Rainforest, Painforest
We obviously had to sleep in a little because of the late night, but Olympic is one of the busiest parks, so we sacrificed a real hearty breakfast to make our way to Olympic. As soon as I could, I housed the remaining donettes from no one remembers when.
Mom's hip was really acting up. She was in a lot of pain, so she asked Dad to switch with her and he drove us the rest of the day.
Our first stop in Olympic consisted of our sign picture and a visitor center. We got some postcards and Gideon got a finger puppet. It turns out, when the rangers are actually at the entrance, you can even get a map without asking. Mind blowing.
Next stop was the only rainforest in the Continental United States, also in Olympic National Park. There was a little bit of a drive to get there and we passed a small town. There was a small side of the road shack that offered breakfast, so we all decided to be adventurous. Me and Gideon got chocolate muffins which were pretty good, and Mom and Dad had breakfast sandwiches which they said were alright too.
We drove for a while longer to get to the right entrance, during which I probably read or slept as usual. Orrrr I may have actually listened to music . . . I guess we'll never know . . . It doesn't really matter though because most of the time I was busy thinking about how the scenery of this park looked exactly like a movie. Like we were in Jurassic Park or Jumanji.
When we got to the entrance, we stopped in line directly next to a sign post informing us that it would be about an hour wait before we entered the park. At this point, I hadn't peed all morning and really had to go. It was an interesting wait, people were just getting out of their cars and walking around. Most of the family ate a little lunch-like muncheon right then, but I wasn't really hungry. The wait was faster than an hour though, and we were in the park in what felt like no time.
We were told we should probably park on the street outside of the main parking lots because the lots were likely full, but because of Mom's leg Dad pursued a spot closer to the visitor center and bathrooms. He found a parallel parking spot, and he had to pull forward and back probably ten times to be parked correctly. Finally, we got out of the car and walked along a short paved trail to the restrooms. There was little signage so Gideon and Dad did a lot of multitasking between dilly dallying and taking pictures of random things and actually being helpful and seeking bathroom signage. Eventually, after a lot of "Oh, guys do you see ____?" from Dad, we made it to the bathrooms. They were busy and dirty, but so worth it. I only learned after we left, but apparently Olympic Park doesn't have a driving option. If you want to see it, you have to take a hike, and Mom couldn't bear it. She insisted we go anyway, but since we're not all that sporty we took the shortest and easiest trail offered.
It was so. pretty. The trail was literally called "The Hall of Moss" and we saw as expected: a whole bunch of moss. We also saw a pretty white butterfly, mushrooms growing on trees and a pretty bird with white tail feathers.I got pictures of all of those including a huge tree stump with some plants growing on it that actually inspired another dude that had passed it by to take that picture. I'm not proud, you are.
There was one more thing we wanted to see in the park after our hike. A tree that had grown over a river, then the river eroded the rock, and it still sags over the gap. It was pretty cool looking, but it might not have been worth wading through the thick, fine sand that led us there. Plus, the beach it was on was extremely cold.
After that I was pretty reasonably tired, so I took a super long and nice nap, while Mom pleaded with Dad to find a bathroom. It took quite a while, but they found one and woke me up to go pee, which I didn't realize I'd appreciate until I actually went. After that it was mostly a lot of driving. I was finally hungry, so I ate a whole ton of snacks and then listened to Gideon and Mom decide that we'd be eating at Olive Garden in about twenty minutes. Great. Obviously, I didn't eat that much even though I really wanted to.
The hotel was a larger and more fancy Mariott than most in Tacoma. We pulled up and Mom went in to check in and ask about parking, and apparently the reception was pretty rude. She could only get really vague instructions on where the parking garage was. We figured it out and got our car parked and ourselves in the building soon. We got in the elevator but we couldn't press the twenty one button to get to our room. We were so confused we got out on floor two to make sure we were looking for the right floor. We got back in the elevator because two was definitely not our floor. When we got in, Mom finally noticed a little scanner in the corner of control panel, and with a quick scan we got to our room. Again, another thing the receptionist could've been more specific about.
In the room, I realized because it was Saturday, that means I have TV episodes. Me, Gideon and Dad all watched the Owl House. Oh. My. God. Not that any of you watch it, but no spoilers. But that episode . . . FIRE. So. Good. I went and took a super nice shower after that, and the shower was even super bright which was great for shaving. When I got out, the boys still had to shower so I layed in bed and watched the Miraculous episodes I missed, which were also so excellent. With these amazing episodes, I was totally at ease to sleep.
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