We started our drive down the Washington coast with a classic sunset at Rialto Beach, a next day lunch break with a stunning view of a tumultuous Second Beach. Farther south, we stopped by Lake Quinault, then checked out Copalis Beach and Ocean City Beach before continuing on to coastal Oregon.

We made it to our campsite at Riverview RV Park just in time to park the RV, jump in the car, and drive the 9 minutes to Rialto Beach to catch the sunset. Climbing over piles of massive driftwood, we watched as the brilliant orange sky gave in to muted tones of pinks, purples, and hazy grey.

We continued down the coast and stopped for lunch at the top of Second Beach – what a view! I walked a little farther along the berry-studded cliff to take photos and chatted with a local (Mike) who was on his lunch break. We both agreed: the area was beautiful and the day was perfect.

Lake Quinault was a pretty resort area offering many forest hikes, one leading to the largest Sitka spruce tree. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time to take any of the hikes but stopped to get a feel for the area and some information for the future. (And I had to admire the giant blue hydrangea by the visitor center!)

From our next campground, The Driftwood RV Resort, we went to the drive-on beaches of Copalis Beach and Ocean City. Both featured wide stretches of grey compact sand, and what we first thought were boulders turned out to be grey gulls, hunkered down against the unforgiving wind. Back at the camp, we also hunkered down by the fire, puppies included.