Vacation, All I Ever Wanted...

Doesn't it just make you feel like breaking into song?  Of course, "The Sound of Music" comes to mind, but really, any song will do.  That's Hurricane Ridge!  Mom and Dad Shrader came to Seattle for a visit and we decided to take a week and tour the Olympic Peninsula, come down the coast and end up in our beloved Pacific City, Oregon.  It has been a lovely vacation.  One for the books.

We started in Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic Mountain Range.  We had some company while we toured the ridge.

There were black-tailed deer all over the place!  The wildflowers were also in bloom.  It was gorgeous.  Lorelei hiked up to Sunset Ridge, conquering her fear, as she put it.  It is a little bit scary going up there the first time, but L and Grandma made it without any comment of being nervous.  I must have been nervous enough for all three of us:

There was a lot of cloud cover, but the range was clear as a bell.  It was beautiful.  Looking down this path at the black and white dots at the end, that's Shawn and Grandpa:

Here are the ladies at the ridge:

I just love the mountains.  I can't wait to do more exploring in the Cascades.

From Hurricane Ridge we traveled up to Neah Bay, on the Makah Tribal Lands, where we walked ourselves out to the northwesternmost tip of the continental U.S., which is Cape Flattery.  It was an amazing little journey.  We had to get a special permit at the Makah Tribal Museum, and the guy painting the wall and the doors of the Museum let me take pictures:

The Makah are a whaling and fishing nation.  I loved this artwork.  Most tribes out here do not permit photos of the artwork (or you have to promise not to post them anywhere) in order to preserve their culture from outside influence.

From the Museum, we went to Cape Flattery.  It was a short hike, and through some interesting and beautiful terrain.

Once we got out to the Cape, it was gorgeous scenery.  Absolutely stunning.

Here is looking out to Tatoosh Island, looking west and a little north from our northwesternmost corner.

From Cape Flattery we turned south to La Push, Wa.  La Push is on the Quileute Tribal Lands.  I can't tell you how amazing La Push was.  We only saw one of the beaches there, the one we stayed in a cabin on, but there are at least two others that are equally stunning.  The surf and the scenery are just lovely.

So, yeah.  That was day 1.

Day 2 had us going to the Hoh Rainforest in Olympic National Park.  It was so green and lush.  My photos don't do it justice, really.  It reminded me of the hanging Spanish moss in the south, a little, but it's also so different.  I fell a little in love there.

I love the ferns.  There are loads of maple trees, too, but the ferns were so lush and fragrant!

We saw an inchworm crawling on a piece of deadwood.  I have never seen an inchworm before.  We also saw an elk on our drive in; my first elk!  Of course, we had some companionship in the rainforest, also:

And that was day 2.  Whew.

The rest of the week was spent in Pacific City on our beloved beach there.  It was quiet, as it always is, but we also found new pathways through the dunes and found ways to explore and also show Shawn's parents this place that we love so much.

I don't know what to say about this part of the Oregon coast that we haven't said before.  It's our place.  We will find a way to live there eventually, come hell or high water.

In the meantime, there is much to explore for us about coastal living.  I had planned to take a surfing lesson this time, but Lorelei made me promise that she could do it with me.  I guess that has us waiting until next year because Lorelei needs to be a stronger swimmer before we surf those crazy waves.  The good news is she has finally agreed to let me teach her how to really swim.  I guess we have a project for the winter!

Because we weren't surfing, Grandpa, L, and I rented wet suits and boogie boards and road the waves amateur-style.  It was a blast!

I was glad to get L into the ocean and really experience how strong the undertow is.  She understands why she needs to be a strong swimmer in order to surf.  She has also learned proper respect for the ocean.

One of the things I love watching at the coast is the gathering for the sunset.  People just show up.  It's nice.

In addition to vacation, we've had a lot going on.  We had to move kind of spur of the moment because our landlord decided to sell our place.  The bad news is that we had to do this right away and were not prepared for it.  The good news is that we ended up in a house, in a quieter neighborhood, and it appears to be better for sleeping, the dog, dog-walking, and L has a yard to play in.  We are hoping to be able to move again in a year, but to a house that we buy instead of rent.  We'll see.  We are also making plans for moving to the Oregon Coast at some point...but that's a post for the future, I guess.

Love to all, and blessings abound with the new school year!

Hot Town, Summer in the City!

Summer has arrived in all her glory!  It's been warm (upwards of 90 on some days) and the sun is magnificent.  This is the season of vacations, festivals, farmers markets, and letting our pale, pasty, winter skin drink in the sun and vitamin D, and bronze up a bit.

Or in our case, turn red because we went to the beach and are complete idiots who forgot to put on sunscreen.

It was totally worth it.

Last weekend we decided to explore some of the Washington beaches near Aberdeen.  We've heard they are nice (though not as fabulous as our beloved Oregon coast), so we decided to see for ourselves.  We spent the afternoon in Westport and Ocean City.

The above pictures are Westport.  The one picture is of a kite-surfer (it's really hard to see).  There was a strong wind and he was going FAST.  As fast as we've gone waterskiing with a motorboat pulling us on the lakes of Minnesota.  Crazy!  Westport is a popular surfing spot, and there were lots of surfers out.  It's really cool to watch them.  I've become obsessed with surfing and I may have to join them sooner rather than later.

Up here people surf in wet suits because the ocean waters in the Pacific Northwest are pretty chilly, but they do manage to surf during all four seasons.  I find that a bit crazy, but this culture does not consist of the blond, suntanned beach bunnies of southern California or Hawaii; no, these people with their wet suits and long boards are rugged adventurers.  I've been doing some reading about surfing and where to learn, and there are quite a few instructors dotting the coastal waters who are willing to give a lesson.  Interestingly, many of them migrated north after surfing for years in Southern California.  I guess they felt they needed a challenge.

Those two pictures are at Ocean City, just up the coast a bit and across Gray's Harbor from Westport.  Ocean City is one of several tiny little burgs that line the coast.  Not much going on in any of them.  You might find a hotel or two, but you won't find a Hilton, and maybe no actual chain hotels.  The big developers never made it this far north, I guess.  That's fine with us.  See all these pictures of the water?  Well, this is what the actual beaches look like:

See that?  Nothing.  No hotel, no boardwalk, no vendors.  Just the dunes and some driftwood.  Perfect.  The sand was darker, more volcanic looking in Westport, but Ocean City was that perfect, pristine sand.  Oh, and we found tons of sand dollars at Westport!

Of course, there have been more goings-on than feeding our family-obsession with the ocean.  My number of friends in Seattle has doubled, with the arrival of my friend and colleague, Ravisha, and my friend Leigh and her daughter, Paige.

Ravisha was one of my greatest friends in Cbus and at MDK, and she and her friend Luke have taken the plunge and moved to the Emerald City.  This is a wonderful thing, as I have thought from the beginning that this town has Ravisha written all over it.  And of course, I have missed her!

Big changes abound for Leigh and Paige, also!  I imagine this is a great place to grow up, and it's nice that Leigh can give Paige this.  Something that is so different from how we grew up for sure.  Paige and Lorelei are fast friends and Paige is serving as the big sister Lorelei has yearned for.  Both of them act the big sister to Maya, too.

Both Ravisha and Leigh wasted no time getting organized and finding jobs/homes, etc.  It's funny, you move here and your life is instantly changed.  Instantly.  There is a different rhythm to this city.  There is no time to delay putting it all together.  I work harder, have a longer commute because of traffic and we are busier with Lorelei than ever.  Shawn is working longer hours, busy with school and trying to work on learning web development skills on the side that he doesn't get at work or school.  We are crazy busy, and yet, we spend whole days at the beach or in the mountains.  The laundry still gets done, the groceries bought and dinner cooked.  I wonder sometimes what we did with all of our time when we lived in Ohio.

I remember being in Columbus and watching the airplanes when I would find myself on the east side of town.  I always had a sort of wistful feeling, wondering where the planes were going to or coming from, and imagining all those people going on an exotic vacation or embarking on a great adventure.  I would remind myself that I have a great life in Ohio and a wonderful family, and there will always be time for those exotic vacations and great adventures.  I've had itchy feet my whole life and I was kind of used to that feeling of feeling like I need to GO.

I no longer have that wistful feeling when I watch the planes going into or out of Seatac Airport.  We still have the responsibility of day-to-day living and paying bills.  None of us has won the lottery and hires people to do all the work.  But when there is that day when nothing pressing needs done and the skies have cleared, we embark on one of those adventures.  I love our life here.  I feel like we are truly living it and not killing time until the next opportunity to have fun.  Sometimes after a long day at work, the biggest adventure we have is watching the sunset over the Sound from our balcony.  But...we are watching the sunset over the SOUND.  The Puget Sound.  With the Olympic Mountain Range as a backdrop.

I no longer have itchy feet.  We are home.