Giving a Helping Hand

On Monday I took a drive along the Hood Canal and by the Olympic National Park. My purpose was to get a lifetime pass to national parks. The cost of the pass is $10 however at the end of August it is going up to $80 so important to get it now.

My first stop was at Twanoh State Park on the Hood Canal where many times my family spent summers there since I was very young. It hadn’t changed much in all these years. I was surprised though that there weren’t very many people there. Over the past decade or so families are not visiting state parks like they used to; actually many of the state parks in Washington state have closed as well. It took me about forty-five minutes to reach Twanoh. It took me another hour to reach the Quilcene Ranger Station to get my pass.  There are several small towns between Twanoh and Quilcene along with a number of state parks and the Olympic National Park and Forest.

The first town past Twanoh is Union where there is a nice Hotel right on the waterfront of the Hood Canal. A lot of people spend time there for vacation, weddings, honeymoons and golf. Only a few miles away is Highway 101 that goes along the majority of the Hood Canal and the entrance to the Olympic National Park.

While I was at the Quilcene Ranger Station and after getting my pass an older couple asked me if I was from Washington State. They were visiting from Florida and had been in the Olympics over the weekend for their granddaughters wedding. They had never been to Washington before. They wanted to know how to get to the Seattle-Tacoma airport. I made them aware it could take several hours however they said that they were not in a hurry because their plane wasn’t going to go for a couple days. So I gave them directions on how to get to the airport. I recommended that they get a map. They had no map on them. They really appreciated my helping hand. This is what is important to help someone at any time. Everyone at some point in time needs assistance and we should be ready to help them.

After helping them with directions I headed out toward the Hood Canal Bridge which was on the other side of the Canal to head back home. I had been a while since being in that area so now I know how to return again soon to visit different areas of the Park. Nice way to spend the day relaxed and taking my time as well.