Olympic, Arches, and Canyonlands

The story continues with our leaving Seattle via a ferry headed to Olympic National Park. When we arrived, we were greeted by black-tailed deer and views of Mt. Olympus.


However, the real wonder of this park is the trees. There are forests as far as the eye can see, and the temperate rain forest (which receives 150+ inches of rain) contains trees that grow to massive proportions (and the moss does pretty well, too!)

This was our first park with an ocean view, and we spent one morning checking out the starfish-filled tide pools, huge driftwood piles, and funny lumpy trees. (Note that there's no one swimming in the water....that's because it was frigid! This is a temperate rainforest, definitely not a tropical one)

After a brief drive (across a mere 4 states) we arrived in the Colorado Plateau region of Utah. Talk about a change in scenery - most of the trees here are less than 4 ft tall! The desert is fantastic - filled with ridiculous red sandstone sculptures set against brilliant blue skies. We've visited Arches and Conyonlands thus far and have much more planned for this area.

Arches - You can't get a sense of the scale of these rockforms until you're standing next to them - suffice it to say, they are big. Check out the little people in the photos for scale (yes, that really is us).

Canyonlands (Island in the Sky) / Dead Horse State Park - Here the scenery stretches out as far as the eye can see, filled with intricately carved canyons containing the mighty Colorado and Green rivers tucked away in their nooks and crannies. We were lucky to see both a sunset and a sunrise over this country; the rocks really leap to life at these times.


The desert may look lifeless most of the time, but we occasionally managed a glimpse of life. Note - we have also seen many, many birds, but we haven't managed to snap a decent shot yet.