Our Beautiful Family: Summer Vacation: Olympic National Park, Part II

Our final rental was our favorite of the trip. It was a great little cabin in a secluded area with a beautiful mountain view, fun loft for the kids, and a hot tub.

This was the view from the back deck. We enjoyed sitting in the hot tub every evening, looking out over the beautiful scenery. And with the more secluded nature of this rental, we also had deer that wandered into the backyard to visit. (Zach also saw a bear wander across the road while he was running one day, but thankfully we didn't see any of those in our backyard.)

The kids enjoyed having the loft as their own space. The only downside was, since the cabin was secluded, there were not curtains or blinds in the loft windows...meaning the sun woke the kids up each morning.

Unfortunately for us, Hurricane Ridge (a very popular part of the national park with many of the mountainous hikes we were interested in) was closed down due to a recent lodge fire. On a recommendation from our AirBnb owner, we decided to hike the Lake Angeles trail instead.

When we mentioned this plan to the ranger at the entrance station, she gave us a patronizing look as she mentioned how long and strenuous the hike was, giving us a few ideas for easier, family-friendly trails. We took that as a challenge...and accepted it.

The 7.4 mile roundtrip hike was a new record for our kids. And the elevation gain was intense on the way up. We did realize that Briggs' threshold is probably closer to 6 miles as he complained incessantly for about the last mile up and the last mile back...but he made it!

Lake Angeles was beautiful! We enjoyed our picnic lunch, met some other nice hikers, and relaxed for awhile by this mountain lake.

The kids asked about swimming in the frigid glacial lake, but I pointed out that we had no towels or dry clothes. They settled for wading. I settled for watching them.

I was really proud of our kids as they conquered this tough hike!

After our long hike, we ventured into downtown Port Angeles to explore the waterfront and check out the downtown area. We ate at Barhop Brewing and Artisan Pizza, inquired about the ferry boat to Victoria, and then headed back to our rental for some much-deserved relaxation in the hot tub.

After our hard day of hiking, we decided to do something a little different for our next day. Although initially planning to spend a day exploring Seattle, after a recommendation from friends, we instead took the 90 minute ferry ride from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC instead. Although Staley (with her self-determined hatred of Canada) went on about treachery, treason, and torture about our plans, we chose Canada as our destination for the day.

Victoria was a beautiful little port town in Canada. We enjoyed our 4 hours of wandering around in a new country.

We checked out a few stores in downtown, wandered around an outdoor market, and had a yummy lunch at the Irish Times Pub.

We then visited Miniature World, a museum of miniature-themed dioramas and displays representing historical times and fictional worlds. The kids really enjoyed it. The tiny replicas of real castles from around the world was a favorite. Of course, Briggs also loved all the ones that had moving trains.

Although we just had a partial day of exploring, we all really enjoyed Victoria. Even Staley admitted it wasn't THAT bad. We ferried back, soaked in the hot tub, and then grilled out for dinner before packing up as we only had one more day in the national park before heading back towards Portland.

We started off our last day by exploring Lake Crescent, a super deep and clear lake in the middle of Olympic National Park.

We rented kayaks and paddled out to Devil's Punchbowl, where we watched a lady jump off a bridge into the cold, deep waters of Lake Crescent.

Unfortunately, as we turned to paddle back, we realized that the wind and the current made it difficult to paddle back towards where we started. Staley was especially having difficulty, consistently getting turned around in her single kayak. We eventually had to tie her kayak to Zach's so she could stay oriented to the correct direction to make it back to the dock.