After a long day of travel & being in a fog (I got up at 2:30 AM to get everyone up & out the door by 4:00 AM to catch a 6:20 AM flight), we started out our next day heading to Pacific Northwest coastline. We wanted the kids to be able to experience the ocean...of course! I haven't been to the Pacific Ocean since I was 4-years-old, and that was in California.
The drive was going to take us about 2 hours. And it became very apparent as to why Washington is called "The Evergreen State."
But first, I want to show you a picture of what we totally missed seeing on our first day:
I did not take this pic, but this is the MOUNTAIN we missed by being in such a crazy fog of exhaustion. This is the amazing Mount Rainier. I happen to look out the window of our rental car, as we left our hotel, and saw this massive mountain. D'oh! I couldn't get my camera out in time to snap a pic. And it was covered by clouds the rest of the time. Seriously. This was the only time we saw the mountain. We didn't have time to go to the mountain...that will be a future trip.
As we traveled onward, we saw beautiful, evergreen scenery!
Well, you get the idea. And amazing, right? It was breathtaking! And was totally inspiring thoughts of Christmas.
And...for all of the Twihards out there:
Yep, that would be the exit to take to Forks, WA. No, we did not take the exit. We were headed to Ocean Shores. Yes, I took this to torture Teen Girl, who just happens to loath Twilight. LOL!
Now, please enjoy a few fabulous pics from when we hit the beach...in 50+ degree weather...
Again...amazing, right? It was chilly, refreshing, and absolutely beautiful!
Now keep in mind that we didn't think to take towels with us to clean our feet. D'oh! We had to carefully get back into our rental car (again, D'oh), and headed back to the sad bathrooms to try to clean off our feet. Ummm...it was near yoga trying to get our feet clean: walk in, take off shoe/flip-flop, stick foot into sink & turn on water, hold foot in air while cleaning shoe in sink, one-foot hop over to air dryer to dry shoe & foot as best as possible, put shoe back on; repeat on other foot. Glad there weren't any cameras...however, it might have been entertaining...
We did visit a gift shop at the shore, but we were really unimpressed with what they had. But I did ask if there was someplace close by they could recommend to eat lunch, and the lady I asked brought up a place called Homeport that happened to be a 3-year-running award-winning holder for their clam chowder. SOLD! We went & tried it out. Hubby & I got the chowder, cod & prawn combo; Teen Boy got the cod...it was SO good!! I do wish we could've brought a vat of the chowder home with us! I'm drooling right now just thinking about it. Teen girl got a turkey sandwich which totally fell apart. We call that "karma", which she is more than familiar with. Lil Guy got a burger that looked really good! Apparently it was since he devoured it.
No matter, I am in the process of finding recipes for fish & chips, plus clam chowder. I must try to recreate this lunch more than you know...
Then, after a relaxing morning & afternoon by the ocean, in chilly weather, a drive around a coastal town, and a fabulous lunch...we were headed back to get cleaned up for the evening. A visit to Fort Lewis!
Stay tuned...
God Bless, AM~Erica
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