Year 4, Day 3

Day 3. Best day so far for sightseeing. What a beautiful state Washington is. My favorite so far of all the states along with Tennessee. So green. So natural. So Pretty. The day started off at the Ape Caves near Mt. St. Helens. A mile long underground lava tube you climb down into. We made it down and about 500 yards. One flashlight in hand. DARK! Holy smokes was it dark. It was like being inside the stomach of a giant. It was wet, drippy, windy, and DARK. You could not see in front of your face if the flashlight was out. With no extra batteries and not a lot of courage we decided not to go all the way through. It was still cool and we made it far enough that we couldnt see the opening any longer. Instead we explored the lava flows above ground around the mountain. Then we headed west. The Olympic National Forest greeted us multiple times along our way. This place is amazing. Trees, trees and more trees. The Quinot rain forest was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Its a temperate rain forest and in the US, they only exist along this area of the northwest. Amazing. We could have explored there all day. Among this area is Forks, WA where the Twilight series was filmed. None of us are fans, but still cool. The town is overrun with Twilight everything. Tonight we stayed in Port Angeles, WA. Just outside of town is a lake called Lake Crescent. This will be my home someday. Tall mountains around a clear cold lake. Fish jumping, sun setting around hanging clouds. Dreamlike. We can see Canada out our hotel window. The lights of the ports flashing, very inviting. But Canada is not on our list so we will just look across and imagine. Until tomorrow. - Traveling Mama