On the Road Nomad Life: Olympic National Park and Whidbey Island Washington State

The Hoh Rainforest. Olympic National Park.

This article is told from the point of view of our car the nissan rogue. Enter the rogue. From Deception Point to the Top of Olympic National Forest it was a fun week! I hired my friends from Escape Campervans to drive around my Dad and his two friends Greg & Matt while my Dad went to Whidbey Island by himself and then picked up Greg and Matt in Seattle for their annual boys trip. It was so nice to just sit tight in the neighborhood of Ballard in Seattle coming off of my fresh oil change and I just took it all in. Ballard was nice. They have good coffee shops & bookstores and I did a lot of snoozing because I knew the next few weeks were going to be BUSY! They explored Whidbey Island and Olympic National Park and here is a recap of that camper van road trip!

Deception Pass State Park, Washington. Whidbey Island North Entrance.

While I didn’t get to go with my Dad to Whidbey Island he told me all about it and it sounded like a great place! Whidbey Island is just north of Seattle and you can take a ferry in from the South or drive in from the North via the Deception Pass Bridge.
He went trail running and hiking in Deception Pass State Park and spent the night with the Campervan in Fort Ebey State Park. Fort Ebey is a former WWII battery that was never used (it was in case of an attack from the Pacific by Japan) and it is now a beautiful state park with some of the most gorgeous bluff views I have ever laid my headlights on.

I guess he hiked and worked most of the next day (does he do anything else other than yoga and make playlists on Spotify?) and then stayed in my hired camper van (I can’t tell you how much I appreciated this alone time!) at the Whidbey Island Fairgrounds. Apparently not all stereotypes are fake. There were hundreds of bunny rabbits who frequent the fairgrounds and it was almost like a made up fairytale he told me. At one point there were 15 bunny rabbits nibbling the grass around the camper van while he did yoga. Bunnies do like to breed.
He took the Mukilteo Ferry the next morning (which is only about 15 minutes long) to get back to Seattle but he told me you should definitely consider a visit to Deception Pass & Fort Ebey if in the Washington State Region.
After that he picked up his best buds Greg & Matt and they went to Olympic National Park/Forest for their annual “Boys Trip.” I was so grateful I didn’t have to deal with three stinky dudes in my fresh clean look. That camper van should have gotten a bigger tip from me for sure!

Their annual trips have taken them to the following places since they started:

2015: Grand Canyon/Bryce Canyon/Zion NP/Vegas/Antelope Canyon
2016: Iceland
2017: Glacier NP/Mt Rainier NP/Idaho National Forests/Olympic NP
2018: Belgium/France/Amsterdam
2019: Peru/Bolivia (Sacred Valley/Cusco/Salkantay Trek/Lake Titicaca/Puno)
2020: Back to Olympic! It’s been an incredible journey for these dudes I am told to land in Olympics in 2020. What started as a trek to the Scottish Highlands this year that was cancelled due to COVID19 transformed into a Canadian Rockies Road Trip that was cancelled due to COVID19 turned into another trip to Olympic!
No bonus points for creativity for the Three Stooges this year in terms of their final destination but they managed to keep the tradition alive.
2021: Asheville and Hot Springs North Carolina

Campsite Quinault National Forest.

Olympic National Park in Washington is massive and they hardly saw all of it last time.

Plus with my Dad and Greg in Washington it worked out nice to just have one of them (Matt) fly out from Cincinnati.
Here’s what they did in Olympic:
Lake Quinault and its neighboring Rainforest.
Trekked to the highest point of the Olympic National Forest Mountains with a hike up Mt Ellinor.
Visited the Hoh Rainforest, Ruby Beach, and I’m sure had plenty of peanut butter banana tortillas, smelly clothes, and bad jokes along the way!

The last two miles to summit Mt Ellinor might break you.

BUT WE MADE IT TO THE TOP of Olympic National Forest EVENTUALLY!!!!

They gave the camper van a break from their smelly feet the last night of the trip by getting a cheap motel in Hoodsport WA because there was a bar nearby with a patio that they liked.
Alas while the break was good I was starting to get excited to get back on the road!

They dropped off the camper van and I was already filled with gas and ready to go. But not before I demanded my Dad take a shower before the Rogue hit the road. Greg’s partner Abby let him come in to her studio to shower AND made us coffee for the road. She’s a champ!
We had a week on the Oregon Coast that I was pumped to cruise through with three nights in Manzanita Oregon and three nights in Gold Beach (SO to our lovely contributor Rita V for giving some town suggestions). Then it was off to Lassen Volcanic National Park/Forest & San Fran to visit some friends from India and teach yoga!

Hoh Rainforest.

I missed my parents but I loved chilling out in Ballard (a neighborhood in Seattle) and I am glad he got to go on a trip with his buds without making me all stinky with their boys feet and armpits.

Bon voyage to the dirt paths my friends,

The Rogue (& Mike R)

Boy Band Album Cover Audition I guess?