Searching for the Greeks

This week we have been in Olympic National Park in Washington. 

Wikipedia gives the following blurb about the park:  Olympic National Park is located in the U.S. state of Washington, in the Olympic Peninsula. The park can be divided into four basic regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west side temperate rainforest and the forests of the drier east side. U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt originally created Mount Olympus National Monument in 1909 and after Congress voted to authorize a re-designation to National Park status, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the legislation in 1938. In 1976, Olympic National Park became an International Biosphere Reserve, and in 1981 it was designated a World Heritage Site. In 1988, Congress designated 95 percent of the park as the Olympic Wilderness.

Like most of our parks, the public has access to a fraction of the park (probably a good thing) … but that being said, you can see a great deal from the road that winds around the park.  The park gets around 180 inches of rain a year (with Mount Olympus getting 200 inches).  For those of you not familiar with the history of this area … everything here was apparently named by a Grecophile … However, it is not (repeat) not in Greece … and while there are a few things here that are similar with Greece (both have a mountains near the shore (a tall peak named Olympus) and have a mainland on a penensula, these similarities are insignificant compared to the differences: (1)  Greece apparently has a series of gods living on its Mt. Olympus, and no gods have been reported in Washington … at least none wearing a chiton and throwing lightning bolts. (2) Greece is a series of islands with a small mainland in the Mediterrainian Sea (think nice warm weather), and (3) Washington in wet …  Olympic NP is famous for its rain forest (think wet … the trees here are covered with moss and other fungi that live in the damp).

We, being apparently either godlike ourselves or just lucky (probably the latter), were in the park on one of the few days without rain.  Enjoy a few of the pics we took. 

 Here we are at Port Angeles with Vancouver Island in the background

 Lynda overlooking Crescent Lake in Olympic National Park.

 Just loved this gnarly tree!

 Ocean scenery in Olympic National Park

Had lunch at Port Angeles.