Old growth, new growth

We spent the 4th of July with trees older than this country

For the fourth of July weekend, Shanako and I drove north to the Olympic Peninsula to splash around in lakes and spend time with trees who have stood long before the united states was a dream, or a nightmare in anyone’s mind.

We headed north and took a meandering root towards the Olympic Peninsula where Kaden has never been, even though they’ve lived in the Pacific Northwest for going on 18 years. We planned to look at the Pacific Ocean around Longbeach, but when we got there, the peninsula was lined with trucks adorned in sundry racist and misogynist iconography for the 4th of July, which was extremely not our vibe, so we booked it and made our way to the Olympic National Park, where we were lucky to find dispersed camping right outside of park limits, in a spot with a river view. The next day, we drank coffee by the river, like so

We entered the park, bought a handful of maps at the Visitor’s Center, and miraculously found last minute camping by Lake Quinault.

We spent the weekend in different parts of the park. Some highlights included:

forgetting about the current while paddleboarding and ending up a mile downwind from our put in spot,

noticing the way that ancient trees affect your dreams

trying to emulate another couple’s sexy lake photo shoot, but ours came out funny and gay trail running through old growth where we saw these things, and also where we hatched the idea for this here blog…

We loved splashing around in the lakes and hanging out with ancient trees. It’s always important to remember that trees are holding everything together, at once brave and more gentle, steadfast, and resilient, teaching us year by year, rung by rung better ways to be. if we can listen.