Mount Saint Helens & Olympic Peninsula

Our first stop in the state of Washington was at the Johnston Ridge Observatory, located in the heart of the blast zone of Mt St Helens’ eruption on 18 May 1980. After hearing about this eruption and seeing photos of the explosion as a child, to actually see where it happened was pretty amazing. The drive to the Observatory was, like every other national park drive we have done so far, spectacular in its scenery and catching the first glimpses of Mt St Helens made it that much more special. It was well worth the visit to the Observatory where they had plenty of educational displays as well as a movie explaining how the eruption happened and the impact on the environment around it. While it’s still pretty barren immediately close to the mountain, it’s incredible to see all the lush forestry growing today around the national park and to think that almost 40 years ago, it had all been completely wiped out.

Hoffstadt Creek Bridge – opened in 1991 to replace the old highway that was destroyed by Mt St Helens in 1980

This was the edge of the blast zone; this entire area was destroyed by the eruption and there was nothing left – no trees, no roads

From Mt St Helens we went to Aberdeen and stayed the night before heading up through the Olympic Peninsula. Meandering our way through the parks, we checked out Lake Quinault, Hoh Rain Forest and Lake Crescent. We’ve got to say, the best $80 we have spent has been on our America The Beautiful national parks annual pass. At up to a $30 admission fee to each park, we think this pass is absolute must for anyone roadtripping through America.

We eventually came to Forks, the setting for the Twilight series. With no vampires or wolves in sight (not even Bigfoot despite his statue being all over Washington state) we drove through to Port Angeles and headed for our next Airbnb.

Lake Quinault Lodge – As we had our picnic lunch here on the lawn, we felt like we were at Kellerman’s Resort in Dirty Dancing

Trees arching over the road in Hoh Rain Forest

Marrowstone Island is a tiny island off the coast of Olympic Peninsula that we’re still not quite sure how we found an Airbnb on. Upon reaching here we happily settled in for 36 hours of doing absolutely nothing but taking in the fresh air and views of Kilisut Harbour right outside our door.

Just a couple of things to add – we are completely taken with the highway road signs here in Washington that have the silhouette of President George Washington on them – love it.

Also – stand out meal for this leg of the trip: superb dinner of pork tomahawk in Aberdeen at Red Viva on the main street.

P&S