Olympic Peninsula

We took a 2 day trip to the Olympic Peninsula with Ryan's parents.  We learned that 2 days is definitely not enough time for a trip to the Olympic Peninsula.  It's about 3 hours from Seattle, and it's a huge area, so you can drive a few hours getting around the park.   

also, it was weird to be on a family vacation minus a family member.  Trent was at a boy scout NYLT camp.  We kept saying, "Trent would have loved this.  I wish Trent was here..."

I can't believe we have lived here for four years and never been before.  absolutely gorgeous. We had the best time and are already planning another trip for next summer.

so many pictures.  where do I start? 

the Olympic Game Farm. 

kind of reminded me of Bear World in Idaho.  They have a small petting zoo, but the main attraction is driving around, and feeding bread to all the animals from your car.  They come up and stick their heads in the car.  So much fun.  This was the kids favorite part of our trip.  this video was hilarious.  We keep watching it over and over again. 

 
the car behind us

 

 

 Dungeness Spit

is the longest coastal spit in the US.  basically, a 5 mile strip of sand on the north side of the peninsula, on the strait of Juan de Fuca, facing Canada.

 

 

Salt Creek Recreational Area

Drive a few miles west along the beach and stop at the Salt Creek Recreational Area for the tide pools.  But we got there in between low and high tide and didn't see anything exciting in the water, but it was still beautiful.  and had a campground.  next summer, this is where I want to camp. 

Ryan--doing what he loves

and THEN as we were driving around,  I started seeing names like, Forks, La Push, Port Angeles and Quileute Indian reservation.  TWILIGHT!!  oh my gosh.  and nobody else was excited about it.  nobody wanted to take the Twilight tour that they offer in Forks, and nobody even wanted to take a few pictures.  sigh...

okay, moving on.  this guy was selling jerky from his garage.  I don't eat beef jerky, but everybody else said it was amazing.  We bought a bunch for Trenton. 

 

Ocean Shores Beach 

low tide at 8:00 am.  it was beautiful.

Rainforests...

 

There are 2 rainforests in the Olympic National Park, we hiked portions of both (Hoh and Quinault) and were definitely underwhelmed.  If you live in the northwest, it's nothing special.  We already have large trees covered in moss all over the place.  Next time we go back, we'll skip the rainforests.  But if this is not what your backyard looks like, then it might be interesting for you.

this is when I took the boys on a hike 20 minutes from our house

these are our rainforest pictures and a video by Jacob

the largest spruce tree in the world

Ruby Beach

 

Emily likes to model

Ryan's parents were such troopers! They are in their late 70's and did a great job with all the walking.  They were so excited for this trip, they had gotten new hiking shoes and had been training at home.  it paid off!  Ryan's fit bit said we walked about 10 miles a day.

this was my first time seeing sea stacks!  it was so beautiful.

Jacob is using his DS to take a picture of a dead duck