We drove around the western part of the park and turned to the Hot National Rain Forest. Carl got his Jr Ranger pin and patch and I took a small hike. This is another place I really want to head back to and visit. This park has a discovery trail for bikes and tons of hikes and overnight options. One campground across from where we camped, is beneath ancient Cedar, Hemlock, and oaks covered in moss and mushrooms.
We stopped a couple of times along the road, first at a giant cedar tree and then at the beach. We stayed at the beach for about an hour checking out the cool tide pool creatures, rocks and driftwood. The Pacific is cold, but nothing like the Arctic Ocean.
About an hour further down the road we stopped at a roadside diner called Dino’s Diner. I got the special of fish, shrimp, and fries and it was great. Carl loved his burger. We checked out an interesting mercantile next door that had everything from food, beverages, fishing gear, to muffin baking pans. The interesting thing was that it was built on a slope and one side was several feet higher than the other and the floor was sloped in the store.
We decided to turn inland instead of continuing down the 101 and got to our friend. Rich’s, house about 6PM. We talked for a while and caught up for many hours. Rich fixed some light dinner and then we all headed to bed around midnight.