Spontaneity

After we came back from our morning hike, we packed up our tent and started to head back home.  But one thing we learned while staying on the coast is that if it is sunny and beautiful a few miles inland, it doesn't mean it is the sunny and beautiful at the coast.  So instead of heading back home, we made a spontaneous decision to head on up the road about an hour and half to Hoh Rainforest, a place I have been dying to see!

After stopping for lunch, at the only restaurant within an hour of Hoh rainforest, we sat outside on a blanket and enjoyed the sun while eating our yummy lunch.

Hoping we could get in at least one hike, we decided to start with the Hall of Moss trail when we got there.

The scenery was just gorgeous!

Love their faces.

What an intense root system

Joss' photography skills at work again.

Having fun playing inside the roots of a tree.  

All of these spruce trees grew with the help of a "nurse log" which is a dead tree trunk that falls to the ground giving the spruce tree seedlings a great place to start growing.  As the tree grows, the dead tree below it continues to decompose.  Eventually the decomposing tree disappears leaving the new spruce trees with above ground roots.  Pretty amazing!

Loved that we were able to come to the Hoh Rainforest on a sunny day!  It really made all the difference with the pictures we were able to take.  It really showed off the moss that was growing everywhere.  

On our way back home we stopped at Ruby Beach, which we heard from so many locals as one of the most beautiful beaches on the Washington Coast.  

With its smooth, round gray/blue rocks that covered its beach and...

The sound the ocean made when pulling its wave back into the sea was so mesmerizing, it was nothing less than perfect.  Even Joss couldn't believe what she was seeing and hearing.

It also had tidal pools that Auty had fun splashing around in.

And the rock sculptures left by everyone who had visited was just magical.  

Josslyn, Auty and Erik adding to the sculptures.  Very meditative.

Josslyn's rock sculpture house.  

Finally had to say good bye and allow what we saw to become yet another beautiful memory.