Last year we started a new tradition by spending Thanksgiving week with our daughter at Kalaloch Lodge at Olympic National Park. The lodge is right on the coast of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, near the town of Forks. There’s very little around except for acres and acres of national forest.
We rent two cabins, one for our daughter and one for us. The cabins have a small kitchen, so we can make most of our meals. On Thanksgiving day we hit the lodge restaurant for a buffet of turkey, ham, and all the other traditional Thanksgiving fixins’.
Each cabin also contains a wood-burning stove. We receive a new bundle of fire wood each day and enjoy watching the fire each evening.
Last year it was rainy and overcast almost the whole time we were there, but that didn’t stop us from exploring the beach, which is covered with logs that have washed ashore. Kalaloch Lodge’s promotional materials bill this as storm-watch season, and watching a coastal storm is a magnificent experience. From the cabins we can both see and hear the waves rolling in, so bad weather doesn’t diminish the experience of being there at all.
We’re hoping to have at least a day or two of passable weather so that we can visit the nearby Hoh Rain Forest, which we weren’t able to do last year. And because we did get some sun on the final morning last year as we were preparing to leave, we did get some photos of sun over the waves. But even if we don’t get any good weather, I will still love being on the coast, where I can see and hear the surf hitting the shore. I’m packing my books and my laptop in the hope of getting some serious reading and writing done.
Since there’s no cell phone service or internet access out on the Olympic peninsula, I won’t be able to publish any more posts until we get back home. Therefore, let me take this opportunity to wish everyone here in the U.S. a happy Thanksgiving. I’ll take some photos for you.
Retreading for Retirement 
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