Family Vacation

Thursday - Well, the family made it to Seattle as planned. Kate and Dad came in on Tuesday, Anne and Mom came in on Wednesday. Last night (Wednesday) we made a fantabulous dinner of grilled salmon, couscous, green beans, salad and of course Cold Stone. We made the drive today to Forks (a small logging town just outside Olympic State Park) our hotel is very basic except for the wireless internet - so much for roughing it. We spent the evening browsing the local grocery store (which had a shoe section and Mom got some hiking boots for our serious hike in the Hoh rain forest tomorrow) and then hung out at the hotel drinking beer, eating peanuts and chocolate. I just kicked Mike's butt in 2 consecutive games of checkers and then we played Old Maid with Kate and Anne.

Friday - Today was our first full day in Forks! We hiked almost 12 miles!! We started at the Hoh Rainforest visitor center and walked a quick 1 1/2 mile "Hall of Mosses Trail", which had some beautiful old trees! Then we ran back to the car and made quick sandwiches- Mike ate half of the deli meat right there in the parking lot! We started off on the Hoh River Trail and made it out to 5 mile island. We spent an hour eating lunch at Tom's Creek - which was the three mile mark, and sticking our feet into the 40 degree water and laying out on the rocks. Everyone held up pretty well - some of us had some physical pains (Dad) but at least there was no fighting! As soon as we got back, we stopped at the local pizza joint and then Kate, Anne and I spent some time at the heated outdoor pool (it gets really cool at night - probably in the 60's). Anne showed us how she saves people drowning in a pool as she is a lifeguard, and believe me (as Kate and I tried it) it is no easy task. Now we are taking showers and then we will eat some Haagen-Dazs ice cream!

Saturday - Today we got a late start, we didn't leave the hotel till almost 11:00am this morning. We ate cereal and donettes in the room. We didn't have a game plan, so we started driving to the coast. Our first stop was Rialto Beach. About 1 mile from the ocean the clear blue sky changed to some serious fog and the temperature dropped like 10 degrees. The waves were strong - they even ripped Anne's flip flops right out from under her feet. Fortunately, she was a fast thinker and jumped half way into the water and saved her shoes. Mom freaked out. Then we sat at a picnic table and ate our lunch (Snow pea, lettuce, avocado and cheese sandwiches). Our next stop was Neah Bay, well actually, we drove right past the small town and headed to the most northwest point of the country - Cape Flattery. We hiked 1/2 a mile to reach the most beautiful lookout on the edge of a cliff high above the ocean. There are also numerous rock formations right off the coast of the cliff. We then drove back to Forks and ate at a local Salmon restaurant. Mike has ruined us on salmon though, anything but his just doesn't match up. Now we are back in the hotel, all 6 of us hanging out in the kids room having a checkers tournament.

Sunday - Today we headed out for a Kayak Trip on the Hoh River. The trip was guided since there were class 1 and 2 rapids on the river. After much worrying and debate my parents decided to get their own kayak instead of taking the trip in a whitewater raft with the guide. Well, once we got to the start point, and the guide was telling us what to do in various dangerous situations my mom got scared! She almost didn't go but after some urging she went along. She was scared the whole time and had to stay right by the guide. The trip was fun and I have to say there were some pretty exciting rapids to through. We kayaked 7 miles! After lunch and a nap we headed to the tiny coastal town of Kalaloch. We bought some beers and hung out at the beach before dinner. You were allowed to make fires on the beach and a family was leaving and was nice enough to pass their roaring fire (and a half eaten bag of sandy marshmallows) on to us. This was great since it was cold and windy. Then at 7:30 we headed to the Kalaloch Lodge for an awesome seafood dinner with a great view of the ocean. We were done eating just in time to run back down to the beach for a sunset!

Monday - Well, the vacation is over. This morning we packed up and headed out. We took the long way home and stopped at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic Park. We took a mile hike to see the surrounding mountains and then had lunch at MaMa's in Port Angeles. Mike and I had been there before and had recommended it. We came on a bad day since 2 servers didn't show up, the dishwasher walked out and the owner, posing as a server, was flustered and had no idea how to be a server. So after 1 hour (this was a sandwich shop) we finally got our food. But it was all worth it since we got a free piece of chocolate cake and some Danishes. Our last stop before heading home was Dungeness Spit, which is a thin strip of land that extends 5 miles into the ocean with a lighthouse at the very end of it. We didn't walk out to the lighthouse but we looked at it through a telescope! We finished up the trip with 2 huge cookie sheets of our Famous Nachos!
*People Pictures*
*Landscapes*