25th Wedding Anniversary Trip - Part 4 (Final)

Mount St. Helens

After leaving the Olympic Peninsula we headed south to visit Mount St. Helens. We were there on May 21^st which was 29 years and 3 days after the mountain “blew its top.” We went to the Johnson Ridge Observatory which is about 5 miles from the crater. It is an amazing view from here and is an awesome sight to see and realize what an incredible amount of natural power was involved in removing about 1300 feet of the mountain top. We saw a movie about the eruption, listened to a ranger talk about recent volcanic activity (as recent as 2004) and went for a short hike over ground and snow. There are still flattened trees lying around and very little new growth on this ridge. The only volcanic “activity” we could see were a few steam vents on the dome in the middle of the crater (and only with the telephoto lens).

Us with Mount St. Helens in the background (about 5 miles away)

Flattened trees remain from the 1980 eruption

A few active steam vents on the lava dome

Seattle and Mt. Rainier

The day before we left Washington state we drove into downtown Seattle and visited Pikes Place market. There were a lot of artisans with very different items and some with more common items. There were also many fresh flower and several fresh fruit vendors. The most exciting vendors were those selling fresh seafood. Several of them put on a “show” when someone purchases seafood. They yell out the order and then a worker literally throws the whole fish (or whatever) to someone behind the counter who weighs it, wraps it, etc. They make a big deal of it and tourists (like us) hang out there to watch…with cameras ready. It was interesting. Overall there were too many people here for us, so we were happy to get back out of town.

Handmade knives made from stone and bone/antler

Fresh fruit vendor at Pike Place Market

(We got cherries, peaches and pears)

A fresh fish being tossed at one of the seafood vendors

After Pike Place we headed to Mt. Rainier which is south-east of Seattle. We wanted to do a little hiking near the mountain, but we got some bad information from the desk clerk at our motel. She said everything was open (after being closed for the winter) so we headed to a visitors center on the north-east side of the mountain. We discovered that the road to it was closed after driving past snow piled 10-12 feet high along the road. We then tried another visitor center on the south-east side and discovered it was closed also. At least we found a park person in an entrance booth and he told us how to get to the only visitor center that was open. It was on the south-west side of the mountain and there wasn’t enough time left in the day to get there. So in the end we literally drove all the way around the mountain. It was a nice drive, but a little frustrating. We learned our lesson…the hard way. Next time we will get official information.

Snow piled high along the road near Mt. Rainier

Looking up toward the summit of Mt. Rainier
(The road was closed soon after this point)

The west side of Mt. Rainier after driving around the mountain

Postlog

We were able to see many fascinating things and experience a lot of wonderful activities and explore numerous interesting areas on this trip. We were truly blessed by getting to see a lot of God’s creation in this part of the country. But the best part about the whole trip was that Dawn and I got to spend a lot of time together, talking, playing, holding hands, hiking, cooking, hugging, exploring, etc. It was so delightful to be together and not have any other worries. Hopefully we can do it again sooner than in another 25 years. Many times we wished the kids could be with us to see or experience something unique, but in the end this was a trip about the two of us. Yes, we were being selfish. Dawn, I love you so very much!

The kids were fine at home. Grandma (David’s mother) came to stay with the kids. Unfortunately Grandma broke her wrist while playing badminton with the kids (or “trying to play badminton” as Zachary said). Hannah got a crash course in being a parent…a trip to the ER…doctor appointments…pharmacy visits. Does everyone know what badminton is? It seems the ER workers did not know.?.?. After all of this Grandma and the kids still had a lot of fun playing inside games (Canasta, Crazy Bridge, Mancala, Sequence, and others). The kids even rigged up a cereal box on a card table so Grandma could lay her cards down without the others seeing them. This was a special time for Hannah, Zachary, Rebekah and Jesse to spend with Grandma. Thanks again Grandma!

Grandma with her cast

Three of the kids playing cards with Grandma

Thus ends the "short" summary of our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Washington State. I hope this wasn’t too long or too boring. I had to leave out so much of what we did, saw and experienced. If you want more details, just ask. Or if you want to see more photos, let me know…I only took 4,518 of them. : )

25th Wedding Anniversary Trip - Part 3

Olympic National Park

We spent several days in Olympic National Park. The park has three main areas: mountains, rain forest, and Pacific beaches. We got to experience all three.

First we drove up to Hurricane Ridge in the mountains of the National Park. At the Visitor’s Center at 5242 feet there was still a lot of snow. We hiked in the snow and threw a few snow balls. Dawn started it. : ) We had fun, but unfortunately it was partially cloudy so we didn’t have the spectacular view out across the Olympic mountains. We also saw a few deer on the way up and down the mountain and a very personable raven up on top (I’m sure he was a moocher). We also heard the whump-whump-whump of several spruce grouse on the way to the top.

View from Hurricane Ridge with clouds on the mountain tops

Dawn hiking through the snow on Hurricane Ridge

Us at the Visitor Center on Hurricane Ridge

We visited the rain forest areas on the western side of the mountains. The Hoh Rain Forest gets about 140 inches of rain a year (yes, that is almost 12 feet). The rain forest has very large trees and many of the trees are covered in clubmoss. We hiked several trails and saw several waterfalls. We hurried through the trails in the Hoh Rain Forest because we wanted to get to the Pacific Ocean coast before low tide.

Trees covered in clubmoss in the Hoh Rain Forest

Hiking by Marymere Falls in Olympic National Park

Trees growing in a row on a "nurse log"

(A long ago fallen tree that provided nutrients to other trees)

Dawn and a pair of huge trees in the temperate rain forest

We visited two beaches on the Pacific coast. We stayed in a cabin at the Kalaloch Lodge which is in the NP and is right on the Pacific Ocean. We didn’t get to explore the beach right at the lodge, but we did visit Beach 4 and Rialto Beach. Beach 4 is known for its tide pools so we got there before low tide. We saw a lot of anemones, sea stars, mussels, etc. We also found some interesting rock formations and stones on the beach. We also explored Rialto Beach which is further north. We hiked about a mile north on the beach to see some seastacks (jagged rock formations sticking out of the ocean) and to see the “hole in the wall” (a nature archway through a rock formation). It was difficult walking because in most areas the beach was just pebbles. This beach had a lot of drift wood and logs up at the top of the beach. There was so much wood that on our way back down the beach we tried to only walk on the wood. We traveled several hundred yards and only once had to use “Justin”. Dawn was carrying a piece of drift wood and I had to ask her what that was and she said it was “Justin”. Of course I was puzzled, so she continued…”Justin Case” (i.e., Just-In-Case). I got a good laugh out of that. Staying on the logs was fun, but was slow-going so we abandoned that after about 45 minutes (the sun was setting).

Dawn looking for special stones on Beach 4

Beach 4 rocks with tide pools - Dawn at center-left




Sea anemones in a tide pool on Beach 4 in Olympic National Park

"Walk on the Drift Wood" game on Rialto Beach

(We started at the sea stacks in the background)

Dawn and "Justin" - Used only once in our drift wood game

A Rialto Beach sea stack

25th Wedding Anniversary Trip - Part 2

Beaches along the Strait of Juan de Fuca

The large body of water that lies between Washington State and Canada and goes between the Pacific Ocean and the entrance to Puget Sound (and Seattle) is named the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We explored several of the beaches along this waterway working our way from east to west. The first was on Dungeness Spit. This is a 5-mile long spit that extends out into the Strait and has a lighthouse at its end. It is the longest natural sand spit in the country. We hiked about a half mile through a forest to get to the spit and then about a mile out the spit before turning around (in a light drizzle). We saw a lot of birds and smaller critters. At one point a bald eagle few down the beach and was only about 20 feet over our heads.

Dungeness Spit as viewed from an overlook on the forest trail

Logs, rocks, and sand on Dungeness Spit

The next was Crescent Beach. This is one of the few sand beaches along this coastline. We found some sea creature remnants, some drift wood and a lot of interesting stones. Next was the beach in Clallam Bay. This was a pebbly beach that is famous for jasper (a reddish stone). Dawn found some nice specimens and I found some nice stones, but I’m not sure if they are reddish. : ) We also found various remnants of sea urchins, sand dollars, sea stars, shells, etc. In the end we came home with almost 22 pounds of stones from all of our explorations (about 14 for Dawn and only 8 for David). We were worried about the weight of our bags when we were packing before flying home, but we were okay…barely.

Dawn collecting stones on the exposed bedrock at Clallam Bay

A dead sea urchin we found on Clallam Bay beach

Stones on Clallam Bay beach - Yes Dawn, they are prettier when wet

One more stop along this coast was Cape Flattery. It is not really a beach, but it is definitely on the coast. It is at the north-west “corner” of the 48 contiguous states. It is on the Makah Indian reservation. This whole area is very remote and the drive toward the Cape is even more remote. To get to the cliffs on the coast required a hike of about ¾ of a mile on a muddy forest trail (supposedly this was improved recently). Toward the end of the trail there were nice boardwalks. There were several observation decks that provided nice views of the cliffs, ocean and Tatoosh Island, just off the cape.

One of the great views from Cape Flattery

Us at Cape Flattery - The most northwestern point of land in the lower 48 states

25th Wedding Anniversary Trip - Part 1

On May 26th, 1984 two young kids, David and Dawn, got married in a small church in McClure, PA. Twenty five years later we are not only still together, but we love each other a whole lot more than we did back then. Working, raising children, homeschooling, church activities, etc. makes for a busy and hectic life with not a lot of time for just the two of us to spend together. So to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary we decided to be a little selfish and spoil ourselves. Dawn wanted to “kayak with whales” and we wanted to “get away” so we went as far as we could go away from Florida and still remain within the contiguous 48 states. We went to Washington State from May 14th until May 23rd, 2009. We had a great time and this summary is intended to convey some of the things we did and saw. Grandma Rigel came to stay with the kids for the ten days that we were gone. They had their own excitement, but we will get to that later.

San Juan Islands

Our first stop in Washington State was the San Juan Islands. This group of islands is between the Washington mainland and Canada. We took an hour ferry ride from the town of Anacortes to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island (San Juan Island – singular - is one of several islands that make up the San Juan Islands – plural.) We stayed in a small cabin on Mitchell Bay on the west side of the island. The island is about 13 miles long (NNW to SSE) and at most about 6 miles wide. We spent time at Lime Kiln State Park (also referred to as “Whale Watching Park”). While there we checked out the lighthouse, explored interesting tide pools, collected smooth rocks on the Beach in Deadman’s Cove, and saw the old lime kilns used about 100 years ago for turning limestone into lime for cement. We saw a lot of small sea creatures, birds, and a harbor seal. We also saw a lot of new wild flowers. We had a great time exploring very different ecosystems from what we are familiar with.

Lime Kiln Lighthouse on San Juan Island

A seal with personality (says Dawn) at Lime Kiln State Park

Us on the rocks exploring tide pools at Lime Kiln State Park

Green sea anemones in a tide pool on San Juan Island

One evening at about sunset we did get to see Orca whales (i.e., “killer whales”). We saw several fairly far off-shore heading north. We also got to hear them “talking” through a hydrophone (an underwater microphone) that a whale-watcher volunteer had set up. Then, in a very uncharacteristic manner they turned around and headed south RIGHT IN FRONT OF US! We were sitting on the rocks below the lighthouse and they passed by maybe 10 yards away. It was very cool! Even the whale watching volunteer was excited and said “you don’t know how special that was”. I didn’t get good pictures of them passing by because it was getting dark.

A blurry photo of an Orca whale passing by in front of us

One day we went on a kayaking adventure from the town of Roche Harbor on the northwest end of the island. We paddled about 6 miles (round trip) and saw several bald eagles, other birds, many seals, deer, crabs, sea stars, etc. We also parked in a bull kelp bed and even got to eat some of it. It wasn’t bad. Our guide just graduated from college with a geology degree. She knew a lot about the area. We learned a lot and we had a great time.

Dawn checking out the bull kelp while kayaking (the dark areas are "seeds")

A blood star that our guide found while kayaking

We went on several hikes on the island. We hiked up 290 foot Mt. Finlayson (more of a hill than a “mount”) in the English Camp portion of the San Juan Island National Historic Park. We hiked about a 2 mile loop to the top of the hill, along the hilltop, down to the beach, back along the rocky beach, and then up a steep sandy slope back to the car. On our way driving through the park we saw a silver fox (a variant of the red fox) walking along the road with two furry animals in its mouth (bunnies we think). Another day we hiked to the top of 650 foot Young Hill on the north-west side of the island. From the top of this hill we could see various other islands, Vancouver Island, Canada, and our cabin (with the telephoto lens).

The fox we saw along the road in San Juan Island National Historic Park

(Note the two rodents in its mouth)

Wild poppies seen on our hike at the southeastern end of the island

Climbing back up the steep slope on our hike at the Historic Park

Dawn admiring the view from Young Hill - Looking west toward Canada

Another day we went on a “whale watching cruise”. It was a good thing we saw the whales the day before at Lime Kiln State Park or we would have been disappointed by the cruise. We did not see any whales on the cruise, but we did see many seals, many harbor porpoise, a Steller sea lion, bald eagles, and other birds. And we had a nice boat ride. There were two “naturalists” onboard so we learned a lot of information from them.

A bald eagle seen on our "whale watching cruise"

A Steller sea lion seen on our "whale watching cruise"

Our cabin on Mitchell Bay was rustic, but very nice. It was perfect for us. We either cooked our own meals or snacked on the run from goodies we picked up at a Trader Joe’s. The cabin owners also have a B&B and were very accommodating, helpful and nice. The cabin smelled of peppermint because someone told them that peppermint would chase away the river otter that was eating his fish underneath the cabin. It must have worked because we didn’t see the otter (but we wanted to).

The exterior of our rustic cabin on Mitchell Bay on San Juan Island

The interior of our cabin on San Juan Island

When we left the San Juan Islands we took another ferry ride back to Anacortes then drove to Keystone on the south end of Whidbey Island. From here we took a shorter 30 minute ferry ride across to Port Townsend on the Olympic peninsula. We stopped at the Admiralty Head Lighthouse on the Keystone side (east) and at the Point Wilson Lighthouse on the Port Townsend (west) side. There was also an old gun battery on the Keystone side at Fort Casey State Park. I quickly checked that out while Dawn stayed in the car (I have learned that usually big guns are a “guy thing”).

Guess Who Hatched Today!

That's right! My chicks! In case you didn't know, Merry, one of my chickens, has been sitting on eggs for the last couple weeks. This morning, Jesse excitedly told me that one of the chicks had hatched!! Well, we also found one of them half hatched, on the ground outside the coop. We figured he started hatching too early and Merry kicked him out or something and have been taking care of him. We are really hoping he survives because he has a wonderful personality! He also gets lonely very easily. He is in a box, and the others are with Merry. Anyway, several hours later another one hatched (by then we were checking every ten minutes or so). A little while later another one hatched, so we now have four tiny chicks!!! We are working on names for them, and I'll post pictures later.

Bekah