Week in Review

Our trip went well, overall. There were a few snags in the road, but that's to be expected. We left on the 9th, and had rain most the way over, which didn't stop Thane from grabbing a couple of caches. When we hit Snoqualmie, it was heavy rain and fog along with heavy traffic so we cut through Maple Valley and Auburn to Olympia. We stayed in Ameritel, what a nice motel!! I highly recommend it if you are in that area. The next morning, we toured the capitol building and all the war memorials on the grounds. Very moving.

We then headed to Aberdeen and went down 101, along the coast. We grabbed a few caches, walked on the beach, saw some elk in a field, marveled at how huge trees and shrubs get along the coast, and arrived on the Long Beach Peninsula in time to grab a wonderful dinner of fresh halibut and sturgeon. After dinner, we visited North Head Lighthouse and drove up the peninsula. It was getting dark and misty rain, so we just thought we would take a quick tour and scope out a few things to do on Monday. On our drive, we saw many black tail deer, an opossum, a great horned owl, and a momma and baby porcupine.



On Monday, we spent the morning touring the old houses in Oysterville, as the rain was quite heavy. Oh, did I mention that the historic tour was part of a multi-cache? By noon, it cleared up and we spent a lot of time on the beach. At one point, we had a bald eagle sitting about 6 feet from us, waiting for his lunch to wash up on shore. We hiked to the Cape Disappointment lighthouse and listened the the powerful waves slam into the rocks below us. We toured Fort Canby and then watched an amazing sunset from North Head Lighthouse, with a deer grazing on grass a few feet away.

On Tuesday we decided to drive over to Astoria, where we went to the ocean, watched as they rebuilt a jetty, geocached, enjoyed the sunshine and quiet, saw seals and sea lions, rode a trolley car, Thane went to the top of the Astoria column, while I stayed on the ground and enjoyed the scenery from ground floor, went back to Long Beach and walked the boardwalk and got eaten alive by giant mosquitos, and ended the evening with window shopping and strolling through the very quiet streets of a town that appears to go to bed at 8:30.

On Wednesday, we headed back to Olympia area, and unfortunately the Ameritel motel was full, so we had to stay in a motel that was very close by, the same price, but very sub-standard conditions and staff! We did have a great dinner at Budd Bay Cafe on the Sound.


Thursday took us to Mount Rainier. It was cloudy and misty as we started the day, but cleared off just as we got to the first major viewpoint. Wow! We walked to a couple waterfalls, went to the summit, and enjoyed the day. We went over White Pass, where we were blessed to see two young cow elk right next to the highway. We spent the night in Yakima at a very quiet and restful B & B, Apple Country Bed and Breakfast. We felt more like family than a guest, and the breakfast was so yummy!

Friday brought us home, once again in the rain. We did have a wonderful trip and God blessed us with amazing weather while we were on the coast. The beauty of His majesty surrounded us every day! We were in awe of His creation, from the lakes, to the ocean, to the majestic Mount Rainier. Now, it's time to recover from vacation and try to get some sleep!!