-hour-that-became-seven-hour-long drive on the third day was probably a mistake. However,

everyone enjoyed the trip in general - some for the scenery, some for the food, some for the hotels,

and all of us for the general feeling of being on holiday and being somewhere different and doing

something different. Some other time, we will be back, to visit Port Angeles, Port Townsend, Lake

Crescent, and Hurricane Ridge, and maybe the Olympic Game Farm; and hopefully one day our

family would be willing to hike in the Olympic National Park and see its natural beauty close up. For

now, it is back to the hum-drum of urban life in Seattle!