Trip review below from a quick trip last weekend. Overall, awesome place to visit and want to get back over there as we weren't able to get everything done like the Hoh, hot springs, etc. For must do I would recommend Lake Crescent as it can cater to your mountain lake/ hiking/ swimming/ bike riding/ kayaking/ fishing point.

Friday-
Friends came up from LA to visit and none of us had been over towards Olympic NP area so we rented an airbnb in Shadow WA. Was a 3.5hr drive without traffic from where I live so tried to leave around lunchtime. Went to the Edmonds-Kingston ferry where it was a 2 hour wait. Since the alternative was driving on I-5 all the way around the sound in Friday afternoon traffic, we waited. It's blackberry season so we were picking out ripe blackberries from the side of the road during the wait. Once on the ferry, went upstairs to get a view. The horn from the ship almost caused me to drop friend's wife's phone while taking a picture

View of the sound. Tons of jellyfish in the water

Once across, continued the drive over the floating bridge towards Sequim and Port Angeles. Stopped in Port Angeles at Kokopelli grill and got a burger, was good. Got to the airbnb in Shadow WA and it was nice on a small creek/river with a bunkbead (double + twin). We were pretty tired so went to bed early and got up early for the next day.

Saturday-
Wanted to make our way to the coast (Forks, La Push) area so started driving that way on highway 112. There were a few slide areas that were recently cleaned up, but was a very windy road right next to the coast. Morning fog was dense over the water but clear just over land (pic below). Made it to Forks for the Twilight reference pictures

Then we wanted to hit the coast so tried to make it to third beach for a quick hike and beach pictures but there was no parking (roughly 10:30/11am at this point). So we continued down the road to Second Beach even though the WTA site said it was closed. Got there and it wasn't closed at all plus plenty of parking. WTA site

It's a 4 mile roundtrip "hike" then you end up at the beach.

Was roughly 65*, overcast from fog, and 20mph winds so it was a bit chilly. Made our way back to the truck and drove all the way to the end at La Push to eat a packed lunch.

From here, we decided to drive back up and around the water to get to Rialto Beach. Was definitely worth the quick detour as you drive through a tiny section of ONP

Tried a little bit of fishing on our way back through the park but no luck. Saw a bald eagle fly right in front of us over the water which was awesome. Made our way back towards Shadow and stopped at the Lyre Conservation area. WTA link
Another easy "hike" of 2.5 miles roundtrip that takes you down towards the beach. Nice views, saw a wedding going on as well.

Back to the airbnb for food and relaxing.

Sunday-
Woke up and wanted to do more leisurely hiking/water exploring of mountain lakes. This lead us to Lake Crescent which is absolutely stunning. We parked at the Spruce Railroad trail and began making our way towards the lake WTA link. You hit up a cool tunnel a bit of the ways up, pitch black on the inside

We stopped just past the tunnel to relax and get in the water. Water felt fine so I jumped in, how could you not with it looking like this around?

Dried off and made our way back to the vehicle. Began to start driving back towards Seattle and saw a ton of signs for lavender farms. Hopped off the road and ended up in an area full of lavender farms, had no idea they were all over the area. This one looked pretty fancy with nice fields of wildflowers and lavender

I tried the lavender sorbet and it tasted like flowers a bit but was good

. Also bought some lavender handsoap, figured its better than the dial I have. Finished up there then headed to Sequim to the Dungeness Spit for a quick walk and some nice view WTA link. Pretty crowded in the parking lot, but getting onto the beach and realizing there was a light house 5 miles away on a chunk of land made from sea debris was pretty cool. You can't see the lighthouse in this picture, would be off to the right

Since we weren't walking to the lighthouse, we opted to head back. Hit a terrible go of traffic by the Hood Canal Floating Bridge. Went 6.5 miles in 45 minutes...Then we saw signs for a ferry wait for 2 hours so opted to do the drive around the sound instead. Got all the way to Tacoma without traffic then I-5 was stopped (here's my shocked face, frick Tacoma traffic). Finally got home and still had time to enjoy a nice sunset