Sunday, August 17, 2014

Olympic Peninsula Trip

Even after living in this glorious state for 38 years, I never made it around the 101 loop - until now!  So happy to say we took a family road trip and marked something off my bucket list.  It totally lived up to my expectations.  We saw so much is just a couple of days.

We headed to Sequim first and visited a lavender farm. 



The girls were all about picking their very own bundles on the farm.




Our friends recommended this restaurant and it was delicious!  Breakfast and brunch - my kind of place.


Then onto the Olympic Game Farm.  It was just as fun as I remembered as a kid.  We laughed and squealed around the entire park.  Addy was the most careful and we finally got her to feed a couple of the animals.  The rest of us were handing out the bread and fighting off snotty, stinky animals left and right.  It was fabulous.













We hit a berry farm and got some treats for the rest of the trip and found a great park in Port Angeles to send some time before dinner.




We settled in for the night, watched the hawks, read our books and watched some Little Einsteins.  Char was way to excited to go to sleep and kept us all up. 



Bright and early we headed up to Hurricane Ridge.  It was magnificent with the sun and clouds.  We enjoyed the views on the drive and the hikes around the top.











We ran into so many mommy dear with their babies along the trails.  We did about 4 different hikes on Saturday and got to enjoy the animals at each location.








To keep things lively on our walks we did some posing:






My mom got those pillows for the road trip and the girls were loving it!


Lake Cresent was so calm and lovely, we could have stayed there and played forever.  Then onto the Marymere Falls for some more hiking and exploring.  Chilly (from Doc McStuffin's came along for the hike)







We forged many streams, climbed hills and mountains and trekked over fallen timber - it was glorious!






After no nap the first day and a very late night Char conked out in the backpack for a 25 minute nap on the way back from the falls. 


It was about 4:30 and we debated about stopping at Ruby Beach.  Definitely on my bucket list, but not sure about "walking in" with the kids that late in the day.  Its one of those moments I thank goodness that we took the chance.  It was the perfect end to a day filled with great adventure.  The sun was shining on us, the beach was just amazing and you really felt you had just ventured into god's country.



We climbed, explored, played, gazed and had a blast.  I think it was the highlight of the trip for both kids.



I could have spent a full day just enjoying the scenery.








So grateful we got this great time together to experience the entire loop.  We'll be back for sure, and I can't wait.