Spring Break - 2016, Part 3

 Thursday was our last full day on the peninsula.  We had hoped to go to Hurricane Ridge, but found out that the roads up there are only plowed on the weekends.  As we did our morning walk, we went the opposite direction of where we had gone before.  It wasn't long before we came to a creek that flowed into the ocean.  The Young's all had shoes that were OK when they got wet.  I only had the 1 pair of tennis shoes and didn't want to have wet shoes the rest of the day, so I decided to go back to the cabin, while they continued on down the beach.

 Our last adventure of the week took place at the Olympic game farm.  When you pay the entrance fee, you can also buy some loaves of bread to feed the animals.  We bought 4 loaves of bread, so we each had one.  The first animals we came to were yaks, Annika was timid about feeding them at first.

 Kari, feeding a yak also.  Some of the animals totally ignored us, but others were eager to be fed.

 Saben got a kick from feeding a llama, which is his favorite animal.  Since I was sitting in front of him, it was hard for me to get a good picture of him feeding anything.  

Kari took this picture after Saben put a piece of bread on the llama's nose.

 There were several bears in cages.  I thought we weren't supposed to feed them because we had been told not to feed the "predators", which I thought applied to the bears, but I've read since then that it was OK to feed the bears.

 We were warned about the elk and buffalo, that you should keep moving because they could surround your car and possibly do some damage.

 The car ahead of us had several elk come for food, but most of the elk must have gotten fed a lot already, because most of them didn't seem interested in any bread.

 Annika was able to entice an elk to get some bread from her.

 The buffalo were waiting for us!

 This one came to my window and just kept scarfing the bread I handed out to him.  Kari kept the car moving, but he kept walking beside my window and sticking his head in my window.  He actually started freaking me out because he kept sticking his black tongue out trying to get the bread.

 I thought these were caribou, but when I looked them up, I found out that they are European Fallow Deer.

 A baby deer!

 This picturesque outhouse was beside the road between Kari's and my cabin.

 These seals were sitting on some rocks, but quickly dived into the water when Kari's dog came near.

 The sunset was gorgeous our last night!

Sweet kids loving on their Mom.

Spring Break - 2016, Part 2

 After spending most of Monday and Tuesday in the car driving, we decided to stay around the cabins and beach where we were staying on Wednesday.  We did a walk on the beach after breakfast as the tide was coming in.

 Walking on the beach.

 An interesting and picturesque shot of some of the rocks.

Saben and Annika found more logs to climb on.

 "Horsetails" growing by the ocean.

 Saben and Annika collected a bunch of rocks that they thought were pretty or special in some way.  Then they had to chose which ones to keep.

 In the evening, our walk was during low tide, so we found a lot of fun sea creatures!  These were some pretty sea anemones that we saw.

 We also saw several starfish.

 While we looked at the sea creatures, this eagle kept an eye on us.

 I thought this was another picturesque shot of a big rock with its deposits of tiny rocks.

 Annika looking for seals in the water...

 ...and she found one!  (There were actually several just off shore.)

 Annika trying to pick up a hermit crab, there were lots of those also.  Every time Annika found a shell she wanted, it was occupied by a hermit crab.

 A different kind of starfish.

 Some of the sea anemones were all crowded together in crevices like this.

 The sun was starting to set as we headed back to the cabin.  (There wasn't much color this night, but wait until tomorrow!)

When we got back to the cabin, Saben was given the job of starting a fire in the fire ring by the cabin.

He got the fire going...

...then decided to do another small fire on the rock next to the fire pit.

 Boys and matches!

We ate our dinner by the fire, then sat by the fire until after it got dark.  I even got everyone to sing a song by the campfire!  We did "Row, row, row, your boat" in a round.

Spring Break - 2016, Part 1

Kari and kids were going to the Olympic Peninsula for 4 days during their spring break and asked if I wanted to go with them.  Since Ken already had a business trip scheduled that week and I'd be home alone, I jumped at the chance to go with them!  This was my cabin...

 ...which was up on the hill.  This was the view down to the water from my deck.

 Kari's cabin was down the bluff, right on the water.  This was her cabin, when it was high tide the water was quite close to her cabin, but there was still enough of a hill that there was no danger of it reaching the cabin.  Kari's cabin didn't have electricity, but there were several lanterns provided for use after it got dark.  My cabin did have electricity and I must admit, that I liked going back to my cabin after dark and being able to turn the lights on.

 Heading to a different beach after the long drive out to Neah Bay.  Kari's dog, Maple, and all of us were ready for some beach time after the drive!

 Escaping the waves!

 This was a nice sandy beach in comparison to the beach where we stayed which was a very rocky beach.

 Saben pretending to be a unicorn!

 Playing on logs washed up on shore.

 The hole in the log girl.

 The start of the trail to Cape Flattery, the most northwest point in the continental USA.

 A couple of tree huggers.

 One of my grandchildren loves to have her picture taken, the other 2 not so much!

 There were gorgeous vistas along the trail

 The Cape Flattery Lighthouse on Tatoosh Island just off the tip of Cape Flattery.

 Can you see the lighthouse on the island?

 I loved this section at Cape Flattery, it was picturesque!  The kids spent a lot of time watching the waves go in and out of the cave.

Heading back up the trail.