May 13, 2015

We had a couple of nice soaks in the Sol Duc Hot Springs yesterday. It felt especially good as it’s quite cool and damp (only around 13C/55F). The only problem now is that our suits and towels which are wet – are hanging in the RV and not drying. We had a very hard downpour last night which didn’t help the dampness problem so now we’re wet inside and out! It’s so dark in here this morning you need the lights on just to make breakfast!

Soaking up the heat at Sol Duc Hot Springs

This campsite at Sol Duc Hotsprings is definitely not my idea of perfect … while rainforests are beautiful places, it’s just too closed in, damp and dreary. The only view you have is moss … on everything! We’re heading out early today to cast our lot at Crescent Lake. It’s not far from here but I’m hoping the camping will be a bit more in the open.

Later …

Hmmm … the campground at Crescent Lake not so much open as … closed!! I’m a bit grouchy as well … they don’t tell you the campground is closed until you turn onto the access road and then you see a barrier across the entrance! When you’re in an RV towing a car that can be awkward at best and impossible at the worst! So we had to un-hook the car and luckily we managed to turn around and get out.

What to do now? We decided to drive up to Crescent Lake Lodge and have breakfast anyway … then decide what to do.

Crescent Lake

Later …

The Lodge at Crescent Lake is beautiful. More than beautiful … magnificent! It was built around 1915 and has kept it’s original interior with lovely wood walls, huge fireplace, cozy and cute covered veranda which looks out onto the lake. Period music is playing constantly … the furnishings are mostly Mission-style with stained glass lamps … so beautiful!

Lake Crescent Lodge

After a fairly underwhelming breakfast, we decided that as there were no campgrounds close by – and we wanted to have a last big blowout dinner at the lodge – we’d splurge and stay the night in a room at the lodge.

The room (cheapest available is $165 in their ‘basic’ small block of rooms) was nice, basic but comfortable. We both had nice, long, hot showers (ahhhhh!), then did some computer stuff at the lodge lobby. We dressed for dinner, went over to the main sitting room with the big fireplace crackling and had some drinks before dinner. Very nice!

our room at crescent lake

Our room – bottom right

drinks before dinner

Enjoying pre-dinner drinks in the lodge

Dinner at lodge

Dinner at Crescent Lake Lodge

Dinner was … underwhelming again. Service is spotty – and while all the staff are nice – you can get ignored at times. The food was very expensive and so/so.  Still … it was a nice last night of the trip!