Cape Disappointment

One more post, and I'll be finished rambling about our trip. The last stop was Cape Disappointment State Park, near Astoria. The weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed it. We got to walk the beach several times, including once right as the sun was setting.

We discovered this see-saw, and found that it actually worked pretty well. We're sure that it would meet government safety standards, especially since there were rusty nails sticking out of it!

These next pictures speak for themselves.

The next day we visited one of the lighthouses on the state park. It's still in use, but you can go visit it and climb to the very top.

Sol Duc Hot Springs

After North Cascades, our next stop was Sol Duc Hot Springs Resort in the Olympic National Park. We were all pretty excited about sleeping in a cabin with beds and a shower. The drive from NCNP to ONP was very pretty. As we left NCNP, we stopped at a breathtaking waterfall. To view it, you had to walk onto a grated bridge, under which the river was rushing--kind of scary.

The drive took us across an island and included a ferry ride, which was pretty cool. Once we got to ONP, we had to drive down a winding little road to the resort. There's really nothing else in the area, just the resort and a ranger station. After showers and dinner at the restaurant, we tried the hot spring pools. They were like giant hot tubs; very relaxing, though you had to get past the sulfur smell.

We were blessed with beautiful weather. The next morning we enjoyed a pure blue sky, not very common for the Olympic Peninsula, I guess.


This is our cabin, which faced the Sol Duc River.



Along the the river bank there were these sturdy, rustic swings. It was so nice just to sit and watch the river rush by, and swing. By the time we left we were convinced we should get some, too!

A side note about small towns...

As we drove to and from North Cascades, we enjoyed the rural scenery, including a car with a tree growing out of the hood. Actually, I didn't see it, other family members did, but there were a lot of similar sights on the road. Living in a larger town like we do, you often miss out on the fun, quirky things that make small towns what they are. Throughout our trip I enjoyed driving through little places like Concrete, Marblemount, Newhalem, Spoons, and Humptulips (we never did decide exactly how to say that). There's a special flavor to small towns.

This is the kind of restaurant you don't often find in larger towns. Honest, to the point, and unencumbered by efforts to compete with the burger-joint a couple blocks down the street.

North Cascades

The Monday after graduation we packed up and drove off for five days of adventure and relaxation. The first stop on our list was North Cascades National Park, where we spent two nights camping . This is a huge, beautiful area in northern Washington. We had the opportunity to drive through it last year, so we were excited about returning. It was a relief leave behind I-5 traffic and head out into the wilderness.

When we got to Colonial Creek campground, it was already raining. The rain got heavier as we continued to try to set up camp. We ate a very quick dinner, then piled into the tent, since it was the only dry place in the camping spot. Even then, you couldn't touch the sides of the tent, because they were covered in condensation.

The next day was a lot better. We took a couple hikes. We were fascinated by the native slugs that we saw on our first hike, a fairly short but very steep "nature trail." I guess they were banana slugs. I know this is a rather disgusting picture, but we thought it was pretty funny; it actually turned out quite well--if you like pictures of slugs, of course.

The views from our second hike, Thunderknob, were really beautiful. This is Diablo Lake, as seen from the top of Thunderknob Mountain.

I'm not sure what mountain peak this is, but we could see it from Thunderknob Mountain, a little taste of the beautiful peaks that were hiding in the clouds.
Diablo Lake is a man-made lake caused by a dam. Its water is very bluish-green because of the glacier silt in it. Colonial Creek campground is right on its shore.

Graduation

The last few weeks have been full of exciting events. First off was graduation on the 7th. We have a really nice ceremony at church, full of our own Westminster traditions. One is the charge from the pastor, which was excellent. Another is participation from the graduates. I decided to do a speech. If you heard the speech, you know why it was such a big deal. If you didn't, let me just say God answered my prayers and it went much better than I expected it to.

Yet another tradition is the presentation of diplomas by the parents, sometimes accompanied by another speech. Here's Mom and Dad presenting my diploma.
Here's the gal graduates gathering for a picture after the ceremony.

It was a great day, and one that I'll remember for a long time.

It's time!

I've considered making a blog for a while, but now that I've finished school, I'm ready. What will I write about? What's going on in my life, what I'm thinking about, whatever I feel like saying. There will be a lot of pictures, too. Enjoy!