I took the "Hall of Mosses" trail which had been recommended to me by the rangers down the hill. The green was intense, especially of this underwater plant caught in a ray of sun.
And, true to its name, there was a lot of moss.
I also found this cool cedar to crawl through-
This is how much moss there was in the rainforest... it was even on the phone booth!
Next I headed back to the coast to Ruby Beach, another ranger recommendation. When I got to the parking lot, all the spots were taken, so I parked along the edge of the lot at the treeline where several other cars had also made their own spots. When I backed in in front of a parallel-parked RV, this is what it looked like:
As I backed up, it felt like my back wheels slipped down a hill a bit, so I tried to pull back forward. Despite my best efforts, my wheels kept spinning. I didn't realize until I got out of the car that my front driver-side wheel was 6 inches off the ground!
I went around to the back of my car--the back passenger-side wheel had slipped off a 2-foot drop off, invisible from the parking lot. I ran to find anyone who could help--we tried sitting on the hood of the car and trying to drive it forward again, but had no more luck. A crowd continued to collect around the car, but it seemed even a good push from behind wouldn't help. It became obvious we would have to tow it out, but amazingly could find no one in the parking lot willing or able to tow despite several large trucks. We finally called the ranger station, who said vaguely that they would try to find someone with a truck to send our way. Before they arrived, however, we heard the sound of a big diesel engine heading down the dirt road. I ran over, and that helpful stranger finally agreed to tow me out. The scene above is of us trying to attach the tow rope to my poor stranded car. The man hopped back in his car and I climbed into mine and it barely took a tug to get the wheel back up on flat ground. This is what the ledge looked like from behind afterward.
Though it was quite a nerve-racking experience, I look back on it with good memories because of the kindness and good will of the strangers that stopped to help me. One man (the one on the right in the picture) even stayed with me the whole time I tried to find a truck to tow me while the rest of his family went down to enjoy the beach. The whole experience felt almost like one of those secret camera specials on 60 Minutes or something testing whether strangers will help a stranded person out of a jam, and yes!! People really are good at heart!!
Once I parked my car on the other side of the lot and explained the situation to the rangers when they finally showed up, I went down to the beach I had gone through so much to see. And it truly was beautiful. Thought it was around noon with perfect blue skies, there was a crazy fog hanging over just one section of the beach. It was so cool!!
I headed back to my car relaxed from exploring the beach and continued on my way back south down the Washington coast. I was on my way to Portland for the night since on my first time through I had missed seeing my friend Ricky. On my way I caught a glimpse of Mount St Helens rising above the freeway traffic.
When I reached Portland, I found my friend doesn't really live in Portland. He lives in a suburb of a farming town outside Portland. So this is what it looked like getting to his house:
We had a delicious Mexican feast at his house, then headed to downtown Portland with some of Ricky's friends for a festival celebrating the Max, their public transportation rail. The festival turned out to be a little less than we expected, but there was this awesome dancing cow on rollerblades. The sign says "Vegan: The Alternative to Cruelty." Only in Portland....
So we quickly gave up on the festival and headed to the bars instead. Though Portland is a very cool city I decided I could never live there--I am not alternative enough. I think that by being somewhat normal I would be very abnormal in this town! We had a good time nontheless, especially at a bar named Dixie that was Texas themed... which meant they sold beer by the can, played cheesy country and booty-dancing music, and had hot girls dance on the bar.
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