After spending a few days at Mt. Rainier National Park, we continued our voyage northwest. We made a brief stop in Olympia to restock supplies, and then took the coastal route along the Pacific, around the incredible Olympic peninsula.
When things were really ramping up with the pandemic earlier this year, and we were locked down for several months, we swapped our Netflix subscription - which we rarely watched - with a Disney Plus subscription, which we watched on a continuous loop. After seeing all of the Marvel movies (again and again), the kids started watching the National Geographic series on National Parks.
Now, for as much as we love visiting National Parks and have been to more than 20 thus far, none of us had any strong inclination to visit Olympic National Park, until we saw the National Geographic series on it.
The rugged coastline, the rainforests, the bald eagles and killer whales, we made it a point of our entire trip to take Quarantinny to the tip-top northwestern corner of the United States. Usually, the places with no cell phone coverage, are the most beautiful sights to behold. Thank you, Disney Plus!
As was often the case, we had no set plans as to where exactly we would go when we arrived. And, seeing as we had no cell phone coverage, we picked up a visitor map, and went old-school: wandering scenic roads to a destination we hoped would have some availability. So it is, we found a place to stay which just strengthened our faith that things always have a way of working out.
Our first stop was the Quinault Rainforest, where we found a great little campsite - that put us next to another Airstream, which happened to have two English Cream Golden Retrievers.... just like our Ollie.
I forget why the kids set up a tent ... maybe they wanted to, or maybe two of them were booted from Quarantinny for bickering? I can't exactly remember, but I do know that the "1 - 2 - 3 Strikes You're Out!" approach was one of the most brilliant ideas I had on the whole trip. Of course people would get under each other's skin, this happens when we're at home and not in a 27-foot camper for nine weeks, straight. But any kind of snarkiness or arguing when you're in a space this small is amplified.
And so it is, the first night we were having difficulties, I told the perpetrators, "Strike One!" and they just rolled their eyes, which prompted an immediate "Strike Two!" It wasn't long before something else happened - I can't recall what - but then came "STRIKE THREE!" The whole family looked at me with a hint of amusement in their eyes (which prompted a STRIKE FOUR) and asked, "OK, so now what...?"
And I bellowed, "Here Ye! Here Ye! The perpetrators shall henceforth be ejected from Quarantinny and required to sleep one night in a tent - beneath the stars - where they shall apologize to each other, mend their ways, and work on their cooperation and communication skills!"
This was not a favorable sentence, but it was gold. From that point on, all I had to say was "Strike One!" and whomever was bickering would pipe down, or take it outside and resolve the issues.
Anyway, Charlie and I took off for an early morning mountain bike ride while the kids stayed back and caught up on their sleep.
