The Big Move Home: Day 2

Day 2 Route: Port Angeles, WA to La Push, WA to Long Beach, WA

Pictures: The Big Move Home: Day 2

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Day 2 By The Numbers

	Day 2	Total
Miles Driven	267.9	346.3
Time in Car*	6:47	9:16
New State License Plates Seen	6	11
Diapers Changed	9	14
Money Spent on Gas	$47.08	$47.08
National Parks Visited	1	1

*According to the car's trip computer

The first few legs of our trip (until Day 4) are unique in that we don't have any single thing that we're trying to see. Instead, we're just taking our time driving 101 around the Olympic Peninsula and down the Oregon coast. That makes Day 2 and Day 3 two of our longest days of driving -- both around 6 hours. It also means we aren't spending a great deal of time in any one place. The longest stop we had on Day 2 was at the Aberdeen Denny's for dinner. It was less delicious than Paseo.

We started the day as we usually do: taking way too long to get ourselves out of the hotel room. We were in the car around 11:15am and decided to get an early lunch before we started driving. We were finally on the road around noon. We stopped in downtown Port Angeles to get some pictures and then started for the coast (at La Push).

The first stop we came to was Lake Crescent, in Olympic National Park. There's nothing quite like a mountain lake, and no matter how many you see, they never get old. We stopped a few times to get a bunch of pictures, but Finley was sleeping, so unfortunately we never got a family shot.

After that we took off for La Push and only stopped for a feeding along the way. La Push is similar to other Northwest beaches that I've seen: overcast, cold, windy, and beautiful, with huge rock spires jutting out of the ocean offshore. If they could figure out how to get some sunshine and warmth on the beach (on days that I'm there), that'd make for a great vacation spot. Even the cold weather doesn't stop people from donning dry suits and surfing, though. There were a half dozen people out there catching some waves while we were freezing on shore. We got ourselves a little bit of nature during our brief stop at the beach: a bald eagle was circling overhead and sea lions were swimming (and hunting) in the harbor.

I'll take this time to mention that there were quite a few Twilight references along the way (as can be expected). Jess had us stop to get a picture of the Treaty Line (which she had to explain to me), and we saw a Twilight tour bus heading down the road to La Push. There were Twilight gift shops similar to those in Port Angeles, and a sign outside of town said 'Now Entering the Twilight Zone'. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was a bit underwhelmed. Jess is probably still tingling with excitement.

In Forks we stopped and bought our America the Beautiful Pass for all the National Parks we'll be stopping at along the route. We never had to use it in Olympic because we never ventured off the main path, but it should come in handy soon.

After Forks we headed straight down to Aberdeen (where we had dinner at the aforementioned Denny's), then headed to Long Beach where we were scheduled to stay for the night. There was a lot of great scenery along the way: more views of the Pacific Ocean, Lake Quinault, the birthplace of Grunge, and Willapa Bay.

Another good day, especially since it was one of our longest driving. It'll be good to have a shorter day in the car on Day 4, but even this wasn't too bad. It also marks the farthest west we are going (and I guess, the farthest west that is possible). For the next week or so, we'll be heading south through Oregon and California.

Tomorrow: Heading down the Oregon coast on our way to Eugene, OR.