Summer Vacation...a week on the Olympic Peninsula

The third week of August we headed out for our grand adventure of the summer.(Warning: lots and lots of pictures to follow) We headed north to the Olympic Peninsula.  We thought the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston would be fun for the kids. However summer is especially busy and we ended up waiting in line for 2 hours before boarding. Bennett shows his mad face at having to wait so long.

The kids wanted to see the front of the ferry, but once they experienced how windy it was they liked the view from the side better.

Our first stop was Sequim/Port Angeles to visit Zach's mom, Oma as the kids call her. On Sunday we drove up from Port Angeles to Hurricane Ridge, part of the Olympic National Park system. Bonus for us it was a fee free weekend...we love free!  The weather cooperated fantastically and the views were gorgeous. Here are the kids with the Olympic Range in the background.

 Marin found her car in the parking lot....it has her name on it and everything!

 We took a little trail around the other side of the ridge and saw where there used to be a ski hill.

Our goofy kids hamming it up.

Our next day trip was to Port Townsend and Fort Worden State Park on the NW edge of the peninsula. The weather once again cooperated and we enjoyed a gorgeous day playing in the sand. The kids dared go in the water, but only quick trips, as the Pacific Ocean is frigid this far north.

Marin lost her head on this trip, or maybe she's just helping Greyson out.

One of the kids favorite parts of this day was the marine science center on the pier. Inside were several "touch tanks" filled with sea stars, anenomes, and other touchable sea creatures. They were squeamish at first, but soon overcame that and loved watching the creatures.

The next day we headed to Salt Creek County Park to see some tide pools in nature, the weather was beautiful but the tide was coming in. We still had great fun climbing on the rocks and poking the little creatures.

After a bit of a drive around the top of the peninsula the kids were anxious to get out of the car. Our next stop was the tip of Lake Crescent to a short little hike to Marymere Falls. At 1.5 miles round trip it was perfect for 4 sets of little legs. Looks like we are raising some cute tree huggers here!