We took an evening walk along the cliffs above the Dungeoness Spit, to see the sunset. The adults were busy talking and ooohing at the beautiful sky... I was happy walking with some of my favorite people, picking up the occasional rock or stick.
I sure like my Uncle Brian...
The next day, after having a delicious breakfast at the 101 Diner with the Griffing Grands, we went on a LONG LONG hike to the lighthouse at the tip of the Dungeoness Spit. The hike from the parking lot to the lighthouse is between 6.5 and 7 miles long. We walked and walked...
...and took a break...
...and walked and walked some more...
...my feet started to get pretty tired, so my Dad showed me on his GPS how far I had already walked all by myself...
...we walked on...
...by now I needed quite a bit of encouragement to keep going. My Dad said he would carry me once I got to 3.5 miles away from the car. We could see the lighthouse in the distance by now.
...and we had a little victory party when I really and truly made it to that distance on my own feet!
...aaaaah.... the delight of a boy who has walked a long long ways, and is about to be carried...
The lighthouse itself was nice, but a little anti-climactic. A couple of whitewashed buildings, with driftwood all around. We had a picnic, and then hiked back up to the car. The way home really wore hard on my Dad... he hadn't carried 40lbs on his back for miles and miles since he was in the Army!
The next day we left Sequim to drive to Forks, WA, to see several of the beaches in that area, and to visit the Hoh rainforest. My Momma had found what looked like a quaint Bed & Breakfast online, called Hoh Humm Ranch. As it turned out, it was more "humm" than anything, and should really more be called "breakfast"... It was a VERY old farm house RIGHT next to the highway, although it did have a beautiful view out the back, of acres of grazing land and the Hoh river. They had Llamas, and cows, and sheep, and goats, and a few domesticated deer, and many many dogs, ALL of which begged incessantly at the breakfast table. The rooms were neither very clean, nor cute or comfortable... but the breakfast really was good. Anyways, once my Momma and Jasmin got past the shock of how different the place was from how it had been described online, we had a good time. When we arrived in Forks, it was raining (as it does most of the year), so we decided to take a walk in the rain forest, saving the beaches for another (hopefully sunny) day.
I had some quality father-son time with my Dad walking through the rainforest. It was FUN! The trees were REALLY HUGE, and there were LOTS of good fishing sticks to choose from.
Oh! And there is Jasmin! She hopped out from behind a tree and scared me!
This, in case you are wondering, is a goblin tree. Do you think I can hop out of my shoes just like the goblin in the Little Bear story?
After about 2.5 miles of walking my feet got pretty tired, so my Dad agreed to carry me for a little bit. He sure is a nice Dada... (on a side note, the other day when my Momma was reading me a story about different jobs people can have when they grow up, and she asked me what I want to be when I'm big. Without hesitation I said "A Dada, just like MY Dada!")
Jasmin and Timon got to hug a few really really big trees! My Momma wishes she had taken more pictures of them.
Dad and I hid behind a tree and then JUMPED out yelling "Rah rah rah rah!" to scare Momma! The second time around, she must have suspected what we were up to, because she caught this great action shot on her camera.
There were many bridges in the rain forest from which I got to fish off of. This is how you fish with a stick: You dangle it into the water, and then call the fish over to you with low "Here, fish, fish, fish!" sounds.
After our walk through the rain forest I was truly exhausted, and I took a good, long nap. My Mah kept me company.
The next day we went to Rialto beach, which is one of my Momma's favorite beaches. That day the waves weren't super big, which was a little disappointing (they still were probably 5-7 feet tall), but the flat, round rocks were fun to roll down the beach like wheels, and to build towers out of. And there was plenty of driftwood for me to climb around on! My Momma took lots of pictures of me in this little hole. This picture is one of my Momma's new favorite pictures of me.
M-A-R-K. That's me.
Dad climbed with me onto the TOP of this huge log! We sat up there for a while, eating pretend hamburgers (consisting of three flat round stones stacked on top of each other).
That afternoon my Dad and I stayed at the Hoh Humm Ranch and napped, while Timon, Jasmin and Katie went to Ruby beach. Supposedly you can find garnets there, but the only part that was "ruby" about that beach was the name. My Momma thought it was stunningly beautiful, nonetheless, with tall sea-stacks and jutting boulders, rolling waves, and emense amounts of driftwood everywhere. She took a lot of really nice pictures, but you'll have to ask her to show you yourself. Since I wasn't there, I decided they don't belong in this blog.
That evening I got to feed the Llamas and the sheep at the ranch. It appears that Llamas do not like carrots. The sheep did, though.
The next day it was time to drive back to Sequim. We spent some more time visiting with my great-grandparents, and with Linda. One of the days we went to the Olympic game farm. This is a safari-style drive-through experience, with MANY animals: llamas, yaks, zebras, prairy dogs, a rhino, many begging sea gulls, bears, lions, wild cats, wolves, bison, various kinds of deer and elk, and a petting zoo.
This bear was fun. He liked to wave at people, and begged for some of the bread we got to toss over to him.
The bison (or buffalo?) were a little more intimidating, since there was no fence between us (in the car) and them. We didn't stop to feed them, but rather kept going at a slow, steady roll. There were quite a few buffalo calves, and the mothers acted protective. With the buffalo were also some deer, quite a few of which were albino.
This handsome elk was lazing in the grass with about 30 females and young bucks. They looked at us as if we were the most boring things in the world, and just kept on munching and snoozing.Although it was fun to feed the zebras and to see the BIG animals, my favorite part was probably the petting zoo. Right around the time we went into the petting zoo fence, one of the lions started to roar really loudly!
Although the goat didn't seem overly worried, I made sure to tell the goat that everything was ok, that I'd keep him safe from the lion.
I proceeded to explain to him that the lion can't get to him, that he's just being noisy.
Ok? So don't worry, ok?
That evening we went to Sequim Bay to look for some bird bath stones (also known as mud concretions). Some of these stone "bubbles" erode out of the cliff, burst open upon impact, and as long as not too many shells and barnacles have grown on them yet, make wonderful bird baths. My Momma found 3 that will work, but will go back next time to try to find another few that are "just right"... MY highlight from this little outing was turning over rocks to find (and catch!) little crabs! I got pinched a few times, but after the initial fright I thought it was great fun. I caught many many many crabs, which I kept in a clamshell, and then tossed into the water when the shell was full... only to refill it.
The grown-ups all got really excited about the Orca Mother and Baby that were swimming in the bay waters. For nearly 45 minutes the two of them swam and played, disappearing and re-appearing. Jasmin took lots of pictures of them. The rangers (who were doing a routine check) got excited when we pointed the Orcas out to them. They hadn't seen Orcas there in more than 7 years!
Oh, and speaking of sea animals, we also saw a few seals, my Momma can't remember which of the many beaches this was taken at, but here is a picture.
Anyway, we had a wonderful vacation, and a really really good time with Jasmin and Timon... and we miss them and look forward to seeing them again!
Oh! And yesterday my Momma gave me an "Army man" haircut! I think it looks "nicy-nice!"
PS: Thank you Jasmin for letting me use some of the pictures you took!
1 comment:
We miss you too!!!!!
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