Short road trip - Day 1

There are just so many B&B's!

The one I set up to visit for an overnight is out in Forks, on the West coast. Most people breeze through the town without a glance, its one traffic light barely slowing anyone down. There are rather shabby looking buildings lining the main street and a few restaurants that announce their presence with neon signs. Before you know it, you're out of town.

This time, I stopped, turned left at the traffic signal and ended up at Miller Tree Inn.

Chris was supposed to come with me but clients wanted to see property so I decided I'd go by myself. Susan couldn't get away and Janet is in Mexico.

So I packed up my overnight bag and headed out. The weather report said the arctic blow was on its way and we should expect temps down in the the teens! But no rain or snow, so that was encouraging. I got out of here around 10 hit the highway, passing Chris as he met his people out on the 173 acres of forest land he has listed. As usual, there was very little traffic so made good time, stopping in Port Angeles to pick up a sandwich and water for the rest of the trip as I know there are basically no restaurants out that way. I wanted to really check out the area to get a good feel for it so decided to head out to La Push, which is on the Makah Indian Reservation.

What a depressed area that is! Ramshackle housing, beat up old cars, trash all over the place (unfortunately typical on Indian reservations) There is a wonderful beach and the tribe has a "resort" there but not one I would want to stay at! I stopped at a parking area to maybe walk to Second Beach (creative name, huh?) and saw the signs for prevalent theft problems, so decided to just eat my sandwich and not hike to the beach!

Heading back to the highway I decided on another exploration and went to Rialto Beach (web cam) which is part of the Parks Service. The beach was piled high with logs and driftwood from the last storm and round, smooth pebbles make up most of the beach. The surf was big and the tops of the waves were really being blown off. This is the entrance to La Push harbor so it must be really tricky for the boats going in and out. This is a wild coast line and punctuated with sea stacks, or tall, almost needle-like rock outcroppings - very picturesque but I think, rather hazardous to sailors!

I knew that there was a B&B I had contacted out on this road somewhere so I set about finding it. After a couple of false starts, did find it but no one was there so left a message and my card and headed into town.

By now it was around 3 so about time to be getting back to civilization. And a warm place, inside! So off I went, cruised through town and headed for the Tourist Office, across the street from the airport. Here I met Diane, the town cheerleader! How wonderful to have so much enthusiasm for a job! A large lady, Diane has her finger on the pulse of the area and was really helpful, pointing out and telling me about other places I hadn't heard of!

And while here, I discovered I had locked my keys in the car!

Damn!

I have never done that before and I was really relieved that I did it here as if it had happened in the other places I had been, I would have been in deep doo doo! because there was no cell reception out in those place. So it cost me $40 to get Jerry of Jerry's Lock and Key to come out and rescue me! I am usually so careful but I was talking to Jim at the office on my cell, and put the keys down instead of in my pocket! Now I am REALLY paranoid about them!

Checked into the Inn around 5:30. Bill and Susan are wonderful hosts. And the Inn itself is charming. The house was built in the early 1900's and has quite a history. Bill has lived in Forks almost his entire life (seven years of college away from there) and Susan has been there for 23 years. So they are very knowledgeable and helpful.

Because I had eaten my lunch so late, I decided not to go out. Besides, there aren't a lot of choices! The only recommended places are the Mexican joint and one of the Chinese places and neither sounded appealing!

So I opted to stay in. What a treat! A jacuzzi tub in the room, which I thoroughly enjoyed, then a whole evening watching the Olympic figure skating! A huge bed all to myself and everything so quiet!

Slept like a log!