|
First lady takes a look back BY
EMELINE COKELET AND DARRICK MENEKEN To folks in the Northwest, it's a known fact. And after First Lady Laura Bush's visit to the North Olympic Peninsula last week, the word is spreading. ``I feel like Olympic National Park is a well-kept secret,'' Mrs. Bush said a day after she departed Port Angeles from a weeklong vacation in the park. ``We want all the rest of the United States to know how beautiful Olympic National Park is.'' On Friday, Mrs. Bush spoke by telephone from her personal office in the White House East Wing to two Peninsula Daily News reporters about hiking, dining and her recent trek around the Peninsula. Hiked 33 miles She and three friends who grew up together in Midland, Texas, and have hiked together since turning 40, touched down in a G3 Gulfstream jet at Port Angeles' William R. Fairchild International Airport on July 25 and hit the park's mountains, rain forest and Pacific coast. Their foot journey totaled 33 miles, Mrs. Bush said. Two of her most enjoyable walks were along the Pacific beach, where more than 60 miles is protected wilderness coast. ``The most difficult hike was the one that was up the mountains,'' she said, referring to an 8-plus mile hike from Deer Park to Obstruction Point near Hurricane Ridge. The first lady and her friends, accompanied by about 20 security guards, stayed at the park's Lake Crescent and Kalaloch lodges. They dined at both, plus at Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort and at downtown Port Angeles restaurants. On Wednesday, they strolled through downtown Port Angeles, where they poked into stores and checked out the weekly farmer's market. |