Olympic National Park is pretty freakin awesome

I will make this quick as laptop battery is precious. I am typing now from an rv. I kind lady at the grocery store in Port Angeles, WA overheard me telling someone else that my tent is soaked from camping in the rain forest last night. "Why dont you stay in my rv? It's parked right in front of my house." How could I pass that up? So here I sit.

Last night I ended up camping in the Hoh Rain Forest. I could hear the glacial river flowing behind me at night. I worked up enough energy to cook ramen in the rain. Pretty impressive, I know. When walking towards the facilities for the first time I saw a slug on the road. Doing a service to humanity I picked it up, poked at it just enough to make it squirm, and placed it back in the grass, saving it's precious little life. Well, little did I know these things are taking over. They are everywhere and impossible to avoid. A ton of them were on the road, and on trails. I am pretty sure they live miserable lives and must have death wishes.

I woke up this morning a little wet. Not wet all over, just my head and feet. The significant rainfall was enough to seep in along the sides of the tent. Not cool. Since I woke up wet I figured I'd keep up the trend and went for a hike around the corner from my campsite. It was amazing. Pics...many pics...to come. My knee held up well for the 6 miles too!

The good and bad news of the day is that I have a job interview next week. Clearly good because income is pretty rad. Not so good because I am just getting started here on this little journey. So, I shall return to Portland at the end of June. For now, I leave for the musty smell of the rv and a peanut butter sandwich. Oh, how I'll miss traveling cheap.

Following the sun...er, rain

Here I sit, in the Visitor's Center in Forks, WA. They advertise free wi-fi, so I walked in, and am now sitting in the ONE chair in this very small place surrounded by people asking for "Vampire Maps", "The Giant Spruce Tree", and "The Twilight Statue". Only one of which exist. Can you guess which one? I knew I should have brought my headphones inside.

I left Portland yesterday afternoon and headed to Astoria, OR. From there I went up the coast, ending up in Pacific Beach State Park, in Washington. Although the good (and expensive) camp sites were occupied, I took an adequate spot where I could still hear the ocean. I managed to sleep for almost 9 hours...in a tent...for the first time ever camping alone.

This morning was rad, I cooked up some oatmeal, and made some tea on my (Matt's) camping stove. Felt like a real live camper! Then took a walk down to the beach and began exploring, taking pictures, playing in the rain and in the ocean. Now I am waiting for the rain to pass, catching up on things and watching people. This place is filled with tourists, many children, most ridiculously annoying.

Yesterday I started talking to myself, not uncommon during solo journeys. Today, however, I started talking to myself in Spanish. I'm not sure where that came from but just going to roll with it for now.

Check picasa or facebook for photos. www.picasaweb.com/sewalker

Hoping to keep up with writing as much as possible.