OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK & VICTORIA, BC

Jules’ Journal: Olympic National Park

By: Julianne Lillie, 6/10/23 – 6/11/23

I didn’t realize how huge Olympic National Park is! It pretty much covers the vast majority of Washington’s arm that stretches out across Puget Sound known as the Olympic Peninsula. And then also covers the Pacific coastline of that peninsula. Luckily, we had 2 days to explore it!

6/10/23: The first day we decided to do the closer areas and get some awesome hiking in! Our first stop was the Visitor Center in Port Angeles where we acquainted ourselves with the park by watching the park film and browsing the exhibits.

The kids started on their Jr Ranger booklets which they took on our first hike, the Living Forest Trail. It was a 1-mile hike that originated from the Visitor Center’s parking lot, and we saw lots of living things!

We saw one snail, a couple chipmunks, several spiders, and 8 Banana slugs! We also saw some mushrooms!

Then the kids earned their Jr Ranger badge #120!

After that, we set out for the Lake Crescent Area which was a 45-minute drive. The yellow golden rod was showing off all alongside the road!

The overlooks of the lake were just beautiful!

Our first hike in this area was the “Moment in Time” trail (0.75-mile loop) that followed the lake’s edge.

We walked among the old growth forest trees covered in Moss and found so many cool mushrooms on this hike!

This giant tree was burned and hollowed out in the lower portion, but was still very much alive and leafy green! Crazy!

Here's some photos of the many mushrooms we saw:

Next, we hiked through the Bovee Meadow to our next trailhead.

We set out on the Marymere trail (2 miles total) that started with going through a tunnel under the road!

We crossed several bridges... one was a single log bridge.

The trail ended at Marymere Falls - a gorgeous 90-foot waterfall!

We also saw more pretty mushrooms!

Before leaving this area, we wanted to check out the historic Lake Crescent Lodge.

It was so cozy & rustic! The fireplace was cracking, and it had a gorgeous screened in porch overlooking the dock. We had a snack on the patio and soaked in the views!

We also walked out on the dock to take in the fresh mountain lake air!

Then we headed out to the Sol Duc Area which was a 40-minute drive from here. We stopped at the Salmon Cascades overlook to see if we could see any Salmon or Steelhead.

But unfortunately, no sightings… they usually can be seen spawning in the Spring and Autumn seasons.

Our first hike at Sol Duc Area was Sol Duc Falls trail (2.2 miles total) which ended at a beautifully cascading 60-foot triple waterfall!

It was gushing so hard the mist in the air displayed the most beautiful full rainbow!

We of course found more mushrooms! The mushroom hunting grew into something similar of an easter egg hunt and was fun for us all!

At this point we were 2 hours from the camper and had hiked a little over 5 miles, so we headed back to the camper and called it a day.

6/11/23: Our second day to explore Olympic National Park was more of a “driving” day. Our first stop was the Hoh Rainforest which was 2.5 hours from our campground in Sequim, WA. This gave us plenty of time to engage in church online on the way!

When we arrived at the Hoh Rainforest, we checked out the small ranger station and learned that Elk sightings happen frequently here.

There were 2 short hikes we were wanting to do in the Hoh, however when we arrived at the Spruce Nature Trailhead, a Ranger stopped us and said the loop was closed because there was an aggressive mama Elk with her calves. And the left side of the loop only was open. We decided to start out hiking the Hall of Mosses trail instead. It was a beautiful hike with numerous different types of mosses growing on every surface and dripping on every tree branch!

But honestly, it wasn’t much different from our forest hikes at Lake Crescent the previous day. And not near as much wildlife or mushrooms – so that was a bit disappointing! We only saw 1 snail and 1 slug.

After that hike we headed back to the Spruce Trailhead and the Rangers told us we should be good if we just veer left when the loop splits. So, we did and walked a way until we saw a fresh elk print in the mud. Jaycie was very nervous and wanted to head back.

We also hadn’t seen a soul on the hike which was a bit concerning since this area was overly crowded! We decided to turn around and head back. We did pass a few brave souls coming in our way out.

We then set out for Rialto Beach which was 45 minutes further and ate our picnic lunch on the way! Kids worked on their Ocean Steward Jr Ranger booklets on the drive.

Right before we arrived to the parking lot there was an overlook with the mouth of the river emptying into the Pacific Ocean with some gorgeous views!

When we arrived, we realized just how cold and windy it was along this coastline! The sun was out, but it was still cold! We bundled up… I had on 4 layers! We walked along the beach and saw Destruction Island and Split Rock.

The boys skipped rocks into the Ocean. There were billions of perfectly smooth skipping rocks… Jett was in heaven!

There were also tons of massive tree trunks & driftwood pieces.

We stayed out on the coast for about 30 minutes, until our ears started hurting & our eyes started watering from the cold wind. It was such a beautiful landscape view, though!

After the 1 hour 45-minute drive back to Port Angeles, we stopped by the visitor center again for the kids to earn their Olympic Ocean Steward Jr Ranger patches - #121!

There was so much more to do in this vast National Park, however for our last day on the peninsula we wanted to jump borders & visit Canada. Which is exactly what we did and had a BLAST! Here’s what the kids had to report on that country hopping experience!

Jett’s Wild Flight: Border to Border!

By: Jett Lillie, 6/12/23

We boarded the Coho Ferry and got donuts in the café which was located on the boat. Then we explored the ferry boat and took pictures.

As we were coming into the harbor we watched some seaplanes take off!

We arrived in CANADA! It was awesome!

We learned that Victoria is the capital of British Columbia which is a Province. They have provinces instead of states.

They use meters instead of yards and feet, which is a little confusing, but the grass was green and there were no homeless (or trash) until you get in the outskirts of Victoria.

We walked to the Empress hotel where we hopped on a bus and headed to Buchardt Gardens.

At the gardens we looked at all kinds of plants and flowers!

After walking through the gardens, I found a lizard!

Then we ate lunch and for dessert had ice cream!

After leaving the gardens we took a bus tour and got front row in the double decker bus.

We then walked the harbor to look at all the boats & yachts.

There was a $100 million Super Sea Xplorer yacht docked in the harbor!

We then ate dinner and traded a Tulsa Police Patch for 2 Victoria, BC police patches! They were so nice!

Then we said goodbye to our Canadian neighbors and ferried on back to the good ‘ole U-S-of-A riding off into the sunset!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News:

By: Jaycie Lillie, 6/12/23

6:00 AM Monday, June 12: We woke up and honestly, I don’t remember anything until the ferry boat because I was so tired and still asleep. I do remember when we parked in the parking garage daddy hit the concrete wall. 🤦‍♀️

Once on the boat we found a table. They had swivel chairs. We got donuts at the cafe! That was yummy.

It was a long ride but once we got there it was so pretty!

The flowers were hung on each lamppost. I love flowers! We took a bus to The Butchart Gardens! Sooo many flowers there!!!!

This was my favorite part of the day! There were roses and trees and a Japanese garden and fountains!

We started on the self-guided tour through the sunken garden.

Big Zinnias!

My favorite was the Fuchsia:

My mom's favorite were these chocolate lilies:

But these daisies were pretty, too!

Next we passed by a dragon fountain.

And I thought this willow tree was neat.

Then we made it to the Rose Garden! So many roses!

The perfect bloom!

There was even a dancing fountain!

Here's photos of the Japanese garden:

Last was the Italian garden:

After we toured it all we ate at the cafe there.

In the Italian Garden we got Sorbet! Mine was Raspberry flavor.

Gardens are so fun! Sadly, we had to go on the bus back to where we started.

There we hopped on a hop-on hop-off bus. We rode for a few stops then got off for dinner.

We ate at a place called The Locals that had lots of beautiful flowers.

I got pizza and fries. The fries were VERY good. For dessert we found more sorbet! YUM! (It wasn’t as good as the first place.)

We had a fun day! Right before we got back on the ferry, we traded patches with a police officer!

On the way back to the states the sunset was pretty.