A Day for Chores

Elwha, Washington

• Well, We finally learned how to spell “Elwha” correctly after mixing up the “a” and the “h” for the last 48 hours 

• Overall, it was a very productive and balanced day; we got up around 7:00 AM, tasted the new Willy Wonka fudgy caramel coffee creamer and started the day

• Matt took the truck to Darren’s Point S Tire & Service to get the front end clunking diagnosed and fixed; thankfully, the mechanic gave him a lift back to camp otherwise we were looking at a six mile uphill climb

• We restocked our homemade protein bars and did two weeks worth of laundry at the clubhouse, where there was also a TV, couch, puzzles, books and full kitchen for guests 

• The truck was ready early in the day and only cost us $300 to fix a broken sway bar link to our surprise - we were anticipating a full strut / shock replacement, a day and a half worth of work and a hefty bill; we rode our bikes the 7 miles to pick it up… it was mostly downhill 

• We tested out the Big Agnes tent in preparation for our trip to Norway; we used the new footprint and agreed we would set up the tent as designed, but had options to roll and tuck the garage / vestibule side of the tent if not needed 

• We drove into Olympic National Park to the Hurricane Ridge visitor center and hiked a little over halfway on Klahhane Ridge with panoramic views of Mount Olympus and the Juan de Fuca Strait; we saw several black tailed deer that clearly weren’t afraid of people

• Returned to camp, made dinner, took Oslo for a walk around the campground and baked our dessert to tide us over for the next week - brownies with peanut butter cookie drops (box mix of course); the brownie batter called for vegetable oil, which we did not have, so rather than use a substitute of olive oil or butter, we borrowed the expired (2018) vegetable oil from the clubhouse kitchen, which sadly left an overpowering flavor in the brownies

• Campground: Elwha Dam RV Park