After flying through Oregon, we headed to the Pacific coastline of Washington. The camphosting family that we met back in Arizona, the “Q” family, is camphosting at the Olympic National Park’s Kalaloch campground for the summer. We’ve kept in contact since meeting them in April—especially the kids.
Before accepting our camphosting position in Port Angeles, I wasn’t sure if we’d want to head so far north into Washington to visit the Q family. When we looked at the map and realized how close they are to Port Angles, we knew we needed to schedule a stop before reporting for duty.
On Friday night we over-nighted in Elma, WA—about 2 1/2 hours from Kalaloch. Saturday morning Miranda was up on her own by 6:30, wondering if we could leave by 7:00. Um, no. But, we did leave shortly after 8:00 and drove into Kalaloch around 11:00. It didn’t take long for the kids to reconnect and head down to the beach to play football.
Mike and I really enjoyed our time reconnecting with Don and Mollie, and the kids really enjoyed hanging with the “Q” kids. We’re hoping that we can meet-up again a time or two on our days off while we’re here on the Olympic Peninsula.
We were nervous driving up to this stay because we didn’t think we’d have any hookups at all. While we’ve gotten by on just electrical in the past we’ve only done a couple of overnights in parking lots on just battery power.
I’m not entirely sure of the status of our battery - I replaced the used one that came with the trailer with a new one, then that one started not holding a charge so I replaced it again (not sure if it was a bad battery or our charging system overcharging). We haven’t tested the current one at all to know how long it would last us.
On the drive up I was coaching the kids on conserving power - mainly to keep enough of a charge that the Fridge could stay running (even though it’s on propane I think it needs a minimal charge on the battery). We’d just spent a bunch of money on meat and didn’t want to lose it.
The “Q”‘s gave us the option of parking the trailer in a corner of the campground parking lot close enough to grab a 20A circuit of their pole - so that was an instant win and greatly reduced the stress level.
It’s interesting how different the different park systems are - being as we were here as guests of camp-hosts and it seemed like things were a little looser here than other national parks we’ve visited. It was interesting to compare “camp-hosting notes” against the private RV park job we were heading to.
Wow, these are some beautiful pictures. I’m so happy that you guys are experiencing such beauty! We’re heading back to SouthHaven in a month, too bad you won’t be in Holland for a lunch, but oh well, I’ll get to see the beach again, which I’m really looking forward to now that you’ve wet my appetite with these photos.
You know…this is beautiful country. Tidepooling this AM was great - seeing the star-fish and other creatures.
But for beaches where you just want to spend the day and play in the water? We’ve not experienced anything we’d prefer over a West Michigan beach on Lake Michigan. No smell, no tide to worry about, clean soft sand, fresh water, sunsets over the water, no clumps of seaweed ringing the water.
Hunting Island would be our top ocean-based beachfront so far.
Wow, now that’s saying something! I’ll be sure to count our blessings in on Lake Michigan.
I loved playing with the ‘Q’ kids! We always play two-hand touch football, which is okay by me with people I know. I hope to meet back up with this family on my birthday. That’s seriously the only thing I really want.
This was new: Meeting with old friends. What a blast. We even made up a game: Hocker Soccey. The adults never really got the idea, but it was a blast. As was Spud. Can’t wait to see you guys again!
Hi from Seattle.
I’ve been seeing pictures of the “hanging tree” on Facebook for months and just found out it’s here in Washington, out on the coast. Where is it, exactly? I’d like to see it in person next time I go out to the coast.
Thanks!
The tree is at Klaloch park where the post is from.