camping part two

So after not sleepin, thanks to the davey monster who insisted on touching me all night, or burrowing in my sleeping bag, or pointing out noises we hit the road early headed for the olympic peninsula. (Twilight territory!) A couple things about Washinton state- people drive SLOW, it is surprisingly flat along I-5. Because we planned so awesomely we had no map and relied on the tom-tom. I got suspicious once it had me turn on a really rural road, annnoyed when 25 minutes in it said to turn around, and I flat-out ignored it when it said to turn onto a gravel road. After our scenic detour we finally arrived and stopped for lunch at Kalaloch Beach. There was a great view of the beach and our waitress told us you could often see whales. Davey spent lunch staring out shouting"whale!" but no luck.
After lunch our plan was to find a campsite. After driving through two full ones we finally set up camp. It was free, and nice enough, but the bugs there were crazy (and suspiciously like horseflies). We drove down to hike in the Hoh Rain Forest and found a great campsite near the Hoh River with running water, toilets(!!!), and no bugs. Win. Win. Win. Jason drove thirty minutes back and got the tent. The kids had a blast playing in dirt and with rocks and sticks.
After Jason got back we set out to explore. First we went down to the river and the kids played the in sand and loved throwing rocks in the river. Next we hiked the Hall of Mosses. The train was a. 75 loop and the kids did pretty well. Big impressions from the hike - how crazy green it all is, how huge the trees are, and the GIANT black slugs. Davey loved, loved, loved the slugs. We went on a giant slug hunt. He loved it. We made it back to camp in time for a campfire. Jason successfully built a great fire. He has been known to burn through a few days worth of newspaper and not burn a single log. It was a very impressive feat. To top off the night a deer walked through our camp. A young male with antlers. There was a lot of pointing and shouting deer! Followed by a lot of asking where it went when it left. Davey, Ashley, and I slept great, not so much Jason.
Part three -Rialto Beach- to come.