BECAUSE LIFE SHOULD NEVER BE ORDINARY: August 2014

Every year I want to go to Sequim and see the beautiful lavender and this year we wanted to explore the peninsula a little bit more so we planned a 2-day adventure. My dear friend and roommate-at-the-time and I did a Labor Day weekend camping adventure around the whole Olympic peninsula. This was in 2003, about 4 months before I met Tony. We visited and stayed near Port Townsend, went hiking in the Olympic National Forest (can't remember the name of the hike), visited Sequim, Port Angeles (saw a baby seal on the beach) and then camped in Neah Bay which is on the Makah Indian Reservation. We hiked out to Cape Flattery (which is the most northwestern point of the contiguous United States. Then we visited beaches along the coast and camped and hiked in the Hoh rain forest. It was an amazing weekend and I thought it would be fun to at least make memories with the family along the top part of the peninsula.

First we rode the ferry and the boys and I did a quick adventure while we waited for the ferry to come.

Captain Ivar

The boys loved the curiosity shop!

Then we caught the ferry. Tony and Evelyn slept in the car and the boys and I enjoyed the wonderful weather. Jason was a huge fan, running up and down and giggling. He was so cute.

First stop: Sequim!

We did come a little too late in the season to see it in full bloom glory, but it was still beautiful.

I call this the secret garden, even though it's not a secret. It's just beautiful.

We didn't stay too long this time, but got on the road to get to the Indian reservation.

After we settled in to our cabin, we went drove to Cape Flattery so we could do a hike. As we started down the trail in the hoods I heard growling. Tony looked at me and asked, "Did you hear that?" Well, we decided that we would turn back. We told a few more groups of people about that, but they were okay with strength in numbers. So we decided since we wouldn't be able to do the hike and hit the beaches the next day because of logistics, that we were going with strength in numbers too.

The sea caves were amazing.

Tatoosh Island

Getting down from the lookout area.

Enjoying the trail with lots of boardwalk and the occasional stump steps (Jason LOVED these).

Then we got some push pops and Tony got a burger while we listened to some native drumming.

The next morning Max and Evelyn weren't feeling the best but we still managed to have lots of fun.

We went to the Makah Cultural Center. I didn't realize until midway through that there had been signs about no photography. Oops. The Makahs lived in longhouses like this one. They were whalers, seal hunters, and fisherman. They had beautiful artwork. Around 1750, their village, Ozette was buried by a mudslide and the Makah relocated north. In the 1970s a series of storms uncovered parts of the village and so an archaeological dig occurred and many of the articfacts we saw were from this buried village.

This is what the outside of the longhouse would have looked like. They were made from long cedar planks.

The Makahs had totem poles at the entrances of their longhouses to record family history or memorable experiences.

It was fun reading some of the Makah folklore before we took this trip like, "Clamshell Boy" and "Raven".

Then it was time to hit the beaches. We started by visiting the west coast and then we stopped for lunch and enjoyed the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the northern coast of Washington. The boys cracked up every time I said Strait of Juan de Fuca.

West Coast