Labor Day on the Olympic Peninsula

For the holiday weekend we decided to head up to Matt's grandmother's in Sequim, WA. First off, who doesn't enjoy visiting their grandparents (especially fiesty, independant ones like Hana). Second, the weather was predicted to be GORGEOUS all across the PacNW and they have some great hiking. The bonus was that I discovered the Olympic Discovery Trail during the week while searching for activities. It's a paved pedestrian/ bike path that goes around the peninsula connecting all the towns. Naturally, this meant we were bringing the bikes! 

Olympic Peninsula National Park

[...]

After arriving we visited with Hana for about an hour and then jumped on the bikes to ride to Olympic Cellar's tasting room. It's 9.6 miles one way and I think we'd both forgotten how windy the area can get. It was blowing against us pretty hard the whole way out there. It was tiring but fun and I wished I had changed out of my jeans. After relaxing with a glass of limited edition lavender-infused white wine we made the much easier ride back to the house. 

The next day we drove to the national park and spent the $80 for an all-parks pass for the next year. It was a relatively short, moderate hike. There were serious looking hikers, which we probably fell into, and all sorts of people questionably dressed for an outing- pajamas, sandles, jeans, you name it.  Also, a lot of people with hiking poles which I thought seemed unnecessary, but to each their own. Some highlights of the hike were finding the largest marmot either of us had seen. I originally thought it was a stuffed animal someone had set out, but no!

My guess is he was  20+ lbs

 We had a very curious and unafraid ground squirrel interested in our gluten-free cookie crumbs and a few deer. We hiked out to the end of a ridge past where everyone else was going on the main trails and plopped down for some Picnic Table Pink and a whole lot of delicious blueberries before heading back. 

Mount Angeles

Tree Pose

BPA-free plastic wine bottle. Excellent for outdoor vinos.
In the background is the straight between WA and Canada.

Looking southwest into the park during the first part of the hike.