Celebrate Earth Day with a volunteer vacation!

by Kraig Becker on

2010 will mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of Earth Day. Originally conceived by Senator Gaylord Nelson, the event was meant to remind us to stop and think about the amazing, yet fragile, planet on which we live, and possibly consider the ways that we can work to protect the environment around us. Today, that message is as important and relevant as ever, and Earth Day is celebrated across the globe in a number of cultures and countries.

This year, Earth Day falls on Thursday, April 22nd, and to celebrate Lake Quinault Lodge and Kalaloch Lodge, both located on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula, are offering environmentally conscious travelers a chance to do their part to protect the environment while on a volunteer vacation. Visitors can join the Washington CoastSavers on Saturday, April 17th, as they work to clean up the beaches at Kalaloch, and then celebrate with a barbeque afterwards. A week later, on Saturday April 24th, volunteers have the opportunity to join the park service in restoring Kestner Homestead, a family cabin that was built back in 1862 and is now part of Olympic National Park.
To show their appreciation for the efforts of the volunteers, the two lodges are offering an online only discount for those who choose to stay with them. These Earth Day Volunteer Vacation deals allow guests who particpate in the beach clean up to stay in a Seacrest room at Kalaloch Lodge for just $99 or a log cabin for $109. The special rate is available for a single day between April 15-18, and includes entry to the CoastSavers barbeque as well. Volunteers who elect to stay at the Lake Quinault Lodge can get a one night stay on April 23, in either a Lakeside or Main Lodge room beginning at just $109. That rate includes two box lunches to take to Olympic National Park the following day.

This is the third year that the resorts have offered these volunteer vacation deals, and to further show their commitment to the environment, they’ll throw in a $15 gift certificate for anyone that arrives in or on a “green” vehicle. The gift certificates are redeemable in the lodges’ stores, restaurants, and giftshops, and is another reward for guests looking to further reduce their carbon footprint.

To take advantage of one of these deals simply book online at www.VisitLakeQuinault.com or www.VisitKalaloch.com.

New website helps visitors explore the waterfalls of the Olympic Peninsula

by Katie Hammel on

The heavily-forested Olympic Peninsula, a slice of land that juts out into the Pacific in the far northwest of Washington state, is home to 24 major waterfalls. In an effort to make it easier for visitors to find and explore the different falls, Grays Harbor Tourism, Jefferson County Tourism Coordinating Council, and Olympic Peninsula Visitor Bureau have joined forces to launch a new website, OlympicPeninsulaWaterfallTrail.com.

While the waterfalls and the hiking and biking paths that surround many of the them have been around for years, the website and its handy guide map are new.

The 24 falls and their surroundings vary widely. There are the beautiful Sol Duc Falls in Olympic National Park , the tiered falls of Gatton Creek near Lake Quinault, and the Wynoochee Falls that form a pristine swimming hole, among others. There are cascades that thunder and others that barely trickle. You can hike, bike or drive to most, while a few are only accessible by boat. Some gush all year-round and others ebb and flow with the seasons. Some are easy to get to and others should only be visited by the more physically fit.

The website helps classify these various falls and makes visiting them easy. It’ll show you pictures of each waterfall, explain how to get there, and warn you of any hazards you’ll face along the way.

Washington state issues enhanced licenses for border crossings

by Anna Brones on

Border crossings seem to be on my mind this week. For those of you lucky enough to be residents of Washington state (like myself), you are now able to surpass all the identification hullabaloo when crossing up to Canada.

Last year Washington governor Chris Gregoire, in an effort to maintain travel and cultural ties with British Columbia, signed a law launching a pilot program between the state and the Department of Homeland Security. As of this month, the Washington State Department of Licensing is now issuing enhanced driver’s licenses, which are equipped with radio frequency identification technology and therefore approved by the DHS for crossing back and forth over the US Canadian land border. Kiss those border-induced identification fears goodbye.

Washington drivers have to provide a social security number, proofs of residency and citizenship and undergo an interview with Department of Licensing staff. But at $40, the enhanced license costs less than half of the price of a U.S. passport. So keep your fingers crossed, hope that the pilot program works and maybe one day soon enhanced driver’s licenses will be coming to a Department of Licensing near you.

Drive Along US 90: Seattle to Philipsburg

by Jamie Rhein on

The drive from Seattle, Washington to Philipsburg, Montana is one that takes you through the Cascade Mountains and past expansive fields of crops being watered by elaborate watering systems that keep the landscape green where, around the green, the dryness is startling.

As we traveled the ten hours it took last Friday to get from Point A (our friends’ house outside Seattle) to Point B (our friends’ house in Philipsburg) I noted some the points of interest we passed in case any of these might interest you if you are ever traveling along here in a car one day. There are several places that entice a person to turn off and take a detour. The thing about those brown signs that show places of interest, they don’t tell you how far anything is. If you turn off I-90 to head to any of them, you might be driving for miles. Don’t head off until you check first. Here’s the list of what caught my eye.

Ginkgo Petrified Forest
Wild Horse Monument
Cave B Estate Winery (This had a blue tourist attraction sign)
Grand Coulee Dam
Mullan Tree Historical Site
Silver Mountain-World’s Longest Gondola
Big Creek Historical Site

Along the way I learned that Grant County Washington is the “National Leading Potato Producing County” and that there is a stretch of highway where for 14 miles there are signs that say what crops are growing in the fields you are passing. Peas, sweet corn, wheat, potatoes and alfalfa sure look lush when you whiz by them at 70 miles an hour. If you click on the Flickr photo by squeezymoose, you’ll see that the blue sign in the photo says “Wheat.”

Sneaker Waves: Beach Safety

by Jamie Rhein on

When I was researching information for my tidepooling post, I came across a term I hadn’t heard before and it’s an important one to know–Sneaker waves.

Sneaker waves are the waves that appear in the ocean when you least expect them. According to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department Web site, this type of wave often has a “deadly force” and sand mixed in with the water. Once sand laden water covers you, the sand adds weight to your clothes and can bog you down, thus making it hard to escape the wave’s force. Here’s a more detailed description. Of note, in the United States, Oregon, Washington and Northern California, sneaker waves occur daily. In the rest of the United States, they are not as common.

For this reason, never turn your back on the ocean. Also recommended, avoid hanging around large logs and debris and stay off of jetties, particularly when there is a storm coming in or during the peak of changing tides. Read more about coast hazards here.