Cruisin’ Washington: Salt Creek Tide Pooling

Oh Twilight fans who may read this, I feel it necessary to apologize in advance for not being fans, not even a little bit, never having even read the back cover of even one of the books, nor watched an entire trailer of any of the movies and therefore our Twilight encounter was wasted on us.

With that out of the way... another long day in the RV, but with sunshine streaming from above, all seemed right and warm in our mobile abode (Ewww... that kind of sounds like a trailer home, which I would not enjoy living in. Another Tara quirk: Creeped out by mobile homes.) We drove again along the coast on the 101 north passing through very few towns at all. It felt extremely remote for this part of the drive. However we did pass through Fork, OR. I believe this town (according to Wikipedia after Bill and I googled it) played a significant role in the Twilight series.

We knew to google it after seeing sign after sign welcoming Twilight fans and shops selling all things Twilight-y and then we were sure something was up when we passed a shop called Dazzled by Twilight. At least in my defense, I knew it had to do with the Stephanie Meyer’s series, and not the old Twilight Zone T.V. show like Bill originally thought. It was a dumpy ol’ logging town that was excited for the fresh income coming with all the fans. Not really all that picture-esque as far as towns go. (Although the pine trees surrounding the area were lovely.)

Water the color of an aquamarine greated us around the bend from Fork as we drove for miles and miles of stunning Crescent lake. The glacial lake was the most beautiful Bill and I have ever seen. Even from the road, the water was so clear we could see all the way to the bottom of the lake.

Crescent lake was just a taste of the beauty that was to come. We arrived at Salt Creek Recreation Area, our site for the night, greeting by a family of deer. A doe, a baby, and it’s father were all grazing on the small meadow next to our RV site. The daddy kept watch as I approached with the camera to get a shot of the deer. The boys were impressed with how close I was able to get, but with the sun where it was and the parents getting antsy, the shot looks like just a grassy field, but I can attest there were 3 deer in the shot, and if you squint just right, you just might see them too.


Exploring the area was an extra special treat after spending more time than we thought we would need to to get here.


We followed the path along the strait of San Juan de Fuca down to tide pools that had been carved in to the rock surrounding the cliffs.




The four of us marvelled as we spotted all kinds of life: sea anenomies, thousands of tiny hermit crabs, awesome clams and muscles, sea weed, fish, kelp.





We found shells and rocks polished smooth and shiny by the waves.








Bill thrilled the boys by getting one of the rocks to skip 4 whole times. (Romney wanted to make sure I included that detail).





















We spent hours exploring and hiking around the area, finishing up at some abandoned bunkers, enjoying the remaining sun of the day. We now sit watching the cruise ships pass through the strait from the warm and cozy confines of our cruisin’ mobile. Though still reserving my final verdict on the whole RV experience (not to be confused with the Experience of the Jimi Hendrix variety), I am finding myself thoroughly relaxed and enjoying our slower paced adventure into Canada).