A little clean up and a nice hike

So, it's been a few days. 

Let's play catch up again, shall we? 

We went to the lovely town of Poulsbo on Sunday for their Viking Fest.  The town was founded by Norsemen and they have reveled in their ancestry ever since.  The festival ran Saturday and Sunday.  We went with high hopes.  Turned out it was just all right. It was a rainy day and looked something like a cross between a renn faire and a county fair complete with the Zipper ride, among others.

See, stripes and swords.  How viking can you get?

Totally Nordic.  I think I am growing a beard just looking.

See, a freaking viking with a spear and magic helmet.

Chain mail?  The only thing that could be more viking is...

A doughnut eating contest.  Apparently the vikings were huge doughnut guys.

Then it started to rain.  Like really rain.  You know, the kind you always hear about in Washington.  Turns out that is pretty true.

Luckily we were not too far from a marine science center.  Dash inside, get some knowledge working and escape the rain.  Kids = happy. 

Then we got some viking doughnuts and went home.  Not a bad day, but hard to build a blog post around.


So, today we tried harder.  Oh boy, did we.

We decided to go on a research hike.  I have been threatening the kids with a hike in camping experience. You know, cart all your supplies with your and hike in to a campground unreachable by car.  My big, lusty, dream camp would be the Royal Basin beneath Mt. Deception.  http://www.panoramio.com/photo/37940454

But that is a little too ambitious for the kids


So I found another possibility and figured we could go out today and take a look around.  Without hauling gear it would give us an idea of what we are up against and provide us with a nice hike in the process.  So we set off and SQUIRREL!

Did that sign say waterfall view?

OK, OK, back on task.  Nothing to see here.  We will just proceed on in an orderly SQUIRREL!

Hey, a tidal flat.  That's as good as a marine science center.

About a bazillion oysters

Crabs galore!

This place was teeming with life.

Strike a pose.

OK, seriously this time.  Let's get there and get hiking.  We're burning daylight people.

There we go, that's more like it.  Even if it was raining.

Found this tree and thought it looked like an elephant.

This place was teeming with life too.

The goofiness was out too.

I felt sorry for this poor guy stuck in the tree.

Add caption

Keep them goofy, keep them happy.

Beautiful bridge out there in the middle of nowhere.

And now the bridge is even more beautiful. 

Add caption

Taking a break and keeping spirits up. 

Nice little waterfall

It was getting late and we were all tired by this point.  The "When are we going to get there?" birds were coming out.  Finally though, we made it. 

Lena Lake

Sitting on Picnic Rock. 

 

All too soon though, it was time to pack up and head back.  The kids were pretty tired already.

The hike back was faster, but we were way more tired.  We managed to spice up the trip with wonderful commentary from Max as he chattered on about any and everything.  We also spotted this little guy.

We saw this dead tree with a moss mullet.

Business in the front and party in the back

The Saguaro cactus grows weird here

As do the banana slugs.

It was a great hike and pretty doable even for the boys. We have all but decided this is the place we will try to make camp later in the year.

Check out the hike.

http://www.wta.org/go-hiking/hikes/lena-lake

Seattle day

Woke up this morning and got a run in.  Damn carnivorous hill almost got me, but I kept going.  I am still undefeated. Funny thing I have noticed.  When I was running in Houston I only noticed the smell when a large diesel truck or really old car went by.  Here, I notice a change in the smell with every car that passes.  Except the electric ones.

When I got back and cleaned up we set out for today's adventure.  We decided to take the ferry over to Seattle and walk about for a bit.  Sarah and the boys had been down by the ferry terminal before to play among the rocks and fountains, but this was my first visit.  The boys couldn't wait to show me around.

Neat fountains at the park

The rocks were pretty cool too.

Yeah, I'm king of the park.  No big deal.

This rock is HILARIOUS.

Eventually we got on the ferry and took off. The one hour-ish ride is free for pedestrian passengers from Bremerton to Seattle, but they charge you to come back.  Whatever, I'll take it.

It was a cloudy day or you would likely be subjected to many more pictures.

The kids wanted to stay in because it was cold and windy.  Sarah, of course, couldn't do it.

Eventually we got them out and looking around though

Ahh. Seattle.  We missed you.

Sarah thought back and figured out it had been 50 weeks since we were last here.  50 weeks.

From Seattle we flew to San Diego.  Then we drove from there to OKC, back west to Santa Fe.  Then we went to Richmond, VA before turning back to Houston.  That is a lot of miles over the past 50 weeks.  All so I could come back and take more pictures just a few feet away from where I took them last year.

Oh yeah, and I heard about this one tourist attraction we didn't know about last time.  The Gum Wall.

Yep.

This is the wall near the box office of a theater where people have been leaving chewed up bits of gum smooshed against the wall for years.  Yes, this really is a thing.

And it's popular.

Just follow the crowd to the chewed gum.

There was a tour group there.  Really.

"W...T...F.?"

Michael:"We don't have to get any closer, right?"  Max: "Seriously, WTF?"

Then, of course, since we were right there, we had to go to Pike's Place Market.  Man, that place is crowded.

Michael decided he doesn't like the crowds.  He says they are kind of intimidating.  Right there with ya kid.  There is no way to go through without elbowing someone out of the way.  It isn't Tokyo subway crowded, but it's pretty busy.

We had to get outside.

Turns out they do better in less crowded situations.

And maybe some plants and water too, yeah, that helps.

Then we were done with the crowds and traffic.  It is nice to visit Seattle and I wouldn't mind living near Seattle, but I don't think I am the big city type anymore.  We got on the ferry and headed back.  On the way back I couldn't help but daydream.

It's official...

We are in Washington.

Wonder why we wanted to get back?

I put a couple of work days under my belt, the hospitals seem just fine so far thank you.  Today was my first day off and we decided to go out and explore a little.  Of course, I had to do a run first.  There is a marathon coming up in a few months and I want to be ready.   The last mile and a half of the run is uphill.  Nothing like a hill to make you want to quit...and proud when you don't.

This picture in no way captures the true obscenity that is this hill.

After that, we set out driving north.  Because we heard it was pretty that direction.  It turned out to be a fabulous day for north.  We didn't really have any plans and only had a vague sense of the geography.  We even left the maps in the truck.  Didn't matter.

North turned out to be very pretty.

We passed over the Hood Canal bridge and onto the Olympic Peninsula proper.  Along the way we passed a sign for something called the Dungeness Trail.  Well, that sounded promising, so we turned. 

Further investigation will be needed.

The roads turned steep, windy and poor.  Luckily we have Hondo, the Adventure Car! Hondo is ready for anything. 

Not pictured, the places with 500 foot drops off one side.  You are welcome Mom.

There were neat little scenic turnouts which we used.  There was just too much pretty not to check it out.

Then we arrived at the trail head.  We paid our fee and started wandering around.

This ain't Kansas, they grow trees a little bigger here.

No, I mean bigger.

A pleasant rushing river to accompany our hike. 

Then we found the trail itself and started out.  It was a beautiful day with a fabulous trail in the Olympic National Forest.  The trail apparently can go for around 8 miles and up to 6000 feet.  We knew we wouldn't do that much.  It was good enough just to get out and go until we wanted to turn back. 

Gorgeous family on the beautiful trail

Looked like fun, but you know there was no way she was letting me cross it.

HAHAHAAAA.  I had to give her the car keys, but she let me do it!

Our amateur mycologist at work

Spring is springing here.

"Michael, just stand right there for a second." "Why?"

See, I'm not the only adventure climber.

This is my cathedral.

My kids in my cathedral. 

Excited mycologist

It was a beautiful day.  So clear that, from just behind the RV park, you could see Mt. Rainier. 

That is one impressive mountain.

I'll leave you with this last picture.  It was taken a day or two ago during sunset from the mobile home/RV park where we stay.  I think it is Mt. Constance, but I honestly don't know for sure.