So, it all started with we taking early ferry to Kingston from Edmonds ( 17miles up north from Seattle) to cross Puget Sound. After nearly, 1.5hrs of drive, we reached Port Angeles - largest city of Olympic Peninsula. A surprising thing that we noticed here was within two miles of main city street, we came across churches of many faiths - Episcopal, Presbyterian, Catholic and few more. This makes one believe that Port Angeles people are either very pious or with not-so-good history that so many churches had to be built to enthrust power of good-doing in them. Well, I would like to believe in former. :). After eating hefty breakfast here - we all geared ourselves to explore the wilderness of Olympic National Park.
First stop was heavenly Hurricane Ridge, 17 miles south of Port Angeles. One can see wonderful things standing on this ridge on a clear day (and thanks to sweet luck of mine, it was a clear day :) ) - mysterious u-shaped valleys formed by ever-moving glaciers right down in the southern direction makes one think of power of nature, Strait of Juan de Fuca far north, Victoria BC island of Canada on other side of this strait, glaciers on mountain tops and meadows full of wild flowers right on this ridge. We were even lucky enough to see black-tailed deers doing his morning munching of grass. What a picturesque scene. While trailing on .2miles Cirque Rim, we saw a big mountain full of naked trees - there was a wild-fire in 2004 here which had gulped down entire forest viciously. I was bit disturbed to see ruins of this massive destruction made by fire. Anyway, I consoled myself by thinking that nature did this as a balancing act and moved on. 
While riding down and trying to save divine beauty of Hurricane ridge - we could see Mount Adams of Canada across strait and San Juan islands. Radiant rays of Sun shining over and ferries riding were adding to the beauty of Strait. Our next stop was Neah Bay - north-west point of Peninsula and accessible via US 101. True to it's fame, traveling on US101 is always a pleasure to the eyes. Its winding highway is so dramatic - I could never realize when I was on top of a mountain or by a lakeside. So, on the way is Lake Crescent. It is as if many mountains has artistically carved the lake into its crescent shape. Blessed by crystal-clear serene water, we had to stop here to savor its beauty. What we witnessed was a beautiful blending of reflection of densely forested mountain and clear blue sky in the water. Picture Perfect!!!
It was already 3o'clock when we entered into Makah Indian Reservation. The drive on US 112 plays hide and seek with Strait Juan de Fuca and you. It is beautiful nonetheless. :). We could feel the abundance of sea-life when we saw Seal pub resting on shores just below busy highway. It was amazing to see it playfully swimming in the water towards shore. After having Lunch on the Bay-side, we set off to Cape Flattery - north-western point of USA. Trail for nearly .75miles through tall trees and you are standing on the cliff overlooking strait of Juan De Fuca emptying itself into Pacific Ocean. Hard gigantic rocks, foamy waters, chirping sea-birds and soaring waves hitting against the cliff keeps this place ablaze. Seeing something like this makes oneself believe into rhythm of life. It gave me chills to even think how native Indians used to live in a place like this. It must had been such a hardship to hunt for food in such adverse climate. Thanking God for giving me wonderful life, I retreated myself towards parking lot.
Feeling overjoyed for witnessing various states of Mother Earth throughout the day, we decided to travel to our Lodge at Kalaloch beach. An evening at Kalaloch (pronounced as Klay-lock) was as mesmerizing as the entire day was. When we reached, sun was about to go under Pacific ocean. Sand all over the beach had beautiful golden tinge and so was the water. If a kid was told that Water is colorless on that beach on that evening, he would had surely disagreed and would had told you that water is yellow. After amazing sunset, we indulged ourselves into wine and food. When we came out of restaurant, Kalaloch treated us with star-studded sky. The sky was so clear, we could see Milky way through our naked eyes. It was also first time in US, I was seeing Ursa major in the sky. How very wonderful. Don't know whether it was miraculous natural beauty that I had seen entire day or the wine I had or the soft noise of nearby Pacific waves or the warmth of my hubby's arms wrapped around me, I fell asleep within few minutes after hitting the bed.Courtesy of Photos : Arnab Deka
