The Olympic Peninsula

We've been home for a week and I haven't posted any pictures! Bad me! I have all sorts of great excuses if you'll accept them.....

Anyway, we finally took a short vacation with the WHOLE family! We've had lots of shorter vacations with one or more of us missing but this one was for us all!

For several years we've been talking about heading back to Washington's Olympic National Park and the peninsula area. So this year we did it!

Our trip started with us driving and then taking the ferry to Port Townsend and camping in the Old Fort Townsend campground - in the rain! No rain for 29 days in one of the rainiest parts of the state, and it rains the day we get there! Camping in the rain isn't much fun but we made ourselves cozy by eating cookies and playing Yahtzee in our tent. The kids didn't mind the rain as it brought out the banana slugs that are so popular on the peninsula!

Slug kissing!

Our rainy campsite

We got up early the next morning (in the rain), broke camp and took off towards Sequim, WA and the Dungeness Spit. The Spit is 5 miles long and has a lighthouse at the very tip. We didn't walk all 5 miles but we did spend most of the day out on the beach doing some wave jumping and beachcombing. The day was perfect (not rain) and sunny.

Dylan built us a rock sculpture that we took our picture by. The rock towers were everywhere on this beach. It was fun to watch Dylan in action!

See our Streeter sculpture right in front?

We played Yahtzee again this night but this time it was in front of the fire and with roasted marshmallows!

The next day we started out at the Olympic Game Farm. This is a drive through zoo. The animals are mostly rescued animals, though some have been in tv shows, ads and movies. Many of them are so time they come right up to your car to eat bread out of your hands! Fun but a bit eerie! Elk are really big!

These big guys were doing tricks for the bread we were feeding them. They'd sit up and wave!

The zebra was my favorite!

That afternoon we went up to Hurricane Ridge. We hiked and sat in on a ranger talk.

We spent the night in Forks at the Forks Motel. It felt so good to shower!!!I did miss the camping, though. Forks, WA is the setting for the book and movie series Twilight, by Stephanie Meier. The whole town (which is very small!) has a Twilight theme. I couldn't believe how much had changed since the last time I'd been there.

We gave in to peer pressure and had our picture taken in front of the high school where Bella and Edward (the main characters in Twilight) went to school. I refused to have my picture taken in Bella's vest at the hardware store where she worked!

We spent the next day at the beaches in and around Forks and La Push. Rialto Beach was our favorite. Again, we spent several hours on the beach. Dylan loved jumping the waves and getting really wet! Lyndsi wasn't quite as thrilled about it. She walked beyond the high tide line the whole time!

Rialto Beach is a beautiful undeveloped and natural beach. Lots of driftwood, shells and rocks. One section of the rock is called hole in the wall. Once you go through the hole, you're in a new world full of tide pools.

Hole in the wall and a green sea anenome

This move scared me a bit!

The Hoh Rianforest was our final big stop before heading home. The morning started out grey and rainy but the day transformed itself into a beautiful sunny day!

Hoh Rainforest

The kids being sworn in as Junior Rangers

We drove through Seattle to see Robyn and Kim before we headed home. It's always so comfy and homey when we vistit.

Vacation is over and school starts this week. I'll miss my lazy mornings but I do enjoy my job. Lyndsi will be in soccer and dance this year and Dylan will be doing soccer. Both kids are signed up for their first year of piano lessons. Another busy year!