On Location: Hoh Rain Forest

I still have a couple of sets of photos from my recent trip home that I haven't posted yet. The series from Valley Harvest's International Deli in Kent may never see the light of day, since the highlights are a mini-keg of Baltika and a bottle of Ethiopian beer. It would be a pity, however, if the frighteningly mossy Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula remained sitting in my Photobucket account to be seen only when I wanted something else for the blog.

After spending the night at Kalaloch Lodge, where they serve gin and tonics with a straw, where the coffee is organic and fair trade, and where my streak of bad fruit cobblers started, we headed off to the rain forest.On the way, there were some extremely large cedar trees. Actually, there were signs pointing the way to extremely large cedar trees. We, however, did not stop to see them because my dad was driving and my dad does not stop unless explicitly told, "Stop." There's no reason for the highways department to lie about cedar trees, so they must have been extremely large. I suppose that I'll return someday (perhaps with K.) to ensure that the adjective is justified. Government agencies should not indulge in hyperbole...or lying. I wonder if the current administration is aware of this fact.

The rain forest was, for lack of better diction, way cool. It looks like it would consume you if it could and then hang your corpse from the moss-draped tree branches. Since it was a weekday, the the only people there were German tourists, which confirms my suspicion that the Germans don't need an army to conquer the world, old people who probably have the same sweet, sweet rest-of-a-lifetime pass to all national parks that my dad has, a couple of busloads of well-trained school kids, and this annoying couple loudly co-opting native culture by the river. There was also a young couple from Vermont, the girl of which was planning to attend grad school in speech pathology here at the U of T and the guy of which had a sibling attending McGill. Obligatory small world comment now: Small world, eh?

The only thing I didn't get a picture of were the squirrels at the rain forest. I learned that squirrels in the wild are sleek creatures that do not automatically provoke homicidal urges in me. I tried to photograph one but the pretend camera sounds my trusty Canon makes scared it. I suppose that now I have two reasons to return: large cedars and wild squirrels. I shall not be returning to find decent fruit cobbler because I know instinctively that is produced in only three kitchens in the world: my kitchen, my mom's kitchen, and K's Mom's kitchen. If you send samples I may eventually add your kitchen to the list. -Zh.