Today we said goodbye to the wonderful Olympic National Park. We had time on our drive to talk about our “top 5” and we both agree that this one has qualified. It’s fun to discuss what makes it, and why. But to me, it doesn’t matter the ranking, just good to reminisce about our favorites.
Olympic had one more chance to shine today, as we drove out past Ruby Beach. Third time is a charm, and we got to visit it today! Apparently, it helps to get a spot when it is mid-morning, cool, foggy and a Thursday after Labor Day.
Don’t tell Daisy because we left her in the car this time… but it was fantastic!
We enjoyed the rugged coastline, just the way we pictured that the Washington Pacific coastline would be.
After the beach, we were on our way to our next destination, which was about a 4 hour drive.
In the name of both conserving our remaining home cooked meals and as a true taste test experience, we tried another West Coast fast food icon. Jack in the Box was our destination today, mostly because we couldn’t get anywhere near the other iconic chains. We were outside of Olympia, WA when we came back into suburbia, and so it was a good time to try it. We don’t eat much fast food at home, but it has become a part of our road trip foodie experience. It was our first time there and it rates lowest on our ranking scale. I enjoyed the all day breakfast sandwich (my favorite meal) and he liked the cheeseburger, but the others just simply outrank them. Plus it was really greasy. Now we know. We do hope to get to the others later in this trip, so stay tuned for that.
Our journey then took us around many facets of the JBLM, which we later learned to be Joint Base Lewis-McChord facility, which is home to many military functions and units. This place was massive! It covered 6 exits on the freeway and we also skirted the grounds for many miles once off the freeway. We saw several cargo planes landing, and the communities around it clearly supported the military operations. There was a lot of barbed wire fencing, and patrolled borders. Pretty interesting.
These roads then opened up into country space, and we’re guessing what would have been beautiful views, if it weren’t for the persistent clouds and haze. We could see that there were mountains around us again, and we were soon at our next destination.
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