`: Shi Shi Beach

Happy Thanksgiving!! I hope everybody had a wonderful time with family and friends and stuffed their faces full of food, I know I did. However, this was my first Thanksgiving sans family, but I still had a great time at Kylan's place. They were so nice to invite me, and I surely got my share of the feast. Fitting for a farm experience they put me right to work peeling apples and making the cranberry sauce.

I also brought along some homemade Bailey's Irish Cream, and it was a big hit. All night people were asking me how I made it, so I'll extend the recipe here:

1 3/4 c. Irish whiskey
1 can Eagle condensed milk
1 c. whipping cream
4 beaten eggs
2 tbsp. chocolate syrup
2 tbsp. instant coffee
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract

And of course, you have to double everything to make twice as much!! You get the satisfaction of making it yourself and save about 30 bucks in the process (assuming you already have the almond and vanilla extract because holy crap those cost a lot).

Anyway, I'll have some pictures of that up next week... I'm still waiting on the pics that Kylan's mom took.

In the meantime, I went on a day hike with my buddy Luke this weekend to Shi Shi Beach, a true wilderness coast.

Shi Shi was one of the last additions to Olympic National Park, being annexed in 1976. Up until the late 90s the trail granting access to the coast was closed because of land disputes with developers and abutting land owners. Finally a settlement was reached and things got spruced up a bit.

Just north of the park is the Makah reservation, on which the natives (in a very loose sense) developed a very well constructed trail that includes cedar-planked boardwalks and bridges that lead to the coast.

Along the way is a forest of Sitka spruces that are constantly nurtured by the dampness of rain and fog. The day we went there was a light drizzle and a temp hovering around 45... not too shabby for a walk to the beach around here.

Somebody is very excited about the new law that takes effect in February of 2010. It repeals the Reagan-era restrictions of firearms in national parks. You still can't hunt, though.

Stumbling down the steep path to the coast you come upon this incredible seaside campground, complete with firepit.

Ah the salty air! Right as we hit the sand the rain let up and it just hit low tide.

There are kelp forests just off the coast that lie in the depths of the cold, nutrient-rich water. Sea otters lover to play around in them... this isn't the season for seeing them, though, I don't think.

Water runs from up in the forest down to little estuaries entering the Pacific. It looks really neat because the water erodes the wet sand and forms a miniature river gully.

Our destination was 2 miles down, the Point of Arches... a mile-long cavalcade of sea stacks and natural arches. You really wouldn't want to get stuck out here during high tide, unless you enjoy huddling in a cave with freezing sea waves beating into you.