The Washington coastline is actually quite different than the Oregon coastline, which might surprise some of our readers from Eastern states where there’s not a significant change between, say, North Carolina and South Carolina. Washington is, of course, a little colder, but it’s also a lot windier, and many of the sandy beaches are filled with drift wood (which can kill you – more on that later). The coastline is still a fault line (tectonically speaking, ha! – C), and the beaches are still rocky, but the vegetation just off the beach is distinctive. No more silly palm trees; that’s kid stuff. There’s a fricking rainforest here! Can’t find one of those in Delaware, can you?! Anyway, it was rad.
We had very little rain on this part of the journey, which is unusual for this part of the world. After all, it’s called a rain forest for a reason. Because of the weather, we occasionally stopped en route on the way up to explore. Again, the views were breathtaking, although this time we found the log-filled beaches a bit ominous, as if we were in some sort of post-apocalyptic future wherein much of the world had been flooded (hence the driftwood). On our third stop, we noticed signs suggesting that we might a) be killed by drift logs on the beach, and/or b) get attacked by a cougar, and decided to stay in the car for the remainder of the afternoon. We were, however, happy to have seen all the beautiful plants and animals.
Secretly, T was a little cheery about the fact that we didn’t have to stop for the umpteenth time along the same coast. C’s jumping around with elation was, perhaps, beginning to wear on her. Two weeks in a car can be draining on any good relationship. Plus, we were almost to Forks: Land of Edward the Vampire and kitsch galore. T was impatient.
Tags: coast, rainforest, wildlife
