Day 9 — to Olympic National Park

Dear Natalie,

We had to be back at the KOA to check out and collect the Teardrop at 11 this morning, so we had only a couple of hours to fit in breakfast — at a cheeky, irreverent cafe where everything is served on a biscuit, bitch — and a quick stop at the original Starbucks, across from Pike Place Market.

We ate breakfast at a place called "Biscuit Bitch."

We loaded the car up and made a speedy detour to Kerry Park — perched on Queen Anne Hill just north of downtown and known for its picture-perfect skyline view — before getting on the I-5 and heading south. 

The original Starbucks. (Postscript: That couple cradling the Shiba Inu? First of all, as you know, Charlie was going nuts. And second of all, we ran into them again four days later on the beach at Olympic National Park, 175 miles away.)

It took us about 40 minutes to get back to the Seattle-Tacoma KOA. We hitched up the Teardrop, then drove it only about a mile and a half and deposited it a Les Schwab Tire Center, where the kind technicians will replace the tires and get it all spiffed up. We’ll leave the trailer with them for the next three days, while we head out to Olympic National Park. We’re staying in a cabin there, so we won’t need the Teardrop. We’ll pick it up on Friday, on our way from Olympic to Mount Rainier.

I guess I don’t understand what “alignment” is. Because I asked the tech if he thinks the tires might be out of alignment and he looked at me as if I asked him if the trailer poops out jellybeans. “On a trailer?” he asked incredulously. “Oh, I don’t think so.” What does the fact that it’s a trailer have to do with it? It would seem to me that if you have two tires that are opposite each other on the same axle, they should be aligned properly or else … they’re out of alignment. But what do I know? I just know that the trailer is getting new tires because it wouldn’t make it home without them.

For about 90 minutes, we retraced part of the route we had taken on Sunday, on our way into the city. This time, we were headed out, looping around Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula. 

Leaving the Teardrop in Tacoma is kind of a guilty pleasure, exactly like leaving your toddler with a babysitter. Sure, we’ll miss it, but damn if it isn’t so much easier to navigate the heavy interstate traffic (at 12:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, go figure) without it. We’ll let someone else watch over the trailer for a few days; it’s nice to be free of the worry and the hassle for a while. 

The interstate between Tacoma and Olympia is a six-lane artery slogging past Hooters restaurants, tanning salons, mattress superstores and flooring showrooms. It’s unbearably mundane — and we’ll have to do it again when we drive back through on Friday on the way to Rainier. The only clue that we are in the beautiful Pacific Northwest and not, say, Toledo, is the breathtaking backdrop of thick, shaggy pine trees .

For lunch, we detoured into Olympia to find a food truck that I had read about. Arepa serves up Venezuelan specialities, including eponymous grilled corn-flour buns filled with shredded meat and cheese, and for weeks I have been looking forward to checking this out. Also parked on the lot were a few other trucks serving up Syrian, south Indian and Mexican fare. Dad and I ordered from Arepa: deep fried sweet plantains as well as patacons (fried green plaintains topped with shredded beef, avocado and angel hair cabbage), while Charlie and Clare found the taco truck to be the safest option.

From Olympia, it was about two hours to Kalaloch Lodge, on the western edge of the Olympic Peninsula. The road north from Aberdeen (home of Kurt Cobain) cuts through forest so dense and so tall, it was as if we were driving through a gorge. 

We pulled into Kalaloch Lodge a little after 4 p.m. and found our cabin — a cozy two-room building with a kitchenette and a wood-burning stove. There is an inn with a restaurant, a small general store and about 30 cabins strung out along a bluff overlooking the ocean. Just steps from our door, there is a short trail leading down to a broad breach strewn with giant logs of driftwood. Just beyond, the Pacific is churning. It’s a stunning spot.

The steps to the beach are directly in front of our cabin.

I don’t know, Nat. This beautiful coastline — like no other place that I have been, yet — stirs a restlessness inside of me at the same time that it soothes my soul. I have an inexplicable, urgent need to explore it, to know it inside and out and to be a part of it, and an aching compulsion to press every stone, every log, every breath of wind and every breaking wave into my memory. And at the same time, this place is also somehow already perfectly familiar to me. My mom grew up along the Pacific Coast — she was born in Hawaii, lived briefly in Washington and grew up in San Diego. This ocean is in my blood. And the Olympic Forest of tall, straight spruces is no different than the proud pines of the Minnesota Northwoods; they are my bones. 

It’s only about 60 degrees here. And overcast. Dad and I realized that these are the first gray clouds we’ve seen since we left Indiana last week. But it doesn’t feel too cool. The humidity kind of wraps you like a blanket.

Olympic National Park could easily be three separate parks: mountains and glaciers, rainforest, and coast. Kalaloch Lodge is on a 70-mile-long coastal sliver that is detached from the rest of the park, which sits inland. On one day, we’ll explore the mountains and the rainforest. On another, we’ll explore the coast. I can’t wait to see more.

I made red beans and rice for dinner, and then Charlie made a fire in the stove while a thin mist settled on the bluff. Dad, Charlie and Clare played National Park Matching Game while I sat down to write. It’s simply lovely here. I wish you were here.

S'more time.

I love you, Natalie. So much. Take care, and we’ll talk to you soon. (There’s no WiFi here at all, so we may not be able to FaceTime you for a few days.)

Btw, I guess you don't like the idea of a four-minute coin slot, so we're totally getting this. I found it in the shower tonight. 

Have fun. Work hard. See you soon.

I love you,

Love, Mom

xoxoxoxoxo