Visit to Hoh Rainforest on Sequim vacation.

For the first time since moving to Sequim, our children came to visit, one from Hawaii and the other from Alaska. They both flew into Seatac, in Seattle around 10pm and we drove to Sequim in a couple of hours.

After a good nights sleep we decided not to waste a lot of time and got on the road to the Hoh Rainforest. This 85 mile drive takes you through some of the most beautiful areas of the Olympic Peninsula. A few words from Wikipedia on the Hoh Rainforest follow:

"The Hoh Rain Forest is one of the few temperate rain forests in the world, and is also the largest. It is located on the Olympic Peninsula in western Washington state, USA. Within Olympic National Park, the forest is protected from commercial exploitation. This includes 38 km of low elevation forest (120 to 760 m) along the Hoh River. Between the park boundary and the Pacific Ocean, 48 km of river, nearly all of the forest has been logged within the last century.

Annual precipitation ranges from 3.6 to 4.2 m (12 to 14 feet). Summers are relatively dry, but only by comparison to the rest of the year. The late fall, winter and spring floods cause the Hoh River to regularly erode its banks, change its course, and deposit fresh terraces of alluvium that are soon colonized by Red Alder. Giant trees topple into the river increasing the diversity of aquatic habitats."

The Hoh Rainforest is home to a U.S. Park Service ranger station, from which backcountry trails extend deeper into the national park. We took a short, popular trail near the visitor center to the Hall of Mosses. After we had tried on our last visit to the Hoh Rainforest to catch the height of the trees and other impressions by photo, we did not try again this time. Remember the realtor's phrase ' You have to see it, to appreciate it!'.

We hiked for a couple of hours on the well defined trails and had a wonderful time. My son, who is from Hawaii, was amazed at the size of the Sitka spruce. The tropical rainforest of Hawaii doesn't see trees growing to such height and girth. When you make it to Sequim, put the Hoh Rainforest at the top of your things to do.

All in all, we had a wonderful time with the children. So many things to do in Sequim, so little time in a 1-week vacation! Now, the kids are gone and our Sequim vacation rental is again available for guests for a relaxing monthly Sequim vacation. Remember the vacation rental is perfect for all the folks who want to retire in Sequim, search for a Sequim Home to buy and basically get to know life in Sequim. We are happy to be of help. Greetings from the Sequimers
p.s.
I nearly forgot to mention that the Sequim Health Fair was a great success. So many health care professionals volunteering their time and services.

Tags: Hoh Rainforest, Sequim vacation, Sequim, travel

4th Annual Olympic Peninsula Health Fair in Sequim

This blog post is sponsored by Easy Stretch Video - Body/Mind Realaxation

Dear Sequim Town Blog visitors,
We are happy to see that more and more people, who intend to relocate to Sequim from California, Arizona, Colorado and even from Hawaii like us, find our blog useful for their moving plans to Sequim. Please, feel free to ask any question regards life in Sequim, weather or whatever. Please, use the comment button, so we can respond right here at the blog and other Sequim interested blog visitors can read it too.

As long time massage therapists in the state of Hawaii, we naturally pay attention to staying healthy through exercise, stretching, right eating and nutritional supplements. The 4th Olympic Peninsula Health Fair on Saturday September 15 at Sequim High School offers lots of health and wellness services. Free health screenings will be available such as blood sugar analysis and even up to 300 free tetanus inoculations. Over twenty more free screenings will be available as a gift to the community! You can bet that I will take advantage of as many as I can, as I am not on Medicare yet and my monthly premium of $300 and $5000 deductible does not cover any of those needed services.

Since this post is about health related issues, we should mention medical facilities and doctors in Sequim. There seem to be many to choose from when you first arrive but to tell you the truth it is not that easy is to find a doctor. Here is why. Keoki is on Medicare. We had to call several doctors in Sequim in order to find one which would still accept a Medicare patient. A doctor needs to make a living too and with Medicare just paying the doctors to get by, a lot of the Sequim doctors don't take new Medicare patients. So we were lucky when we found a great doctor for both of us.

As senior citizens we were concerned about having easy access to a hospital in the Sequim area. Sequim does not have a hospital at the moment but with our Sequim requirement community steadily growing we might see one soon. Currently the Olympic Medical Center in Port Angeles serves also for Sequim residents. With 15 miles from Sequim, it's in easy reach. The PA hospital is well equipped and patient service is decent. To give you peace of mind, the 911 Emergency Service in Sequim responds very fast to calls.

Stay happy and healthy in Sequim. We see you at the Health Fair. The Sequimers

Sequim Indian Summer Weather Perfect for Vacation

Dear Sequim visitors or those who plan a weekend vacation in Sequim this fall,
Remember my words in one of our recent blog post about Sequim summer weather and the predictions from a long time Sequim resident that fall weather will be living up to all our expectations. Whoever told us, the prediction has come true. Ever since the beginning of September Sequim is enjoying the most gorgeous Indian summer weather, the kind of weather which we normally have in July and August. Sequim, Olympic National Park and Victoria BC invite you to a great Sequim vacation.

Keoki is doing much better after his knee surgery. When we had our friends from Hawaii, now residents in NZ, stay with us at our vacation rental, we shared as many Sequim things to do as possible. We played some tennis on the courts of Sequim High School which are mostly available over the weekends and also during morning hours for public use. We had a great drive to Lake Crescent and enjoyed the moderate hike to Merrymere Waterfalls.

As Carrie Blake Park is just around the corner from our house, our friends did early morning walks through the park. On the last evening of their stay in Sequim, we went for dinner at Las Palomas, located on Washington St next to Ramada Inn. Everybody was happy with their food and the excellent service. It was very nice to hear all the praises about Sequim town, our new house and the great peaceful yet close to everything location. To tell you the truth we have so often answered the question 'How did you find Sequim for your your retirement?', so the answer comes quite naturally.

Before more friends come visiting - more friends from Hawaii who actually contemplate seriously moving to Sequim (this is their second visit to Sequim this year) - we enjoy every day, hour and minute of this Indian summer weather. We bike a lot and still pick berries at a friend's organic garden. Late raspberries and blueberries are still growing there. I checked with Graysmarsh Farm over a week ago. They are only open now Friday - Sunday and the only berries still available there are the blackberries but with wild blackberries growing everywhere in Sequim and area, it's just so easy to walk or get on your bike and pick wherever you find the blackberries.

Keoki's Stretch class at SARC has grown to a good size stretch class with average members 10 -12 a class. For many years, we have been selling his Easy Stretch video through health food stores, massage therapists, health practitioners and online. With technology moving fast to more and more people to buy DVD instead of the old fashioned video, we decided to do a big sale for our Easy Stretch video.

This sale is on as long as supply lasts. We want to get rid of all the videos and continue selling Easy Stretch as a DVD instead. It's a great gift for yourself or a loved one. Christmas is not so far away to think ahead of finding a healthy present. If you are interested in buying an Easy Stretch video at great discount price, call us today 360-504-1157.

Enjoy Sequim weather as much as we do! Greetings from the Sequimers

Tags: Sequim vacation, Sequim weather

Visit Victoria BC on your Sequim vacation

Sequim summer weather is going to an end but we are expecting nice Sequim weather this fall for September. That's at least what long time Sequim residents tell us. Let's believe them.

Our recent guests at our Sequim vacation rental had a great time on their Sequim vacation. We made new friends with a couple from California who were using our monthly Sequim vacation rental for their Sequim house search. It was nice to see when they found what they were looking for...a nice Sequim house with water views of John Wayne Marina and Sequim Bay. They are very excited to be back soon and move into their new Sequim home.

On their Sequim real estate vacation, they managed taking a day off for a relaxing visit to Victoria BC. They were the same enthusiastic about Victoria as we were. Actually, our friends from Hawaii who live now in NZ, also stayed in Victoria for 3 nights on their way to visit us in Sequim. They liked their visit to Victoria as well. So, we figured it's time to share our trip experience with our Sequim town blog visitors. No Sequim vacation is complete without a trip to Victoria!

There are so many things to do in Victoria BC or on Vancouver Island. It's quite interesting to hear what people decide to do. Our Hawaii friends did a Victoria Harbor Tour and enjoyed High Tea at The Royal Empress Hotel, which does not come cheap at $55/person but is definitely an experience to have tea at a 'royal' ambience and taste hors d'oeuvres, one does not come across normally. Our guests from California had a great time with a whale watch tour on an open Zodiac, where they watched up to 20 Orcas on their 3-hr whale watch tour.

Now, let's share with all Sequim visitors what we did last year in May when we spend 3 nights in Victoria BC. First of all, we had heard about all those great reports about seeing the magnificent flowers at Butchart Gardens. All the roses were in full bloom...fragrances, colors, varieties can't be described! Must see to appreciate! We will be back for more flowers at Butcharts Garden. Next time we'd like to see the fireworks on Saturdays between June 30 - September 1.

We also had a great time at the Royal London Wax Museum, even though after having seen the real wax museum in London, I must say it cannot live up to the expectations. The Royal BC Museum in Victoria was really impressive and educational. We split that into a morning and afternoon visit. Museums can wear you out. But most impressive was our visit to the IMax Theater where we watched the Humpback Whale migration to Hawaii (I had to close my eyes at times not to get dizzy but otherwise it was an indescribable movie experience!).

In any case, we could go on for ever on our visit to Victoria but that's it for today. Last but not least, we took the bigger Auto ferry from Port Angeles (more stable for me not getting sea sick) but if you travel to Victoria without your car, you might want to buy tickets for the faster but smaller Victoria Express Ferry from PA. Visit Victoria on your next Sequim Vacation! The Sequimers

More photos of Visit to Victoria BC

Tags: best sequim vacation, visit victoria BC, sequim vacation, Vancouver Island