When the pieces come together: Part One

What makes a perfect weekend?  What are the essential elements that must come together to create a weekend of ‘Kismet’?

Well, this past Labor Day long weekend we discovered that the perfect weekend can be as much about what is omitted as what is included.

The night before our departure I suffered a night of insomnia.  They come up from time to time, and usually at inopportune moments like this one.  I awoke to a rainy morning, an achy neck, a recurrence of a niggling sore throat I have been fighting for weeks, and a bad mood.

Ben was a trooper.  I was a trooper. We managed our morning like seasoned travelers and were showered, fed and packed without too many snippy words.  We loaded the car in the rain, and made the early ferry (7:55am) with several minutes to spare.  We would ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, then drive across the island and over a bridge onto the Olympic Peninsula.

The boys were excited.

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Anticipation

I wanted either coffee or sleep.  I opted for sleep and soon discovered that the fully reclined passenger seat of Ben’s car combined with my awesome pillow (which I take with me everywhere) is the PERFECT way to travel long distances.  I was out like a light.

When I emerged from my coma, we were in Port Townsend, a pretty town on the north-eastern tip of the peninsula.  My friend, Todd, had tipped us off that it is was a great spot, so we detoured off course to fit it in.

Driving in we saw this:

Oops
Oops

The weather in Port Townsend was what my dad would call ‘wild and woolly’.  [It is an expression I have grown up with, so I know that it means ‘really windy and a lot wet’, but now that I have written it into this post, I am wondering how the ‘woolly’ part comes into play.]  It had stranded these two boats on the shoreline, and when we got out of the car, it threatened to blow us out straight back of town.

We opted for a safe haven in the form of the nearest coffee shop, where we drank tea, and ate American-style scones.  Ben asked for soy milk, but we were informed that they didn’t use soy milk, because it is VERY bad for you.  Sure. Okay.  Whatever you say.

After tea Ben suggested we walk through the town a bit.  For me the day was only just coming in to focus, so I said yes, despite the weather.  I needed to wake up fully.

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In Port Townsend

We discovered some gorgeous architecture that has been lovingly restored, and many galleries.  I bought a few little trinkets – gifts mostly – including a giant sand dollar from the curio shop.  It now sits with our African Goddess and our Indian Elephant – three continents represented in one corner of our living room.  The people we met were lovely and chatty, and I know this is a place I would like to go back to sometime soon.

Moving on from the windy town, we made our way south and then west towards Port Angeles.  We would be staying at a B&B there later in the day, but it wasn’t even lunch time yet, so we pressed on towards the Sol Duc Hot Springs.

Lunch was an impromptu stop at Granny’s Cafe, an old school diner on the main highway.

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Catsup and Creamer

I believe it is solely for this reason that people stop there to eat, and has nothing to do with Granny, the food, or the collections of ‘things’ that fill every horizontal surface.

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Intriguing

Moooo
Moooo

The food was, at best, passable.

Fed, we hopped back in the car, still on course for Sol Duc Springs, and took a detour to Lake Crescent, where we saw our first glimpse of sun that day.

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Driving to Lake Crescent

The Lake is in the Olympic National Park, but holiday homes pepper its shore.  From one angle I could have sworn I saw how it must be at the height of summer, even though the true temperature was closer to 58F (15C).

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Lake Crescent

As we left, the rain came again.  After winding around the south side of the lake – a beautiful drive – we turned off the highway and into the central part of the national forest.  We overshot the hot springs and drove instead to a trail head for, among other destinations, Sol Duc Falls.  It was only sprinkling lightly, but had clearly rained heavily at some point, because the trails were dense with mud.

Just as I pointed out a beetle for Ben to avoid stepping on, there was a sharp pain in my hand.  I quickly pulled off my glove, thinking that maybe a spider had nestled in there over the summer, but no.  A yellow jacket hornet had stung me through my glove and it hurt like hell.  A quick detour back to the car to dress my wound, and we retraced our steps back towards the falls.  We were rewarded for our efforts – and my pain – with this spectacular sight.

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Ben at Sol Duc Falls

And looking further down river:

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So lush

We made our way back to the car while I watched carefully for attack hornets.  Back at the car we met a lovely group of middle aged people who had been stranded by a dead car battery.  Fortuitously for them we happened to be parked right next to them, and could give them a jump start.  “Thank goodness,” said one of the women.  “We were so worried that the people on either side of us were off trekking for days on end.”  She had no way of knowing that trekking for days in the rain is my closest idea to hell, but we all agreed that our car’s proximity to theirs was ‘great luck indeed’.  Sometimes you meet the nicest people.

Feeling good about our small act of kindness, we drove a short distance, grabbed our swimsuits and paid admission to the Sol Duc Springs Resort.

I kind of knew when I saw first the ‘hot springs’ – essentially giant hot tubs stuffed with tourists and their splashing children – and then the filthy change rooms, that it would be a short visit.  I was disappointed for many reasons.  Mostly, I had looked forward to the hot springs because my neck, shoulders and upper back had been chronically sore for days.  It was becoming hard to sit, sleep, stand and move – which pretty much didn’t leave much time when it didn’t hurt.

I had also been to the hot springs in Aguas Calientes, Peru, which were beautiful, exceptionally clean, and set into the side of a mountain, so my expectations for the Sol Duc Springs were high.

The stench of sulfur did nothing to ease my aches, and I wished it was a better experience all around – especially for Ben, who was experiencing a hot springs for the first time.  I stayed in as long as I could, but when I saw the 30th strand of hair float by, and then a band-aid, I got out, quickly showered and dressed.  Ben was not too far behind me.  Before leaving I filled in a comment card, and as this post goes to press, I received a lovely email from the management apologizing for the state of the facilities and offering a free pass for us both on our next visit.  Hmm.  Thanks, but we’ll think about it.

It was time to head to our accommodation for the night and I looked forward to getting clean and dry and out of the outdoors.  Sometimes, Adventure Chick.  Sometimes, Princess.  Princess was ready for a bath!

Part Two: Where Vampires Dwell

More photos from the weekend

Hawaii H2O

Every day we were in Hawaii we were either in the water or out on it, sailing, snorkeling, paddling and swimming. Ben even tried surfing, and we both had a bash at paddleboarding.

Some of the highlights:

Sunset Cruise (Maui). Our first night on Maui we got on a sunset cruise, which was romantic and fun, and reminded us exactly why we love Maui so much.

Back in Maui!
Back in Maui!

We got our sea legs pretty quickly.

Sea legs
Sea legs

The views of the coastline were beautiful, but it was this that blew us away at the end of the evening:

Sunset from Maui
Sunset from Maui

We enjoyed our ‘champagne’ out of plastic cups, and dancing to old tunes (no easy task on a rocking yacht), but mostly were both we thrilled to be back out on the water. Our holiday began with a bang.

Beach bumming (Maui and Kaua’i). We didn’t spend too much time just laying on the beach with the occasional dip in the sea. We spent just enough. We got our Vitamin D, we chilled out, and we got a little tanned.

Our resort's beach on Maui
Our resort's beach on Maui

We even brought our ‘boys’ down so they could get the sun they’d been missing in Seattle.

Ben with Tahoe Bear and Squirt
Ben with Tahoe Bear and Squirt

(Yes, I know they aren’t real, but don’t tell Ben.)

On Kaua’i we got secret directions to Secret Beach. It took us a couple of U-turns, but we found it. When we arrived, we were the only ones there.

Shhhh.  Secret Beach
Shhhh. Secret Beach

The view back along the coast was incredible.

View from Secret Beach
View from Secret Beach

And Ben is becoming quite the body surfer.

Body Surfer
Body Surfer

The water is an incredible color! We did read later, much like the information we discovered after our hike in Waimea Canyon, that the rips off the coast of Kaua’i have been responsible for a few casualties. There was one moment when I looked up from my book, and couldn’t see Ben in the surf. My heart leapt into my throat, mostly because we were alone, and I would not be able to rescue him without drowning myself, but he waved and called out from further down the beach.

Snorkeling Molokini Atoll (Maui). This trip took most of the day, and began by sailing out to the atoll on a double hulled catamaran.

On our way to Molokini
On our way to Molokini

Once there, we geared up, and got to the business of snorkeling one of the clearest and best snorkeling spots in the world.

Underwater
Underwater by Ben

Ben took some terrific underwater shots:

Angel Fish by Ben
Angel Fish by Ben
by Ben
by Ben
by Ben
by Ben

Our next stop was ‘Turtle Town’, where we swam with the sea turtles. At first I was doubtful we would see any, but I spotted the first one, followed it with Ben until we found a much bigger one, then we followed that one. I saw 4 turtles, and one of them was only a few feet from me. Ben has some terrific shots on his Flickr page of our last jaunt with the sea turtles (April 2007), so check them out.

I love sea turtles. They have such grace, and seem so wise (perhaps because some of them are over 100 years old). The native Hawaiians believe they are spiritual guides. I know that I feel a special kind of peace when I swim with them.

Kayaking Waimea River to a waterfall. This was a terrific afternoon on Kaua’i where we paddled up river about 2 and a half miles,

Kayaking Waimea River
Kayaking Waimea River

tied up our kayaks,

Parking lot
Parking lot

hiked another mile into the rain forest to the waterfall,

Through the mud
Through the mud
Hike through the rainforest
Hike through the rainforest
Awesome scenery
Awesome scenery

and then swam in it.

Was only a little chilly
Was only a little chilly

Our guide was a Hawaiian native who happily works for the family-run business. Terada knows her stuff, and loves her homeland. She tackled the hike (through mud, streams and over rocks) bare-footed. And she filled the hike with lots of interesting information about the terrain.

We hiked out on a different path, where we saw this waterfall.

Water feature
Water feature

We loved the whole thing; it was a terrific excursion.

Happy travelers
Happy travelers

Sailing up the Napoli Coast (Kaua’i). We took a sunset cruise off the coast of Kaua’i that took us up to the Napoli Coast (accessible only by boat or by foot).

The coastline is THE most beautiful I have ever seen. Our skipper took his time, and pointed out landmarks along the way. I think its beauty speaks for itself.

Aqua Agua
Aqua Agua
The Queen's Bath
The Queen's Bath
Archway
Archway

And yes, the water really was this brilliant aqua color. We could 80 feet to the ocean floor, and watched sea turtles swimming between the boat and the shore.

Cave
Cave

Ben wants to hike to this cave and camp here on our next trip to Kaua’i. I’d be up for that.

Watertrickle
Watertrickle

After we turned back, and the sun started to set, our skipper saw some spinner dolphins leaping out of the water not too far off our bow. He made his way over there, and Ben got some terrific footage as they swam off the wake of the bow.

Spinner Dolphins
Spinner Dolphins

I felt like a little kid. I couldn’t stop smiling.

Delighted
Delighted

Boarding (Surfing on Maui and Paddleboarding on Kaua’i). Ben had a go at long board surfing on Maui. He took a lesson with two other guys, and while they practiced their moves on land, they looked a little like the ‘Surfettes’.

Boy band or surfers in the making?
Boy band or surfers in the making?

He stood his first go, and continued to ride the waves. Not bad for a guy who grew up landlocked!

Catching his first wave
Catching his first wave
Hanging 10 (off the board)
Hanging 10 (off the board)

Paddleboarding was a whole new sport. You stand on a specially designed long board and paddle. You can catch waves, but must change to the surfer stance, and it takes a lot of practice. Ben had a lesson, and the next day taught me. On my birthday we spent a couple of hours paddling around Kalapaki Bay.

Paddleboarding
Paddleboarding

Lounging at the pool. We spent little time at the Marriott resort pool, but we made a point to swim, spa and sun ourselves. Wouldn’t you?

3 of 5 swim-up spas
3 of 5 swim-up spas
Pool with views to the beach
Pool with views to the beach

Hawaii was a brilliant time. We squeezed every moment out of our time there. And it is always a pleasure to travel with my best friend.

Ben
Ben
Sand
Sand