Nov 17, 2010 - Salt Creek Recreation Area

Today we visited one of the most beautiful beaches in the area called Salt Creek Recreation Area. It is about 15 miles west of Port Angeles, Washington near the tiny town of Joyce. The park is located on what once was Camp Hayden, a World War II military camp. It has a number of camping spots located right on the water with incredible views. Tongue Point is an area of the Salt Creek Recreation Area. The point is a rock out cropping that extends into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This outcropping is visible during low tide. At low tide it is...

Sep 24, 2009 - No men allowed!

I have just returned from my "Girl's Only" three-day camping trip to Salt Creek Recreational Area just west of Port Angeles, WA, located on the cliffs overlooking the Strait of Juan de Fuca. This is a favorite camping spot for my family, and we've been there many times. Months ago, I had a thought that it would be fun to get some girlfriends together and make this trip with them. The most obvious group to share this trip with was my gym buddies. Not because they are campers, but because I knew they would enjoy the hikes and all that this...

Sep 15, 2009 - Tide Pools at Salt Creek

Good morning! Len and I went for a walk this morning out to Tongue Point to go explore the tide pools in the park. This morning was a low tide of -.05, which has been the lowest tide during our stay here at Salt Creek Park. I was in seventh heaven just getting way out there and investigating what treasures I could find in the pools of water amongst the exposed rocks. Len let me take the camera and just wonder, while he enjoyed the surrounding beauty and sounds of nature from up above. We thoroughly enjoyed our outing, hope you enjoy the...

Sep 12, 2009 - Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park

When I thought of Olympic National Park prior to today I mostly thought of it as a rain forest. Today I found out that it also has mountains that are nearly as special as what we saw in the Yosemite area. Not as tall, but quite spectacular. We walked the 1.2 mile Hurricane Hill Trail which took us to about 5700 ft, which is not very high compared to the 10,000+ ft Yosemite area mountains, but they seem much higher than they are. We really enjoy the walk. Surprisingly, we found that they serve Ivar's clam chowder at the Hurricane Ridge...

Sep 11, 2009 - Butchart Gardens -Nancy's Shots

Part of our trip to Victoria was visiting the world renown Butchart Gardens. We took so many pictures that we decided to do two posts. Len's photos were taken with the Nikon D300 and are to follow, mine with the Canon SD1200. My photos are mostly close ups of a small portion of some of the beautiful flowers at the gardens. Most you will recognize, but a few maybe new to you. They were to me. Stay tuned for Len's post. It will be of the amazing sculptured gardens and grounds at Butchart Gardens, Victoria and of our ferry ride from Port...

Sep 11, 2009 - Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

We got up early on Friday morning so as to arrive in Port Angeles in plenty of time to catch the 8:10 am Express Ferry to Victoria. This was to be an all day affair with us returning on the same Express Ferry which left Victoria at 6:15 pm. It simply could not have been a better day. It was a sunny 75 to 80 degree day, and we had a great time. At 8:45 am on this day being the 8th anniversary of 9-11 the ferry stopped and turned off it's engines to allow for a moment of silence in memory of the lives lost on that most unfortunate day. Roses...

Sep 11, 2009 - Butchart Gardens

Immediately upon getting off the Express Ferry at Victoria, British Columbia we boarded a double decker bus for the trip to Butchart Gardens, and what a beautiful place it is as you can see from the pictures. We spent about 2 hours there and then returned on the same double decker bus to Victoria where we spent the rest of the day which is the subject of another post.

Sep 10, 2009 - Lake Crescent

After spending a leisurely morning in the park enjoying our view of the strait and visiting with our neighbors, we decided to venture out to Lake Crescent. The lake is located about 20 mins from the park, southwest on Hwy 101. You can't drive around the lake, so we entered on the Northeast end at the Log Cabin Resort. They have camping here to, but nothing of interest to us. Just a big parking lot in a field. Our next stop was the East Beach, which is a public swim and picnic area. Kids were swimming, burr it looked cold! Further down the...

Sep 10, 2009 - More Salt Creek Campground Pictures

Lots of ship traffic in the waters in front of the rig and I've tried to capture some of that. The cruise ship in the dark was an experiment using my best telephoto lense on a tripod. Not the best, but you can make out what it is, and it was quite dark when I took the picture. Just having some fun with my camera gear. Hopefully we'll get to spend some time at the tide pools at low tide soon and get pictures of some of the sea life.

Sep 9, 2009 - Salt Creek County Campground on the Strait of Juan de Fuca

We had a 9:00 am appt this morning to fill up my big propane tank at $1.49 per gallon. That is an unbelievably low price, and must be at the campground's cost. Very nice campground! We said goodbye to John and Susan and headed down the road on the way to Salt Creek County campground which is located west of Port Angeles right on the water. A brochure that we picked up describes it this way: With its stunning views of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and Victoria, British Columbia, Salt Creek Recreation Area and Campground is the perfect setting...

Sep 8, 2009 - Dungeness Spit & Sequim

As I took my morning stroll this morning, I found some fun things to share with you. We spent another fun day exploring the peninsula with our friends, John and Susan. John did the driving and I was the navigator. Good team work. Thanks John! On the way to Sequim, we checked out the Sequim Bay State Park on Hwy 101. As we are finding in a lot of the older established St. Parks, they just can't accommodate our big rigs. We continued on and stopped at the Sequim's visitor center to get info on the area. It was a beautiful drive through the...

Jul 29, 2009 - Out for a Short Drive.

We decide to take a small drive on the 29th. We drove into the tiny town of Joyce. I thought I'd get a couple photos while there, my Sister's name is Joyce....I thought she'd get a kick out of it. While driving around we came upon the Salt Creek Recreation Area Campground, so we turned in to check it out. It is a county park, most spaces are for reservations, but they do set aside some for first come first serve. We were told that they lock the gates at night, which is something we don't care for, but it is a really nice campground.