November: Gray and Stormy

Let the record show that we were unaware of the Twilight saga's settings before we booked our weekend on the Olympic Peninsula. Apparently all three places we visited - Forks, La Push, and Port Angeles - had a part in the books and they are apparently milking it for all it's worth.

Nevertheless, let us enter the Twilight Zone.

La Push is the besht.

The proprietor of a resort booked up for the weekend was able to recommend me the lovely Wood Street Guest House in Forks, WA. About half an hour towards the ocean is La Push, (which makes Forks, the tiny timber town, seem like a metropolis)

While we were here, a twilight tour bus pulled up and some land manatees got out.

Pretty big stump, right?

Two harbor seals came paddling in from the open (and violent) ocean. HORK HORK HORK towards a flock of seabirds. One submerged, and from this beach we witnessed a seal eat a seagull. Just grabbed the whole bird in its mouth with one bite.

There was moss on everything. Mushrooms and moss.

Action Marissa.

Some sort of coral fungus.

This guy's enormous. Believe it or not, the pacific banana slug gets even bigger than this. If you can't tell, I'd say this guy was half a foot long.

Slug reproduction?

Mountains, Gandalf! This was taken from the shore of Crescent Lake on the way back from the coast. It's amazing that the only way to get from seattle north of Olympic National park is a two-lane road (101) that winds along the water for its entire length. Unbelievably gorgeous. If it were any warmer I would have waded in.

To best appreciate our moods, please scroll between this photo and the one above it while making alternate yelling noises.

Hollywood Beach in Port Angeles, and a warning not to swim or fish there after a heavy rain due to raw sewage outflow.