Rain delay

We have had great luck with the weather this entire trip.  Until last night.

Mary at some point abandoned the tent, so I let her have my place in the van and I went in the tent with Joey.  I wish I would have checked the weather, but I was tired after a full day and just went straight to sleep.  Well it POURED. By the time I realized, it was too late so we just resigned ourselves to have wet stuff, and I slept until 7. I made Joey get in the van and I started trying to get everything carefully put away, minimizing the amount of wet stuff we would have to pack.  And using the microfiber towels to dry what I could, I did a fairly good job.  I took my time and avoided the hardest rain, so it was 8:40 by the time we actually left camp. Mileage 149533.

Just over an hour later, we got to the Sol Duc Trailhead. I had checked reviews and so many people had said this was their favorite stop in Olympic NP, so we decided to try the trail even though it was still kinda rainy. The trail out to Sol Duc Waterfall was .8 miles and looked wooded, but we didn't get much tree cover and got basically soaked. I did have the kids wear their sandals to avoid sopping wet shoes at least.  Katy started complaining about the time we reached the falls, but I got her to be satisfied by washing her feet in whatever puddles and streams she could find, which were plenty enough.  The waterfall was a bit underwhelming, but it's another cool thing that we got to see. 

Love the huge trees

Kids enjoy a dry spot on the trail

We left the trailhead parking lot at 11:25, and decided that due to the rain we would just skip everything else and just head straight for Adam and Devin's house.  Along the way, there was a sign illuminated stating that the Hood Canal Floating Bridge had its drawbridge raised and there were delays. We sat in traffic for what felt like ages, but was probably only like 20-30 minutes. After finally crossing the bridge I headed down toward Bainbridge Island, where the ferry back to Seattle USED to be free.  I'm not sure when they changed the fee, but it was around $20 (vehicles less than 22' long).

Checking the ferry schedule I wasn't sure if we would make it in time and might have to wait another big chunk of time, but we got to the Bainbridge ferry terminal, and like 3 minutes later boarded the boat. This was right around 3pm. After docking on the city side, and being one of the last vehicles to exit the boat, we drove into the city to meet up with Adam, Devin and Alex. But by the time I actually made it there, Alex was called back to work, and it had started raining again. So we decided to skip the city walk and headed to Alan's apartment for about an hour.

Cold on the front of the ferry

Foggy view of Seattle

Closer view of the city. Pardon the glare

We got back to Adam and Devin's house around 5:30, where Andy and Kali were also visiting. I took some time to clean the van a bit, roll our camp mats and hang wet clothing on a drying rack in the basement. We ate some pulled pork sandwiches and homemade mac & cheese, played a couple games, and went to bed around 10. It's the last night without Melissa, hopefully things will get a little easier (at least less stressful) when she's back!

Game beer while playing 'Pass the Pigs' and 'Yahtzee'

Miles today: 179

Total trip miles: 3623