September 18, 2019 • 37 mins
Between the misty rainforests, the ominous beaches, the craggy mountaintops, and immense wildlife like elk and whales, exploring Olympic National Park is like stepping into the home of the Grecian gods themselves. But you don't need to be immortal to enjoy all the adventure and beauty this million-acre park has to offer.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Between the misty rainforests, the ominous beaches, the craggy mountaintops,
and the immense wildlife like whales and elk. Exploring Olympic
National Park, it's like stepping into an Avatar sequel. Yeah,
but James Cameron can't hold a candle in Washington Parks. Yeah, sorry, James,
not even close. This is just one of those massive
parks with so many elements that just takes your breath
(00:23):
away and transports you into another planet seemingly. Yeah, it
really does. This is basically like Pandora National Park, but
with otters and eagles instead of blue people like agile smurfs. Brad,
you understand though, you're like a huge Pandora fan. Yes,
I am. Gosh when I went on to Avatar Passage
of Flight that made me literally cry and by a
(00:48):
Avatar Barbie doll, like five dollar Barbie doll. Yeah, in
your likeness right, It was like a custom Brad Avatar creature. Yeah,
Like Disney pretended to scan my face and and like
just made me pick out the eye color, hair type,
and like face structure. But it was literally just like
one of a hundred different variations. Like they didn't really
(01:08):
scan your face to put your face on there. But
I fell for it like I was a twelve year
old boy. Yeah, and it's just a fancy way of
charging you eighty five dollars. But like we said, as
amazing as that, right is, it's nothing compared to the
beauty of Olympic National Park. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad.
This is park Landia. We packed up our life in Chicago,
(01:31):
moved into an RV, and now we're traveling in the
country full time, visiting America's national park. Today we're talking
about Olympic National Park in Washington. Thanks for listening. So
we visited Olympic in the winter with my brother Brian
(01:53):
and his now fiance Whitney. This was pre RV, so
we were just kind of renting a car and driving
from Seattle or I don't think we even rentric car.
I think we borrowed your cousins car. Oh, we did,
thank you him right, thank you. It saved us a
lot of money. So I had just finished a work
trip to Park City, Utah, and I thought, what the heck,
(02:16):
I'm close enough to Washington, so why not add a
whole another trip, Even though like Washington and Utah are
like several hours apart. Yeah, I always forget how big
and spread apart everything is in the West. These aren't
even close. But I'm really glad we planned this anyway,
because we got to spend a couple of days in
Seattle too with Hannah Jesse and the kids and my
(02:36):
cousin Megan, and it was just it was a really
great time visiting all my cousins. And visiting Olympic in
the winter is such a great idea. The weather isn't
too freezing and the crowds are much lighter. The only
areas that we couldn't visit, like the mountains, do the
snow and road closures, but everything else was pretty much
fair game. Yeah. I thought it was really perfect. And
by everything, we really do mean everything, because there is
(02:59):
a lot to explore here. Yeah, only about like one
million acres, you know, multiple different sections and climates and
probably one of the most expansive and diverse national parks
in the country, you know, but there's a ton to
see to do, especially in the winter. Yeah, for sure.
And since Olympic gets more than three million annual visitors,
it's definitely a good idea to go during off peak season,
(03:19):
So like not summer, because I can't imagine how crazy
it gets during those months history. But we should start
with the background of information. You know, first, Olympic National
Park was established in after um first being named a
National monument, right you know nine. Yeah, it got upgraded,
(03:40):
and that tends to happen a lot. I've seen that
with a lot of national parks that began as National
monument or National lake shore or something and then get upgraded.
It really does. In Olympic wasn't even its first name.
It was actually going to be called Elk National Park
at first due to the huge herds of the Roosevelt elk. Yeah,
and these they really are huge there at the largest
(04:00):
species of elk in North America. They actually kind of
look a lot more like reindeer. I don't even know
if I've seen a reindeer in your life, but are
just basing this off of like the Rootolph special. So
there are serious North Pole vibes here. And since Olympic
protects the largest heart of in North America, it makes
sense that they were initially going to call it that,
(04:21):
and after they were severely overhunted in the eighteen hundreds,
they were protected under National monument status and they've since
rebounded nicely. So this kind of goes to show what
National Park Service intervention can do, Like this whole species,
this whole breed has thrived ever since then. It's really amazing.
I mean, you know, the elk are also amazing here,
(04:43):
but there's so much more. I mean, so that's why
they decided to name it something else, you know, something grandeer,
something that would put this place to justice. Yeah, and really,
what could be more grand than a comparison to Greek mythology.
That's Olympic National Park is named for Mount Olympus, the
mountain in the park that was named by John Muros,
(05:05):
who described as worthy place of the Greek gods could live.
Just to clarify on this, John Murres the navigator, explorer
and maritime fur trader. And it's not to be confused
with John Muir that we all know and love, who
basically paved the way for national parks. Yeah. I love that.
It's just so like how eccentric and delightfully over the
top the comparison to Mount Olympus is, but it really fits.
(05:28):
And I could totally see Zeus and Hermi's and Hera
and the whole gang living here and the Elk are
like the unicorns. But I might be remembering Mount Olympics wrong.
And now that I think about it, because most of
my Greek mythology and so I get from Disney's version
of the Hercules movie, which is fantastic. Yes, Or that
(05:48):
time in fifth grade when Mrschinski made us literally right
a rap about specific Greek gods. So I rapped about
Hades in fifth grade, and I'm still more if by this,
and if Mrs Lonsky is listening, I haven't forgotten that,
and I haven't forgiven you for making your wrap about
eight Oh man, I'm I'm about to drop a beat
(06:13):
for you. We're about to do this rap. No, no, no, no,
I'm just I'm personally I'm very glad and thankful that
smartphones and social media did not exist when I was
in fifth grade. That literally would have been priceless to see.
I mean, I do you still remember that rap? Absolutely
not No, that's I mean that I've definitely blacked out.
I haven't like forgotten the memory of it because it
(06:35):
was so mortifying and scarring. I'm gonna have asked your
mom if she still has this written down because I
want to reenact this at Christmas. No, that wrap, I mean,
fortunately because of that rap. When our house burned down,
it THO was into it destroyed remnants of that. I'm
just glad. Heart broken, Yeah, heartbroken, not for your house,
but for that wrapping. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, um, gosh,
(06:57):
you know what. Actually, how about this. Here's a quick
pop quiz for you. Which Olympic came first? The Olympic
Peninsula or the Mountain. Well, I've never done well with
pop quizzes. I don't like being caught off guard. Um,
but I would assume the peninsula came first. That seems
to have us though, so I'm gonna I would say
the Mountain. Ah, you get a but would have been
(07:20):
gotten a plus if you wrap that answer. Absolutely has
actually named that mountain first, about a hundred years before
the mapping of the rest of Olympic Peninsula. That's wild.
I mean, kudos to John Muir's for paving the way
and creating an Olympic comparison that brings endless joy and
endless whimsey. I love it. So now that we've mapped
out the peninsula and given this park, it's godlike status.
(07:43):
Let's break down the different elements that make this place
so special. Yeah, totally, Because this is one park that
has so many different micro climates within it, different sections,
that they kind of feel like three different national parks
in one. And I think the best place to start
is with the rain forest. Now, when most people think
of rainforests, they tend to think of tropical jungles and
(08:05):
far away countries. That's at least what I think of.
That's fair enough, but in fact, Olympic is one of
the largest sections of temperate forests left in the United States.
Century years ago, this type of land actually stretched from
Alaska all the way down to California. While most of
it is sadly gone, there's still a beautiful example of
that left here in Washington. Yeah totally. Now, the whole
(08:27):
rainforest is the crown jewel of this landscape. Is located
on the western side of the park, kind of towards
the Pacific coast, and this place is very, very lush,
like it's if you look up lush in I don't know,
the dictionary or whatever, as like something out of fern Gully. Yeah,
I mean I literally, I think I said that multiple
(08:49):
times while we're like walking through the park or driving in,
I'm like, this is fern Gully. This is Fern Gully,
and everyone in the car is probably just like stop. Yeah,
that's actually true. That's probably why I just said, right right,
So basically fern Gully. But without that evil oil creature thing,
there's nothing nothing scary here. No, no, no, but this
place is just like great, great, greatly bright green trees
(09:11):
and the ferns and the moss as far as the
eye can see, I mean beautiful seriously, and considering how
dense the forest is, the the eye can't really see
too far. So you're just like steeped and surrounded in
this like kermit green forest with like huge trees. I
mean they're just so big, I mean forming this tall
canopy that's like it blocks out most of the sun,
(09:31):
which is pretty cool, but that's just where the bright
green vegetation comes through and it has this constant drip
of water because it's just it's literally a rainforest. Yeah.
So the name, the name checks out, and I love
how like the like most of the sun is kind
of blocked out, but you get these little trickles of
sunlight that poked through and create this like misty glow
(09:55):
and then this like sound effect, this constant sound effect
of dripping water in the background. I love it. This
place is super drippy, super wet. The rainforest gets up
to of precipitation each year, which is insane. That's like
four of rain. Yeah, it's a little like water wonderland,
that's for sure. Yes it is. You were listening to Parklandia,
(10:18):
the podcast by our Heart Radio. After this short break,
we will continue to talk about the diversity of this
beautiful land. Hi. I'm Matt and I'm Brad. Welcome back.
(10:48):
This is Parkland of the podcast by a Heart Radio,
and today we're talking about Olympic National Park trail. So
we did two different hiking trails here in the Hole Rainforest.
We started with what's called the Hall of Mosses Trail
of Mosses. Yes, I love that name. It's just sucks
(11:11):
you in, it does. And then after that we did
the Spruce Nature Trail and they the two trails connect,
so very doable to do both. Oh yeah, I know.
They're pretty short. I mean only about like two miles altogether,
right right, and they're both just so tranquil and so
beautiful and in spite of the fact that this is
one of the more crowded areas of the park even
in winter. It's it you have that tranquility and a
(11:35):
sense of like calm and peacefulness. Yeah, and that's the
thing I like about this trail. It's only two miles,
but it actually like it can last for two hours.
I know, you just walk so slow and you just
there's so much to see on such a short trail.
We were there for a while, we were there for
a long time. It's one of those trails, or two
of those trails where you just kind of gamble through
(11:56):
and take your time because it kind of forces you to.
It's not the type of trail that you want to
speed through and snap a few photos in meanders and
like goes up and down in zig Tag's in a
very moderate way, but it definitely kind of slows you down.
Unfore Studio at its own pace and I love that.
And it's nice because it doesn't get a lot of
snow cover there because um of the canopy of the trees,
(12:17):
so it's more accessible. You're around, right, Yeah, You're not
gonna be like trudging through knee deep snow at any
point of the year. Which is really nice. Like when
we were there in I think it was January, there
was no snow whatsoever. I don't think, Yeah, I don't know.
It was very comfortable, very comfortable temperature wise. Wildlife now
(12:39):
the rainforest also it has about four hundred elk who
live here of that herd, and we saw a huge
herd in particular in a meadow on our drive in
towards the visitors signer. That was crazy. Yeah, those those
were just so huge and like you know, they were
just grazing by the stream slowly moving through the mist.
I mean like it came out of a movie. It
was so beautiful. I mean, if there were any other animals,
(13:02):
it would probably be terrifying, right right, because that, like
morning missed, was like just kind of billowing up and
you'd see these gigantic handler creatures. So I could see
it like if it was another animal, would be like
a horror movie. But these are gentle giants and only
from Afar. Though, please do not approach the aloc. They
aren't cartoon reindeer. This isn't rude off the red nose reindeer,
(13:24):
and they can definitely cause some serious serious damage if
they feel threatened yeah, speaking of threatened. The rainforest is
the only place that we've been were even the spider
webs like beautiful. Oh yeah, that's so true. I've never
described the spider robe it's beautiful before, and I probably
never will after this. But the whole rainforest gets an exception.
There's just something about the dripping water and the thin
(13:46):
beams of sunshine flickering off these webs that may come
look really pretty. Actually, and I'm still like kind of
surprised and shocked that we're feeling so strongly about spider webs,
I know, right. I mean this rainforest though, was just
a great place. I even brought my hammock and we
took a little break um towards the middle of the trail,
(14:07):
and uh, you know, it was just nice. There's just
a beautiful babbling brook along the Spruce Nature Trail and
it was just the perfect place to relax for a
little bit. Yeah, and you kind of poke out of
the thick of the forest here by this river, so
you have more sunshine. And that's what it makes it
good to kind of lying a hammock or set on
a log or something and take these cute, pretty photos.
(14:30):
I loved it. Oh yeah, there's definitely those impromptu, like
little photo shoots that we do at National right, there's
so much fun. Yeah, I remember you got some nice
photos of me here, and we got some of Brian
and Whitney being cute on a log. Oh yeah, that's right.
You'll have to check out our instagram at park Landia Potton. Yeah. Um.
(14:51):
Other things you can do at the rainforest include long
back country hiking trips and even whitewater rafting, neither of
which we did because we didn't have the equipment or
the no ede and rafting in winter is a terrible
idea unless you want to get hypothermia. Yeah. Yeah, we
could definitely spend a whole episode talking about the rainforest here,
but like we said, this is just one element of
(15:11):
Olympic National Park, right right, and we did so much more.
I think the first thing we actually did when we
got to Olympic was this really beautiful hike to marry
Mayor Falls. It was pretty easy, short ish trail that's
a little less than two miles round trip. It's near
this massive lake called Lake Crescent, which kind of looks
(15:33):
like Lochness in Scotland. Yeah, but we definitely didn't see
any Lochness monsters here. Only a couple of river otters
and some beautiful scenery, I know, And for they were
so brief, I wish we could have seen more of them.
We really only saw these otters like dive into the
water off the shore and then disappear. But I remember
like we kind of I saw them, and I think
I probably screeched with excitement and I'm like, pull the
(15:54):
car over, I want to see the otters. And then
we pulled over and they were long gone, but you know,
I got a glimpse. Yeah, I know. They really definitely
are beautiful things, beautiful little beings. Probably first autost I've
seen in the wild for a nanosecond, But I'll take
what i can get. Oh yeah, definitely. So the trail
(16:16):
we did Mary Mayor Falls, I think that's a good
one to do for people, especially when you're first arriving
to Olympic. Yeah, the Mirror Mail Trails Fall is really nice.
It starts on a paved pathway that takes you through
a small like tunnel under the main road and then
it goes deep into those golden forest, this old growth
worth of forest. Yeah, the trees are really staring in
(16:37):
this forest, especially the woods are filled with these deep
hues of dark browns and greens with bits of fog
and rain stripping through, which definitely seems to be Olympics
m O. Yeah, it was really fun to go over
those little like wooden bridges across like the fast moving river,
and then you know, we climbed up some stairs to
reach the waterfall. It was just so breathtaking. There's just
(16:58):
so much beauty, fully dense and opened in the same
breath like wood like woods. Gorgeous. I'm going to stay
it again. I remember that bridge that we're acrossing that river,
which is a pretty aggressive looking river, like you for
some reason like shipping along the outside of the railing,
and I remember, Yeah, Brian Whitney, I were like, Brad,
(17:19):
what are you doing? There's no point, none at all.
I was just being obnoxious. You were, I mean, you
were clearly excited and like diving in head first to
this park, not the river. You didn't dive into the river,
but you were. Your enthusiasm was palpable and addictive. Yeah, No,
that was just Olympic is just one of those beautiful,
(17:40):
beautiful places to be. Yeah, it's very like similar youth
host to the rainforest. Just the whole park really grabs
you really quickly and transports you into this world. And
this trail was another prime example of that. And the
waterfall once we finally made it to marry Marror Falls
after going up this like series of steps, the waterfalls
(18:04):
is like long, thin ribbon kind of your classic waterfall,
crashing down the steep hillside into the dense, dense forest below.
Such a quintessentially Olympic view and experience. And thankfully I
also loved that this trail wasn't too crowded either, so
we could enjoy a little more peace and quiet and
like just drink it in. Another highlight the coastal region
(18:28):
where all the picture perfect beaches are. Yeah, these aren't
your typical beaches though. You won't find any surfers or
sunbathers here. No, no, this isn't Malibu, so you can
forget about the sunbathing and the surfing and the Baywatch
running on the beach. Now I'm saying I'm not gonna
meet the Rock. Oh you're thinking of the Baywatch remake?
(18:48):
Oh yeah, um yeah, that's not my go to Bayo.
I think of like the Pamla Anderson. When it comes
down to remakes, are we know you're right, you always
go to like the newer thing, like Jurassic World, And
I'm like, excuse me, no, Like nope, nope, nope. Right,
So this isn't that. This isn't either of those bay watches. Instead,
this is the type of beach where you'll find enormous
(19:10):
sea logs, tree lined islands, and so much myths that
it makes the whole landscape kind of look like an
outdoor haunted house. Yeah, we can't forget the Tree of Life.
That was one of my favorite sites. I mean, it's
still my favorite tree in America. Um, big statement, Yeah,
huge statement, huge, And I don't like to try to
try to stay away from favorites. But except for the
(19:30):
end segment, but yeah, I know this sick of tree,
sick of spruce tree. You know, it's just dangling in
between a bluff and clay locked beach. Yeah, it's definitely
surreal and doesn't look like it should exist, Like it
kind of defies reality. It's just hanging there. It's got
a huge base with a ton of roots that are
(19:50):
dangling between this bluff with a little waterfall kind of
trickling underneath that. Yeah, literally hanging on by a few limbs,
but it's striving. I mean it looks like a miracle tree. Yeah,
it really does. I feel like this tree should definitely
be a motivational poster, like one of those just hanging
their pictures, like I think there. I've seen one with
(20:11):
like a cat or a kid like hanging on and
it's like, no, we need one of those with this
tree hanging there, and then you could look at it
whenever you need like this emotional boost. Yeah, it kind
of reminds me of my coffee mug that says, um,
if Brittany can get through two thousand seven, you can
get through today. The best mug. Yeah, I love that
tree on a mug would actually be a beautiful gosh. Yeah,
(20:32):
that'd be a perfect coffee mug. But not all trees
in the beaches here are as peaceful. I remember on
on Ruby Beach, I actually slipped on one of the
wet logs and crashed pretty hard. Yeah, you felt super hard,
like I thought you actually broke your tail. But oh
yeah I went over like an anvil. I like I
it was such a disneyally fast experience and like one
(20:54):
second Milwaukee, and then I slip and slam into the ground.
I guess we can call that one the tree of Death. Huh, yeah,
that would be the Tree of Death. I definitely got
a few bruises along one side from that one, but
unfortunately didn't like crash into like rocks or other logs.
I like hit kind of this firm, moist sand. And
the craziest part is that all these beaches have these
(21:14):
like terrifying warning signs that say things like beach logs
kill and stuff like that, and like how ominous, right,
You're just going to like, oh, I'm going to go
to the beach and then you know, a log could
kill me. Yeah. I wouldn't want to get hit by
one of those sea logs. I mean that's a fight
I definitely would not be able to win. No, absolutely not.
These logs are because they're huge. They're like redwood ish.
(21:37):
They're not as tall, but they're like very very thick
logs that I could see like if if a tide
were to change rapidly or whatever and then it flies
up at you, like you're not You're not going to
fare well. No, definitely not. You'll have more than a
few bruises like I did. That's for sure. Yeah. No,
but there's nothing to be scared of at the beaches
(21:57):
as long as you're careful. You don't have to get
like yourself stranded and high tide. You know, you can
go there when there's low tide and just be smooth
and fun. I mean I even got to like draw
in the sand, well the water sand, and I wrote
like p s, I love you for my cousin Elizabeth
and because our our cousin Paul who passed away. So
(22:19):
it's Paul, I love you, um. And so I got
to send her that little message and just telling her
I was thinking about her. Um. There really is so
much to see here though, at the beach, just strolling
down the misty coast seeing if you can spot all
the cutest animals the country, because the beaches are like
where you're most likely to see sea lions and steals.
In whales, oh yeah, the best as like for those,
(22:42):
you have to really lack out and you have to
come at the right time, like in the spring, I
think is when you're most likely you can see gray
whales migrating for spring break. Where they added cancun um no, no, no, No,
they're heading to the Bearing Sea actually, but that's basically
Cancoon for whales, like MTV Spring Break Bearing Sea edition.
(23:02):
You know, whales, whales amazing, you know, and gray whales
aren't the only whales that you can see here though, right, No,
you can see a lot. Actually, you can see minky whales,
humpback whales, even killer whales can be spotted here throughout
the year. So gangs all here and I'm obsessed with whales.
This is like my happy place. I didn't we didn't
see any unfortunately on this trip, but just even the
(23:25):
mere possibility of whales being in their proximity, I'm like, yeah,
I love that. You know. The other speech that we
spent a lot of time when was that cally Locked beach. Um,
this is where the Tree of Life is and also
where our cabin was, and I really want to talk
about that cabin. Yeah, and the whole like experience there
(23:46):
was really wonderful, like far exceeded my expectations because we drove.
This was like the opposite end of Olympic from Seattle,
so it's a long drive to get there. I think
it took us like three to four hours probably definitely wild. Yeah,
it's like the far southern and western point Olympic um
(24:07):
kind of towards the lower part of the coastline. So
where we're staying was this place called clay Lock Lodge,
and it's incredible, definitely worth the the hours to get
there because it's this oasis, basically the Serene oasis that's
like out on this bluff over the Olympic coastline. The
(24:30):
lodge consists of these different rooms and they're also these
cottages scattered throughout the property, and you have more of
that iconic mist and and sea logs lining the train
in the background or down below you in this case too, right.
I mean, our our cabin was just so cozy and comfy.
It had a living room with the wood fireplace and um,
(24:51):
a beautiful couch and a little like kitchen nook. Um,
just the perfect amount of bedrooms for all of us
in space is a really great adventure, yeah, totally, and
also perfect amount of table space for playing games. I
we I think had a few games that we brought.
Oh yeah, we have all of our national perfect travel
related games. Board games are perfect for this type of setting,
(25:13):
and I remember playing the Oregon Trail board game version
here like not because like the video game is the
nostalgic and one of our favorite things and obsessed with it.
So they came out with this really hard to find initially. Gosh, yeah,
we had like ten people searching for that, Like we
had people in Seattle, we had people in New York
(25:35):
so hard because they showing out. Yeah, they were available
at Target only, and it was sold out everywhere we tried.
So it was a total ordeal really quick though on
this one, Like Carly Fisher in New York, our friend,
she took a two hour train ride to go get it.
She called ahead, they put it aside of at least
(25:55):
that's what they said. She gets there and they sold
them sure, so she had to go back and so
she tried to like really do us a solid by
finding this, and I mean we had people doing crazy
stuff like that all over. It was so much fun though.
I mean that that was just a good memory. You know,
everyone really stepped up, stepped up on our behalf, very appreciative,
(26:16):
but you know, it's well worth it. It It was just
really difficult, um and impossible as the original computer version,
you know, I could never win that game, um, but
the board game set up with the cards that helped
moving along. Um, and we had a really great journey, right,
and this one's like more of a team effort, which
is the whole appeal for me, Like you pay it,
you play it with I don't know, two to five
(26:38):
six people. I'm pretty sure I died of cholera as usual. Well,
you know what the perfect medicine for colera is what's
up dinner at the Creekside Restaurant. Yes, that's very true,
very true. Um, but not really that was actually not
care for colera. I can't I can't care colora with
Washington wine. Well, but still, what a great restaurant at
(27:01):
the Lodge food. Yeah, everything was totally local fresh fish
and seafood, meat, seasonal vegetables, even the wineless was entirely
Washington wines. Really impressive stuff, I know, really above and beyond.
(27:22):
I think the best thing that I remember having there
was this like house smoked salmon tart or tartlet. Was
so delicious and so kind of like quintessential Washington dining.
This like lemony dillcream cheese, like preserved lemon jam, red onions,
this like really fancified version of locks and big old thing.
(27:43):
So good at night. I remember after dinner, like um,
breaking away from the group to go down to the beach,
and it kind of reminded me of sitting under the
pier in Oceanside, California, when I was in the Marines,
and this was a place I would frequently go to decompress.
And because you just hear this like crashing sounds of
the ocean at night, and that sus soul. There's like
(28:05):
the soul at night when it's the oceans, and I
just really love that. Yeah, it really sounds perfect, like
the most serene place to decompress and get away. Yeah.
I remember I was actually watching some like young groups
of people on the beach like cooking s'mores or trying
to with the wind. You know, it was pretty windy, um,
(28:26):
and it was also really dark, so you know everyone's
using their like iPhone flashlights to step over like ocean
logs and trying to cook some more. It was just
it was a funny, fun time just to get that
little escape and bring up those memories. Yeah, beach logs kill.
That's a dangerous place, Like can you imagine? I mean,
I guess I relate, Like I love smart so much,
I'd I'd happily risk my life on a beach like
(28:50):
that to have some. Yeah, I love them so back
in the cottage, I think we also played this board
game version of Where in the World as Carmen San Diego,
another like kind of vintage Americana video game turned card
game that I believe it was also only available at Target.
They really had a monopoly on that. Yeah. That one's
another like tricky one to find, but we got it. Yeah,
(29:12):
we got it. Yeah, and just sell so much fun
and honestly though, like one of the things this has
always stuck with me with Carmen San Diego is one
thing I never understood is why everyone is always on
the hunt for her. Like she's not a bad person.
Her alleged crimes are so intangible, like she's stole liberty
(29:32):
from the Statue of Liberty or something like that, So
these aren't like punishable or like actual things. I think
our only real crime is that weird hat she wears.
I don't like it. Oh man, that that's harsh, that's hard.
Well I'm sorry, but it's not a good hat. Okay,
So now we'll um, Well, we have to wrap up
(29:53):
Olympic National Park by telling us our favorite parts about
the part. So before we go to that, we're going
to go to a quick break. My favorite. Hi am Matt,
(30:16):
and I'm Brad. This is park Landia and we are
getting to our favorite parts about the park. We do
not know what these are, so I really want Matt
to tell me what his favorite part of the park is.
So I think my favorite part of Olympic National Park
was the rainforest in general. I don't think I've ever
been to rainforest in any capacity, so that was a
(30:38):
really exciting aspect and something I was really looking forward
to the most, and it really lived up to my expectations,
not only in the climate, in the setting and like
mistiness and how vivid green it was, but also seeing
like all the elk. I that was such a good surprise.
I love that. Um. Do you want to tell us
(31:00):
what your favorite part of Olympic Yeah, I mean you
could probably guess it just you knowing me. But mine
was the tree of Life. I knew it, I told
you no, but um, but really I mean it. It's
just what it represents to me. You joked about it,
just hang in there, but seriously, watching that tree thrive
(31:25):
when of its roots are exposed. It just kind of
reminds me of the journey that we've gone through. I mean,
from my life before meeting you to us our life
together jumping into this RV life. You know, we didn't
have eighty percent of our roots grounded. They're all uplifted
we had and we still win like we had, yes,
(31:48):
you know, and so that to me is just that
that really special and powerful message that that three sins
um is really important to me. Yeah, and we also
took that tree to the next level because like one
of the photos you took of it, right, we like
turned it into a customized puzzle. We turned outbuilt it. Yeah,
(32:09):
so we were able to turn that photo you took
our that tree into a puzzle. We took us a while,
but it's a hard puzzle, but we we did the
puzzle and there's a lot of blue, a lot of blue,
and yeah, underestimated how difficult that would be. But once
it was finally don't look magnificent in puzzle form, and
then we framed it and then put it on our
(32:30):
National Parks wall in our loft in Chicago, and that
was still up and yeah, now it's all in boxes
as we travel and that's that's the beauty of it all. Yeah,
so clearly that tree had an impact. Also, I'm pretty
sure the Tree of Life is the name of the
tree at Animal Kingdom, which is this weird inadvertent tie
in the Avatar Pandora world. So we've talked about that
(32:53):
place a weird amount in this episode. Yeah, but I
think they definitely got a lot of inspiration from National parks,
especially Olympic I think there's a lot of inspiration. And
it's like a mend between those two and the Animal
king right right, because that tree and looking them kind
of does look like this tree, just like much bigger
and more cartoonis and just put on a delicate arch. Yeah,
(33:18):
so what three things did you bring? The three things
I would bring would be a DVD copy of Disney's
Hercules because when in Rome and we don't probably have
service there, or we didn't have that much service, not
much service, so DVD is probably a good idea. I
would also bring binoculars, especially for when you're on the beaches,
(33:38):
because that's when you have the best views, like kind
of expansive views, unobscured, and you want to keep an
eye out for whales, especially uh, and then I would
also suggest bringing probably a raincoat, especially for the rainforest,
but also in general everywhere, because this is such a misty,
drippy nostalgic Just bring three board games, nostalgia board games
(34:01):
must I know we've only brought two on this one.
I mean that we're nostalgia. But I think the third
one I'd probably bring would be Trekking the National Parks.
I really love that game and what better place to
play it? Literally? Yeah, exactly. And for like our dream
vacation to Olympic what do you think that? What do
you think you would start? I mean we kind of
(34:22):
already this trip really was dreamy, just the whole experience,
the time spent there, the places we saw, the company
we're with, so it's kind of hard to top that.
And the photos were just a phenomenal, Like I got
more photos there than I think I have it all
the National Parks combined. That were just every photo of
(34:43):
spot on iconic. Yeah, I think you. You took an
amazing photo of you through the windshield and it's like
a wet wind shield, always water droplets on it because
we're an Olympic and that's just the norm. An talking
about the one that's my background to my phone. Yeah,
it's so good, and I'm just like kind of in
the background looking out at the lake trying to see
(35:03):
if I can find any river otters, and you captured
it perfectly. I think the only thing that would actually
make this trip better would be to book end it
with Seattle. Now we did that part, but also Mount Rainier.
I think that um adding that park would be a
great two parter for this. It's long driving, but you know,
(35:24):
driving is temporary and doable as long as you paste
it out. Like we remember when we were first considering
this trip and kind of planning things, we consider doing
a day at Mountaineer or maybe towards the end or something,
but we can't do it. Justice, No, we don't want
to cram that in. That's the whole experience in and
of itself. But as long as you have the time,
you absolutely could do Olympic Mountaineer and then also spend
(35:46):
time in Seattle, which is a gem of a stating
there's so much to do there. Three days in Olympic
a day for driving, a half day in Seattle or
half a day for driving, not even and then so scenic,
like you don't even mind. Then just do a couple
of days in Mountaineer and have a have a good
old time. I mean, that would be probably my dream
(36:07):
vacation because they are so close, they're so drivable. You
can go get your Starbucks from the original o G
Starbucks and you know, go through the market there. I mean,
I can't, can't miss it. Yeah, and then you definitely
have to go back to the Creekside restaurant, have some
Washington wine, keep your eyes peeled for whales outside the window.
Like picture perfect in every way. You've been listening to
(36:33):
The Parklandia Podcast, a show about national parks by iHeart Radio,
created by Matt Caro Wac, Brad Caro Wac and Christopher
hassiotis produced and edited by Mike John's executive produced by
Christopher hassiotas special thanks to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters, and
the rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners. If
you're enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple podcast.
(36:55):
It helps other people like you find our show. You
can keep up with us on social media. Check out
photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklandia Pod and
join in the conversation in our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers.
Thank you so much for listening.
Between the misty rainforests, the ominous beaches, the craggy mountaintops,
and the immense wildlife like whales and elk. Exploring Olympic
National Park, it's like stepping into an Avatar sequel. Yeah,
but James Cameron can't hold a candle in Washington Parks. Yeah, sorry, James,
not even close. This is just one of those massive
parks with so many elements that just takes your breath
(00:23):
away and transports you into another planet seemingly. Yeah, it
really does. This is basically like Pandora National Park, but
with otters and eagles instead of blue people like agile smurfs. Brad,
you understand though, you're like a huge Pandora fan. Yes,
I am. Gosh when I went on to Avatar Passage
of Flight that made me literally cry and by a
(00:48):
Avatar Barbie doll, like five dollar Barbie doll. Yeah, in
your likeness right, It was like a custom Brad Avatar creature. Yeah,
Like Disney pretended to scan my face and and like
just made me pick out the eye color, hair type,
and like face structure. But it was literally just like
one of a hundred different variations. Like they didn't really
(01:08):
scan your face to put your face on there. But
I fell for it like I was a twelve year
old boy. Yeah, and it's just a fancy way of
charging you eighty five dollars. But like we said, as
amazing as that, right is, it's nothing compared to the
beauty of Olympic National Park. Hi, I'm Matt and I'm Brad.
This is park Landia. We packed up our life in Chicago,
(01:31):
moved into an RV, and now we're traveling in the
country full time, visiting America's national park. Today we're talking
about Olympic National Park in Washington. Thanks for listening. So
we visited Olympic in the winter with my brother Brian
(01:53):
and his now fiance Whitney. This was pre RV, so
we were just kind of renting a car and driving
from Seattle or I don't think we even rentric car.
I think we borrowed your cousins car. Oh, we did,
thank you him right, thank you. It saved us a
lot of money. So I had just finished a work
trip to Park City, Utah, and I thought, what the heck,
(02:16):
I'm close enough to Washington, so why not add a
whole another trip, Even though like Washington and Utah are
like several hours apart. Yeah, I always forget how big
and spread apart everything is in the West. These aren't
even close. But I'm really glad we planned this anyway,
because we got to spend a couple of days in
Seattle too with Hannah Jesse and the kids and my
(02:36):
cousin Megan, and it was just it was a really
great time visiting all my cousins. And visiting Olympic in
the winter is such a great idea. The weather isn't
too freezing and the crowds are much lighter. The only
areas that we couldn't visit, like the mountains, do the
snow and road closures, but everything else was pretty much
fair game. Yeah. I thought it was really perfect. And
by everything, we really do mean everything, because there is
(02:59):
a lot to explore here. Yeah, only about like one
million acres, you know, multiple different sections and climates and
probably one of the most expansive and diverse national parks
in the country, you know, but there's a ton to
see to do, especially in the winter. Yeah, for sure.
And since Olympic gets more than three million annual visitors,
it's definitely a good idea to go during off peak season,
(03:19):
So like not summer, because I can't imagine how crazy
it gets during those months history. But we should start
with the background of information. You know, first, Olympic National
Park was established in after um first being named a
National monument, right you know nine. Yeah, it got upgraded,
(03:40):
and that tends to happen a lot. I've seen that
with a lot of national parks that began as National
monument or National lake shore or something and then get upgraded.
It really does. In Olympic wasn't even its first name.
It was actually going to be called Elk National Park
at first due to the huge herds of the Roosevelt elk. Yeah,
and these they really are huge there at the largest
(04:00):
species of elk in North America. They actually kind of
look a lot more like reindeer. I don't even know
if I've seen a reindeer in your life, but are
just basing this off of like the Rootolph special. So
there are serious North Pole vibes here. And since Olympic
protects the largest heart of in North America, it makes
sense that they were initially going to call it that,
(04:21):
and after they were severely overhunted in the eighteen hundreds,
they were protected under National monument status and they've since
rebounded nicely. So this kind of goes to show what
National Park Service intervention can do, Like this whole species,
this whole breed has thrived ever since then. It's really amazing.
I mean, you know, the elk are also amazing here,
(04:43):
but there's so much more. I mean, so that's why
they decided to name it something else, you know, something grandeer,
something that would put this place to justice. Yeah, and really,
what could be more grand than a comparison to Greek mythology.
That's Olympic National Park is named for Mount Olympus, the
mountain in the park that was named by John Muros,
(05:05):
who described as worthy place of the Greek gods could live.
Just to clarify on this, John Murres the navigator, explorer
and maritime fur trader. And it's not to be confused
with John Muir that we all know and love, who
basically paved the way for national parks. Yeah. I love that.
It's just so like how eccentric and delightfully over the
top the comparison to Mount Olympus is, but it really fits.
(05:28):
And I could totally see Zeus and Hermi's and Hera
and the whole gang living here and the Elk are
like the unicorns. But I might be remembering Mount Olympics wrong.
And now that I think about it, because most of
my Greek mythology and so I get from Disney's version
of the Hercules movie, which is fantastic. Yes, Or that
(05:48):
time in fifth grade when Mrschinski made us literally right
a rap about specific Greek gods. So I rapped about
Hades in fifth grade, and I'm still more if by this,
and if Mrs Lonsky is listening, I haven't forgotten that,
and I haven't forgiven you for making your wrap about
eight Oh man, I'm I'm about to drop a beat
(06:13):
for you. We're about to do this rap. No, no, no, no,
I'm just I'm personally I'm very glad and thankful that
smartphones and social media did not exist when I was
in fifth grade. That literally would have been priceless to see.
I mean, I do you still remember that rap? Absolutely
not No, that's I mean that I've definitely blacked out.
I haven't like forgotten the memory of it because it
(06:35):
was so mortifying and scarring. I'm gonna have asked your
mom if she still has this written down because I
want to reenact this at Christmas. No, that wrap, I mean,
fortunately because of that rap. When our house burned down,
it THO was into it destroyed remnants of that. I'm
just glad. Heart broken, Yeah, heartbroken, not for your house,
but for that wrapping. I'm kidding, I'm kidding. No, um, gosh,
(06:57):
you know what. Actually, how about this. Here's a quick
pop quiz for you. Which Olympic came first? The Olympic
Peninsula or the Mountain. Well, I've never done well with
pop quizzes. I don't like being caught off guard. Um,
but I would assume the peninsula came first. That seems
to have us though, so I'm gonna I would say
the Mountain. Ah, you get a but would have been
(07:20):
gotten a plus if you wrap that answer. Absolutely has
actually named that mountain first, about a hundred years before
the mapping of the rest of Olympic Peninsula. That's wild.
I mean, kudos to John Muir's for paving the way
and creating an Olympic comparison that brings endless joy and
endless whimsey. I love it. So now that we've mapped
out the peninsula and given this park, it's godlike status.
(07:43):
Let's break down the different elements that make this place
so special. Yeah, totally, Because this is one park that
has so many different micro climates within it, different sections,
that they kind of feel like three different national parks
in one. And I think the best place to start
is with the rain forest. Now, when most people think
of rainforests, they tend to think of tropical jungles and
(08:05):
far away countries. That's at least what I think of.
That's fair enough, but in fact, Olympic is one of
the largest sections of temperate forests left in the United States.
Century years ago, this type of land actually stretched from
Alaska all the way down to California. While most of
it is sadly gone, there's still a beautiful example of
that left here in Washington. Yeah totally. Now, the whole
(08:27):
rainforest is the crown jewel of this landscape. Is located
on the western side of the park, kind of towards
the Pacific coast, and this place is very, very lush,
like it's if you look up lush in I don't know,
the dictionary or whatever, as like something out of fern Gully. Yeah,
I mean I literally, I think I said that multiple
(08:49):
times while we're like walking through the park or driving in,
I'm like, this is fern Gully. This is Fern Gully,
and everyone in the car is probably just like stop. Yeah,
that's actually true. That's probably why I just said, right right,
So basically fern Gully. But without that evil oil creature thing,
there's nothing nothing scary here. No, no, no, but this
place is just like great, great, greatly bright green trees
(09:11):
and the ferns and the moss as far as the
eye can see, I mean beautiful seriously, and considering how
dense the forest is, the the eye can't really see
too far. So you're just like steeped and surrounded in
this like kermit green forest with like huge trees. I
mean they're just so big, I mean forming this tall
canopy that's like it blocks out most of the sun,
(09:31):
which is pretty cool, but that's just where the bright
green vegetation comes through and it has this constant drip
of water because it's just it's literally a rainforest. Yeah.
So the name, the name checks out, and I love
how like the like most of the sun is kind
of blocked out, but you get these little trickles of
sunlight that poked through and create this like misty glow
(09:55):
and then this like sound effect, this constant sound effect
of dripping water in the background. I love it. This
place is super drippy, super wet. The rainforest gets up
to of precipitation each year, which is insane. That's like
four of rain. Yeah, it's a little like water wonderland,
that's for sure. Yes it is. You were listening to Parklandia,
(10:18):
the podcast by our Heart Radio. After this short break,
we will continue to talk about the diversity of this
beautiful land. Hi. I'm Matt and I'm Brad. Welcome back.
(10:48):
This is Parkland of the podcast by a Heart Radio,
and today we're talking about Olympic National Park trail. So
we did two different hiking trails here in the Hole Rainforest.
We started with what's called the Hall of Mosses Trail
of Mosses. Yes, I love that name. It's just sucks
(11:11):
you in, it does. And then after that we did
the Spruce Nature Trail and they the two trails connect,
so very doable to do both. Oh yeah, I know.
They're pretty short. I mean only about like two miles altogether,
right right, and they're both just so tranquil and so
beautiful and in spite of the fact that this is
one of the more crowded areas of the park even
in winter. It's it you have that tranquility and a
(11:35):
sense of like calm and peacefulness. Yeah, and that's the
thing I like about this trail. It's only two miles,
but it actually like it can last for two hours.
I know, you just walk so slow and you just
there's so much to see on such a short trail.
We were there for a while, we were there for
a long time. It's one of those trails, or two
of those trails where you just kind of gamble through
(11:56):
and take your time because it kind of forces you to.
It's not the type of trail that you want to
speed through and snap a few photos in meanders and
like goes up and down in zig Tag's in a
very moderate way, but it definitely kind of slows you down.
Unfore Studio at its own pace and I love that.
And it's nice because it doesn't get a lot of
snow cover there because um of the canopy of the trees,
(12:17):
so it's more accessible. You're around, right, Yeah, You're not
gonna be like trudging through knee deep snow at any
point of the year. Which is really nice. Like when
we were there in I think it was January, there
was no snow whatsoever. I don't think, Yeah, I don't know.
It was very comfortable, very comfortable temperature wise. Wildlife now
(12:39):
the rainforest also it has about four hundred elk who
live here of that herd, and we saw a huge
herd in particular in a meadow on our drive in
towards the visitors signer. That was crazy. Yeah, those those
were just so huge and like you know, they were
just grazing by the stream slowly moving through the mist.
I mean like it came out of a movie. It
was so beautiful. I mean, if there were any other animals,
(13:02):
it would probably be terrifying, right right, because that, like
morning missed, was like just kind of billowing up and
you'd see these gigantic handler creatures. So I could see
it like if it was another animal, would be like
a horror movie. But these are gentle giants and only
from Afar. Though, please do not approach the aloc. They
aren't cartoon reindeer. This isn't rude off the red nose reindeer,
(13:24):
and they can definitely cause some serious serious damage if
they feel threatened yeah, speaking of threatened. The rainforest is
the only place that we've been were even the spider
webs like beautiful. Oh yeah, that's so true. I've never
described the spider robe it's beautiful before, and I probably
never will after this. But the whole rainforest gets an exception.
There's just something about the dripping water and the thin
(13:46):
beams of sunshine flickering off these webs that may come
look really pretty. Actually, and I'm still like kind of
surprised and shocked that we're feeling so strongly about spider webs,
I know, right. I mean this rainforest though, was just
a great place. I even brought my hammock and we
took a little break um towards the middle of the trail,
(14:07):
and uh, you know, it was just nice. There's just
a beautiful babbling brook along the Spruce Nature Trail and
it was just the perfect place to relax for a
little bit. Yeah, and you kind of poke out of
the thick of the forest here by this river, so
you have more sunshine. And that's what it makes it
good to kind of lying a hammock or set on
a log or something and take these cute, pretty photos.
(14:30):
I loved it. Oh yeah, there's definitely those impromptu, like
little photo shoots that we do at National right, there's
so much fun. Yeah, I remember you got some nice
photos of me here, and we got some of Brian
and Whitney being cute on a log. Oh yeah, that's right.
You'll have to check out our instagram at park Landia Potton. Yeah. Um.
(14:51):
Other things you can do at the rainforest include long
back country hiking trips and even whitewater rafting, neither of
which we did because we didn't have the equipment or
the no ede and rafting in winter is a terrible
idea unless you want to get hypothermia. Yeah. Yeah, we
could definitely spend a whole episode talking about the rainforest here,
but like we said, this is just one element of
(15:11):
Olympic National Park, right right, and we did so much more.
I think the first thing we actually did when we
got to Olympic was this really beautiful hike to marry
Mayor Falls. It was pretty easy, short ish trail that's
a little less than two miles round trip. It's near
this massive lake called Lake Crescent, which kind of looks
(15:33):
like Lochness in Scotland. Yeah, but we definitely didn't see
any Lochness monsters here. Only a couple of river otters
and some beautiful scenery, I know, And for they were
so brief, I wish we could have seen more of them.
We really only saw these otters like dive into the
water off the shore and then disappear. But I remember
like we kind of I saw them, and I think
I probably screeched with excitement and I'm like, pull the
(15:54):
car over, I want to see the otters. And then
we pulled over and they were long gone, but you know,
I got a glimpse. Yeah, I know. They really definitely
are beautiful things, beautiful little beings. Probably first autost I've
seen in the wild for a nanosecond, But I'll take
what i can get. Oh yeah, definitely. So the trail
(16:16):
we did Mary Mayor Falls, I think that's a good
one to do for people, especially when you're first arriving
to Olympic. Yeah, the Mirror Mail Trails Fall is really nice.
It starts on a paved pathway that takes you through
a small like tunnel under the main road and then
it goes deep into those golden forest, this old growth
worth of forest. Yeah, the trees are really staring in
(16:37):
this forest, especially the woods are filled with these deep
hues of dark browns and greens with bits of fog
and rain stripping through, which definitely seems to be Olympics
m O. Yeah, it was really fun to go over
those little like wooden bridges across like the fast moving river,
and then you know, we climbed up some stairs to
reach the waterfall. It was just so breathtaking. There's just
(16:58):
so much beauty, fully dense and opened in the same
breath like wood like woods. Gorgeous. I'm going to stay
it again. I remember that bridge that we're acrossing that river,
which is a pretty aggressive looking river, like you for
some reason like shipping along the outside of the railing,
and I remember, Yeah, Brian Whitney, I were like, Brad,
(17:19):
what are you doing? There's no point, none at all.
I was just being obnoxious. You were, I mean, you
were clearly excited and like diving in head first to
this park, not the river. You didn't dive into the river,
but you were. Your enthusiasm was palpable and addictive. Yeah, No,
that was just Olympic is just one of those beautiful,
(17:40):
beautiful places to be. Yeah, it's very like similar youth
host to the rainforest. Just the whole park really grabs
you really quickly and transports you into this world. And
this trail was another prime example of that. And the
waterfall once we finally made it to marry Marror Falls
after going up this like series of steps, the waterfalls
(18:04):
is like long, thin ribbon kind of your classic waterfall,
crashing down the steep hillside into the dense, dense forest below.
Such a quintessentially Olympic view and experience. And thankfully I
also loved that this trail wasn't too crowded either, so
we could enjoy a little more peace and quiet and
like just drink it in. Another highlight the coastal region
(18:28):
where all the picture perfect beaches are. Yeah, these aren't
your typical beaches though. You won't find any surfers or
sunbathers here. No, no, this isn't Malibu, so you can
forget about the sunbathing and the surfing and the Baywatch
running on the beach. Now I'm saying I'm not gonna
meet the Rock. Oh you're thinking of the Baywatch remake?
(18:48):
Oh yeah, um yeah, that's not my go to Bayo.
I think of like the Pamla Anderson. When it comes
down to remakes, are we know you're right, you always
go to like the newer thing, like Jurassic World, And
I'm like, excuse me, no, Like nope, nope, nope. Right,
So this isn't that. This isn't either of those bay watches. Instead,
this is the type of beach where you'll find enormous
(19:10):
sea logs, tree lined islands, and so much myths that
it makes the whole landscape kind of look like an
outdoor haunted house. Yeah, we can't forget the Tree of Life.
That was one of my favorite sites. I mean, it's
still my favorite tree in America. Um, big statement, Yeah,
huge statement, huge, And I don't like to try to
try to stay away from favorites. But except for the
(19:30):
end segment, but yeah, I know this sick of tree,
sick of spruce tree. You know, it's just dangling in
between a bluff and clay locked beach. Yeah, it's definitely
surreal and doesn't look like it should exist, Like it
kind of defies reality. It's just hanging there. It's got
a huge base with a ton of roots that are
(19:50):
dangling between this bluff with a little waterfall kind of
trickling underneath that. Yeah, literally hanging on by a few limbs,
but it's striving. I mean it looks like a miracle tree. Yeah,
it really does. I feel like this tree should definitely
be a motivational poster, like one of those just hanging
their pictures, like I think there. I've seen one with
(20:11):
like a cat or a kid like hanging on and
it's like, no, we need one of those with this
tree hanging there, and then you could look at it
whenever you need like this emotional boost. Yeah, it kind
of reminds me of my coffee mug that says, um,
if Brittany can get through two thousand seven, you can
get through today. The best mug. Yeah, I love that
tree on a mug would actually be a beautiful gosh. Yeah,
(20:32):
that'd be a perfect coffee mug. But not all trees
in the beaches here are as peaceful. I remember on
on Ruby Beach, I actually slipped on one of the
wet logs and crashed pretty hard. Yeah, you felt super hard,
like I thought you actually broke your tail. But oh
yeah I went over like an anvil. I like I
it was such a disneyally fast experience and like one
(20:54):
second Milwaukee, and then I slip and slam into the ground.
I guess we can call that one the tree of Death. Huh, yeah,
that would be the Tree of Death. I definitely got
a few bruises along one side from that one, but
unfortunately didn't like crash into like rocks or other logs.
I like hit kind of this firm, moist sand. And
the craziest part is that all these beaches have these
(21:14):
like terrifying warning signs that say things like beach logs
kill and stuff like that, and like how ominous, right,
You're just going to like, oh, I'm going to go
to the beach and then you know, a log could
kill me. Yeah. I wouldn't want to get hit by
one of those sea logs. I mean that's a fight
I definitely would not be able to win. No, absolutely not.
These logs are because they're huge. They're like redwood ish.
(21:37):
They're not as tall, but they're like very very thick
logs that I could see like if if a tide
were to change rapidly or whatever and then it flies
up at you, like you're not You're not going to
fare well. No, definitely not. You'll have more than a
few bruises like I did. That's for sure. Yeah. No,
but there's nothing to be scared of at the beaches
(21:57):
as long as you're careful. You don't have to get
like yourself stranded and high tide. You know, you can
go there when there's low tide and just be smooth
and fun. I mean I even got to like draw
in the sand, well the water sand, and I wrote
like p s, I love you for my cousin Elizabeth
and because our our cousin Paul who passed away. So
(22:19):
it's Paul, I love you, um. And so I got
to send her that little message and just telling her
I was thinking about her. Um. There really is so
much to see here though, at the beach, just strolling
down the misty coast seeing if you can spot all
the cutest animals the country, because the beaches are like
where you're most likely to see sea lions and steals.
In whales, oh yeah, the best as like for those,
(22:42):
you have to really lack out and you have to
come at the right time, like in the spring, I
think is when you're most likely you can see gray
whales migrating for spring break. Where they added cancun um no, no, no, No,
they're heading to the Bearing Sea actually, but that's basically
Cancoon for whales, like MTV Spring Break Bearing Sea edition.
(23:02):
You know, whales, whales amazing, you know, and gray whales
aren't the only whales that you can see here though, right, No,
you can see a lot. Actually, you can see minky whales,
humpback whales, even killer whales can be spotted here throughout
the year. So gangs all here and I'm obsessed with whales.
This is like my happy place. I didn't we didn't
see any unfortunately on this trip, but just even the
(23:25):
mere possibility of whales being in their proximity, I'm like, yeah,
I love that. You know. The other speech that we
spent a lot of time when was that cally Locked beach. Um,
this is where the Tree of Life is and also
where our cabin was, and I really want to talk
about that cabin. Yeah, and the whole like experience there
(23:46):
was really wonderful, like far exceeded my expectations because we drove.
This was like the opposite end of Olympic from Seattle,
so it's a long drive to get there. I think
it took us like three to four hours probably definitely wild. Yeah,
it's like the far southern and western point Olympic um
(24:07):
kind of towards the lower part of the coastline. So
where we're staying was this place called clay Lock Lodge,
and it's incredible, definitely worth the the hours to get
there because it's this oasis, basically the Serene oasis that's
like out on this bluff over the Olympic coastline. The
(24:30):
lodge consists of these different rooms and they're also these
cottages scattered throughout the property, and you have more of
that iconic mist and and sea logs lining the train
in the background or down below you in this case too, right.
I mean, our our cabin was just so cozy and comfy.
It had a living room with the wood fireplace and um,
(24:51):
a beautiful couch and a little like kitchen nook. Um,
just the perfect amount of bedrooms for all of us
in space is a really great adventure, yeah, totally, and
also perfect amount of table space for playing games. I
we I think had a few games that we brought.
Oh yeah, we have all of our national perfect travel
related games. Board games are perfect for this type of setting,
(25:13):
and I remember playing the Oregon Trail board game version
here like not because like the video game is the
nostalgic and one of our favorite things and obsessed with it.
So they came out with this really hard to find initially. Gosh, yeah,
we had like ten people searching for that, Like we
had people in Seattle, we had people in New York
(25:35):
so hard because they showing out. Yeah, they were available
at Target only, and it was sold out everywhere we tried.
So it was a total ordeal really quick though on
this one, Like Carly Fisher in New York, our friend,
she took a two hour train ride to go get it.
She called ahead, they put it aside of at least
(25:55):
that's what they said. She gets there and they sold
them sure, so she had to go back and so
she tried to like really do us a solid by
finding this, and I mean we had people doing crazy
stuff like that all over. It was so much fun though.
I mean that that was just a good memory. You know,
everyone really stepped up, stepped up on our behalf, very appreciative,
(26:16):
but you know, it's well worth it. It It was just
really difficult, um and impossible as the original computer version,
you know, I could never win that game, um, but
the board game set up with the cards that helped
moving along. Um, and we had a really great journey, right,
and this one's like more of a team effort, which
is the whole appeal for me, Like you pay it,
you play it with I don't know, two to five
(26:38):
six people. I'm pretty sure I died of cholera as usual. Well,
you know what the perfect medicine for colera is what's
up dinner at the Creekside Restaurant. Yes, that's very true,
very true. Um, but not really that was actually not
care for colera. I can't I can't care colora with
Washington wine. Well, but still, what a great restaurant at
(27:01):
the Lodge food. Yeah, everything was totally local fresh fish
and seafood, meat, seasonal vegetables, even the wineless was entirely
Washington wines. Really impressive stuff, I know, really above and beyond.
(27:22):
I think the best thing that I remember having there
was this like house smoked salmon tart or tartlet. Was
so delicious and so kind of like quintessential Washington dining.
This like lemony dillcream cheese, like preserved lemon jam, red onions,
this like really fancified version of locks and big old thing.
(27:43):
So good at night. I remember after dinner, like um,
breaking away from the group to go down to the beach,
and it kind of reminded me of sitting under the
pier in Oceanside, California, when I was in the Marines,
and this was a place I would frequently go to decompress.
And because you just hear this like crashing sounds of
the ocean at night, and that sus soul. There's like
(28:05):
the soul at night when it's the oceans, and I
just really love that. Yeah, it really sounds perfect, like
the most serene place to decompress and get away. Yeah.
I remember I was actually watching some like young groups
of people on the beach like cooking s'mores or trying
to with the wind. You know, it was pretty windy, um,
(28:26):
and it was also really dark, so you know everyone's
using their like iPhone flashlights to step over like ocean
logs and trying to cook some more. It was just
it was a funny, fun time just to get that
little escape and bring up those memories. Yeah, beach logs kill.
That's a dangerous place, Like can you imagine? I mean,
I guess I relate, Like I love smart so much,
I'd I'd happily risk my life on a beach like
(28:50):
that to have some. Yeah, I love them so back
in the cottage, I think we also played this board
game version of Where in the World as Carmen San Diego,
another like kind of vintage Americana video game turned card
game that I believe it was also only available at Target.
They really had a monopoly on that. Yeah. That one's
another like tricky one to find, but we got it. Yeah,
(29:12):
we got it. Yeah, and just sell so much fun
and honestly though, like one of the things this has
always stuck with me with Carmen San Diego is one
thing I never understood is why everyone is always on
the hunt for her. Like she's not a bad person.
Her alleged crimes are so intangible, like she's stole liberty
(29:32):
from the Statue of Liberty or something like that, So
these aren't like punishable or like actual things. I think
our only real crime is that weird hat she wears.
I don't like it. Oh man, that that's harsh, that's hard.
Well I'm sorry, but it's not a good hat. Okay,
So now we'll um, Well, we have to wrap up
(29:53):
Olympic National Park by telling us our favorite parts about
the part. So before we go to that, we're going
to go to a quick break. My favorite. Hi am Matt,
(30:16):
and I'm Brad. This is park Landia and we are
getting to our favorite parts about the park. We do
not know what these are, so I really want Matt
to tell me what his favorite part of the park is.
So I think my favorite part of Olympic National Park
was the rainforest in general. I don't think I've ever
been to rainforest in any capacity, so that was a
(30:38):
really exciting aspect and something I was really looking forward
to the most, and it really lived up to my expectations,
not only in the climate, in the setting and like
mistiness and how vivid green it was, but also seeing
like all the elk. I that was such a good surprise.
I love that. Um. Do you want to tell us
(31:00):
what your favorite part of Olympic Yeah, I mean you
could probably guess it just you knowing me. But mine
was the tree of Life. I knew it, I told
you no, but um, but really I mean it. It's
just what it represents to me. You joked about it,
just hang in there, but seriously, watching that tree thrive
(31:25):
when of its roots are exposed. It just kind of
reminds me of the journey that we've gone through. I mean,
from my life before meeting you to us our life
together jumping into this RV life. You know, we didn't
have eighty percent of our roots grounded. They're all uplifted
we had and we still win like we had, yes,
(31:48):
you know, and so that to me is just that
that really special and powerful message that that three sins
um is really important to me. Yeah, and we also
took that tree to the next level because like one
of the photos you took of it, right, we like
turned it into a customized puzzle. We turned outbuilt it. Yeah,
(32:09):
so we were able to turn that photo you took
our that tree into a puzzle. We took us a while,
but it's a hard puzzle, but we we did the
puzzle and there's a lot of blue, a lot of blue,
and yeah, underestimated how difficult that would be. But once
it was finally don't look magnificent in puzzle form, and
then we framed it and then put it on our
(32:30):
National Parks wall in our loft in Chicago, and that
was still up and yeah, now it's all in boxes
as we travel and that's that's the beauty of it all. Yeah,
so clearly that tree had an impact. Also, I'm pretty
sure the Tree of Life is the name of the
tree at Animal Kingdom, which is this weird inadvertent tie
in the Avatar Pandora world. So we've talked about that
(32:53):
place a weird amount in this episode. Yeah, but I
think they definitely got a lot of inspiration from National parks,
especially Olympic I think there's a lot of inspiration. And
it's like a mend between those two and the Animal
king right right, because that tree and looking them kind
of does look like this tree, just like much bigger
and more cartoonis and just put on a delicate arch. Yeah,
(33:18):
so what three things did you bring? The three things
I would bring would be a DVD copy of Disney's
Hercules because when in Rome and we don't probably have
service there, or we didn't have that much service, not
much service, so DVD is probably a good idea. I
would also bring binoculars, especially for when you're on the beaches,
(33:38):
because that's when you have the best views, like kind
of expansive views, unobscured, and you want to keep an
eye out for whales, especially uh, and then I would
also suggest bringing probably a raincoat, especially for the rainforest,
but also in general everywhere, because this is such a misty,
drippy nostalgic Just bring three board games, nostalgia board games
(34:01):
must I know we've only brought two on this one.
I mean that we're nostalgia. But I think the third
one I'd probably bring would be Trekking the National Parks.
I really love that game and what better place to
play it? Literally? Yeah, exactly. And for like our dream
vacation to Olympic what do you think that? What do
you think you would start? I mean we kind of
(34:22):
already this trip really was dreamy, just the whole experience,
the time spent there, the places we saw, the company
we're with, so it's kind of hard to top that.
And the photos were just a phenomenal, Like I got
more photos there than I think I have it all
the National Parks combined. That were just every photo of
(34:43):
spot on iconic. Yeah, I think you. You took an
amazing photo of you through the windshield and it's like
a wet wind shield, always water droplets on it because
we're an Olympic and that's just the norm. An talking
about the one that's my background to my phone. Yeah,
it's so good, and I'm just like kind of in
the background looking out at the lake trying to see
(35:03):
if I can find any river otters, and you captured
it perfectly. I think the only thing that would actually
make this trip better would be to book end it
with Seattle. Now we did that part, but also Mount Rainier.
I think that um adding that park would be a
great two parter for this. It's long driving, but you know,
(35:24):
driving is temporary and doable as long as you paste
it out. Like we remember when we were first considering
this trip and kind of planning things, we consider doing
a day at Mountaineer or maybe towards the end or something,
but we can't do it. Justice, No, we don't want
to cram that in. That's the whole experience in and
of itself. But as long as you have the time,
you absolutely could do Olympic Mountaineer and then also spend
(35:46):
time in Seattle, which is a gem of a stating
there's so much to do there. Three days in Olympic
a day for driving, a half day in Seattle or
half a day for driving, not even and then so scenic,
like you don't even mind. Then just do a couple
of days in Mountaineer and have a have a good
old time. I mean, that would be probably my dream
(36:07):
vacation because they are so close, they're so drivable. You
can go get your Starbucks from the original o G
Starbucks and you know, go through the market there. I mean,
I can't, can't miss it. Yeah, and then you definitely
have to go back to the Creekside restaurant, have some
Washington wine, keep your eyes peeled for whales outside the window.
Like picture perfect in every way. You've been listening to
(36:33):
The Parklandia Podcast, a show about national parks by iHeart Radio,
created by Matt Caro Wac, Brad Caro Wac and Christopher
hassiotis produced and edited by Mike John's executive produced by
Christopher hassiotas special thanks to Gabrielle Collins, Crystal Waters, and
the rest of the Parklandia crew and Hey listeners. If
you're enjoying the show, leave us a review on Apple podcast.
(36:55):
It helps other people like you find our show. You
can keep up with us on social media. Check out
photos from our travels on Instagram at Parklandia Pod and
join in the conversation in our Facebook group Parklandia Rangers.
Thank you so much for listening.
Parklandia News
Hosts And Creators
Brad Kirouac
Matt Kirouac
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