The Monday morning ferry took us to Bainbridge Island, from which we departed into the Olympic National Park. The road through Port Angeles to Kalama Beach took us through lush forest and lakeside vistas. We arrived at our campground just after nightfall.

Olympic National Park contains our nation’s only rainforest, which receives 12 times more rain than New Mexico each year. It makes a difference. The air was perpetually cool and damp. Life is visible on everything, everywhere. Layer upon layer of life. Even in our developed campground, moss veiled undisturbed areas of pavement. In the forest, a green spectrum of mosses, ferns, salmonberry and blackberry bushes filled all space between the trees. The same green that carpeted every inch of the forest floor also cloaked 250-foot spruce and fir trees.

We stayed two nights in the park. One day it was clear, the next rainy; we managed to cook breakfast both mornings, as wave after wave crashed into the shore.