Skip to main content

Olympic NP Vacation Day 7: Drive to Seattle

Today we end our Olympic National Park vacation, because tomorrow we fly home. We checked out of Quinault lodge around 9:30 AM, after eating our last “Logger’s Breakfast” on the lodge deck, and then started our drive back to Seattle with a slight detour to Staircase Ranger Station.  Staircase was kind of on way and only added two hours to our journey due to the up and back nature of the drive.  We got to Staircase around 11:30 AM got out of the car walked around briefly then head back down the road stopping to view a few waterfalls.  Once we got to the bottom of mountain, out of the park, and into the very tiny park gateway town it was a bit after noon so, we stopped at the “Burgers, Teriyaki, and Ice Cream Shack” for lunch.   Lunch was surprisingly good, Jim got the bulgogi burger and I got teriyaki chicken, it was nice to have something different for lunch then the basic food around Quinault.  After lunch we continued our drive into Seattle, to check into a hotel near the airport for our flight tomorrow.

Overall, the trip was good even though we were traveling during a pandemic which put a damper on a few things, such as getting true first-class service on our flights.  Also, the pandemic did limit the things that were open and the food selections at the lodge. So instead of having a full menu and eating in the historic restaurant where F.D.R ate in 1937, we got to order at the bar off a limited menu of the same 6 mains and 2 deserts every day for take out only.  While we did mix it up a little with some MREs and eating at Dino’s; overall the food was not very exciting.  One of the nice things we did like about staying at the lodge was due to the pandemic they only clean the rooms when people check out.  Thankfully all the restrooms within the park were open, even though several of visitor centers were not fully opened.  I was happy that I was still able to get a park stamp for my park passport.   Overall, we drove 1139.2 miles, hiked 25.9 miles, and took 1225 pictures. See chart below.   

Vacation Day

Miles Driven

Miles Hiked

# Pictures

Day 0

139

0

0

Day 1

80.9

6.1

273

Day 2

199

6

271

Day 3

42.1

6.8

175

Day 4

283

1.4

144

Day 5

109

1.6

97

Day 6

72.2

4

231

Day 7

214

0

34

Total

1139.2

25.9

1225

 In conclusion I think it was a very good trip. It was good to get away from the house and away from the consistent new about COVID since the hotel had little internet. Also the park was good way to get away from people and “social distance”.  The trip was relaxing.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

2024 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2025

This year felt a little off for me; I think it was because I was in a mental recovery mode.  I finished my graduate program in June and immediately went on a week-long vacation to Palm Springs.  I do not recommend Palm Springs in June; way too hot.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but the graduate program mentally and physically exhausted me, which I think showed in some of my creative work.  But being able to work with great people like Natalie Hanrion , Coralinx Cosplay , and Anastasia B kept me motivated.  While I didn’t attend as many Cosplay Photo Shoot events as in the past, the ones I did attend were helpful in keeping the creativity flowing.  I also took some time this year to reflect on a few things and will be making some changes for 2025. In 2024, I shot 6241 frames, which is a 30-percent decrease from last year.  I edited 3187 frames, which is a 40-percent decrease from 2023.  I think this year, I started focusing on being very min...
Post a Comment
Read more

First Session of 2025 - Queen of Hearts

My first official shoot of 2025 was with Lady Cels on January 4 th , to shoot her Queen of Hearts cosplay based off the NoFlutter Design. For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Phottix Strobe 1 FJ400 Westcott Strobes 60-inch umbrella with sock 1 rectangular soft box 1 bell reflector grids 2 C-stands 1 Platypod Sandbags Backdrop stand Savage Primary Red Spyder Color Checker Card A-clamps   Gold ring wedding altar pieces Playing cards Flowers Styrofoam block Scotch tape     The set up The inspiration for this shoot was obviously the Queen of Hearts, but I took my set design cues from the original NoFlutter drawing.  I wanted to create something similar to the swirls used in the background of the image, so I started looking at wrought iron garden fences and ended up on gold we...
Post a Comment
Read more

Snow Session

On January 9 th , Washu Cosplay and I did a slightly impromptu snow session at Great Falls National Park.   This was possible because of the passing of the Explorers Act which allows photography in a National Park with a model without a permit.   Before you get too excited, the law limits equipment and the size of the party; you are allowed your camera, tripod, and handheld lighting equipment, and the group can be no more than 5 people, which includes the photographer, model, and assistants.   So, there are no big lighting setups or big crews; for big shots, you will still need a permit.      For this session, I used: Photography Equipment Props/Miscellaneous Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 1 speed light 1 light stand     The set up For this shoot I was mixing flash and natural light.  In most cases, my model was partially backlighted by the sun.  Thus, I u...
Post a Comment
Read more