Hoh Rainforest and Rialto Beach

Today (Sunday) we woke up and had breakfast: hot cocoa and oatmeal for us, banana apricot mixed grain jar food for Penelope. Again in shifts. We fixed lunch for ourselves and Penelope, then loaded into the car for the drive to the Hoh Rainforest. We hoped Penelope would sleep the whole way there, but she cried for about 30 minutes while trying to fall asleep. She ended up getting almost an hour nap.

At the Hoh Rainforest, we hiked about 2 miles in along the Hoh river trail, which is a long trail that many people use for backpacking and summitting Mt. Olympus. The weather was great. Mostly sunny and no rain, not what we were expecting. We stopped and had lunch along the river bank. Penelope got her first diaper change in the woods. Then we headed back, and Penelope quickly fell asleep. She napped for about 40 minutes, and woke up as we got back to the start of the trail. Then we did the short "Hall of Mosses hike, an easy 0.8 mile loop with lots of cool old trees and moss.

After that, it was snack time for Katie and me, then back in the car. Penelope had her snack while we drove. We headed to Rialto beach on the Pacific coast. It is a rocky beach with huge driftwood trees. Penelope was a bit restless from being restrained so much, so we let her play with the rocks and crawl around some. These rocks were much bigger, so harder to choke on, but we still kept a close watch.

After 30 minutes on the beach, it was time to head back to camp. Katie took Penelope into the tent for some much needed "baby time": crawling and playing with toys with no restrictions (well, few restrictions). Meanwhile, I went to take some photos of Lake Crescent, which is adjacent to the campgrounds. I fixed up dinner, then we fed Penelope and took turns eating and cleaning up. Penelope got some more "baby time" in the tent before nursing and going to sleep. Katie read a book, and I write these notes. Now it is 8:35 PM. Katie and Penelope are asleep, and I will follow shortly.