The Ends of the Earth

Since the day I moved to this place, I have felt that there was nowhere else on earth quite as special. The Olympic Peninsula is not everyone's cup of tea (a love of large amounts of rain is advisable), but life in a temperate rain forest suits me just fine. On a fine spring day last week, hubby and I decided to visit one particularly extraordinary location on this peninsula, Cape Flattery. From here to there took us through almost every kind of weather imaginable: sunshine and blue skies, intense rain, hail, snow, and finally sunshine again as we reached the coastline. The drive was tedious as we traveled the narrow and winding roads leading out to the cape, and then came a half mile hike through the forest, but the view at the end was worth every moment.

The northwestern-most point of the continental United States, Tatoosh Island in the distance, home to the Cape Flattery lighthouse.