Road Trip '08: Day 15

Hoh Rainforest, WA to Clackamas, OR
(with visits to Ruby Beach, the Quinault visitor center, and Kalama High School--all were in WA)
Miles driven today= 272
Total miles driven= 2164



Survived the night with the leaky tent! At least it was only along the edges and didn't completely flood our beds. The rain lightened up, although it did not stop, when we woke up in morning. Being damp and wet can get a bit uncomfortable after a while, so Alicia and I were looking forward to getting dry and cleaning up at a hotel. We couldn't do anything else but pack up the tent in the rain, and would have to find an opportunity to dry everything out later on.

Our drive down to the Portland area included a few stops along the way. First was a visit to Ruby Beach, just off of Highway 101. Much like the other beaches we've visited during the trip, it was another beach that had this amazing untouched beauty to it, with the waves crashing and logs piled up on shore.

Then we drove over to the Quinault visitor center, which was in the Quinault Rainforest right by Lake Quinault. This was originally where we wanted to camp our last night in the park, but the rain made us change our plans. We wanted to drive by and see it at least, since we weren't going to be able to spend time there. The lake was gorgeous, and I'm a little saddened that we had to skip this part of the trip. I am glad that we were able to spend two nights at another lake, and one night in another rainforest, so I don't think we missed out on too much.

Further down the Five, closer to the Oregon border is a little town called Kalama. I wanted to visit the High School in this little town, because it was one of the locations they used for movie-Twilight's Forks High School. The town is adorable, and it was really neat because the school sat at the top of this hill in town--a very very cool location for a school. We parked in the parking lot real quick so I could hop out and snap some photos. Remember the parking lot scene in the teaser trailer, where Bella almost gets hit by the van? I was in that lot. Pathetic, I know, but yes I was very excited!

...We got into town, (staying at a hotel in Clackamas, right outside of Portland), had dinner and some beers, and then chilled the rest of the night!...