The Coastal Interpretive Center is packed with hands-on nature exhibits as well as lots of information on shipwrecks and tsunamis. This time when we visited they had this statue of Ebisu, the Japanese God of Fishermen on display. He was found on a beach here in 2013 with no cracks or pieces missing but covered in small barnacles. Along with the green bottle on the shelf next to him, they represent all of the tsunami debris that has washed up on the shores in the Pacific Northwest.

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We had a rainy day today so I decided it would be a good time to get the sewing machine out and do some work on a baby quilt.

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Spent the morning at the Convention Center at the local quilt show. Got to see some nice quilts and even won a door prize! Luckily when we finished at the show, the rain had stopped so we headed to the North Jetty. Because of the rain, the rocks were slick so we decided we would not chance clambering over them but it was nice to watch the waves as well as the pelicans and seagulls.

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Our campground is a short walk to the beach. Years ago someone erected this tent shaped formation and since then people have hung "stuff" on it. In nautical jargon flotsam is a floating wreckage of a ship or its cargo and jetsam is part of a ship, its equipment or its cargo that is cast overboard. A formation such as this is then called flotsam and jetsam. I think the real reason it's here is so as you walk the beach you can find it and get back to the campground (at least that's what we use it for)!

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I was sure we would have a beautiful sunset but just as the sun was going down, a fog bank rolled in and obstructed the sun. So this is as good as it got tonight.

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Ruby Beach in the Olympic National Park with its sea arches and offshore islands is a wilderness beach. The sea stacks are a link between land and sea and provide a sanctuary for ocean birds to breed and raise their young. Some of the offshore islands are ghosts of former headlands.

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Destruction Island is a 30 acre island located about three and one half miles off the Washington coast. The Hoh Indians used to frequent the area to capture rhinoceros auklets. The 94-foot lighthouse was built in 1891 and a Coast Guard detachment operated it from 1939 - 1970. The light was automated in 1968 and was shut off for good in 2008.

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The Kalaloch Big Cedar, a 1000-year old tree, was 175-feet tall and 19.8-feet in diameter. The roots and burls of the tree almost made it look like it belonged in another time on the earth. In early March, this legendary tree became victim to wet and wild weather and split in two. Heavy winds and some 6-inches of rain in 5-days, saturated and twisted this gnarly behemoth until it could take no more. No one heard the noise, but this giant is now forever altered.

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These beach logs are the bones of a rainforest picked clear by the sea. They probably began in river valley as giant conifers like Sitka Spruce. Trees are toppled by rain and glacial melt and then float down to the mouth of the river and onto the beach where they stand as sentinels.

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Lake Quinault Lodge was built in 1926 and is another beautiful national park lodge. It was a wonderful place to have lunch while watching the activity on 5,827 square mile Lake Quinault.

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