Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 11

July 10 was Don't Step on a Bee Day and National Kitten Day. Creativity took over.

Jeremy's sister came to visit that day. It was nice to catch up with her.

Jet uncovered some slugs in grandparents' backyard. They weren't banana slugs but one was a leopard slug.

 

July 11 was Blueberry Muffin Day.

Road Trip!

When we went to Mount Rainier we saw where the Nisqually River came from the glacier. We wanted to see where the Nisqually River emptied into the Puget Sound so... Nichole, Jeremy, and I headed to Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. We love Nisqually Wildlife Refuge anyway. It's one of the places we always try to visit when we're in Washington.

 

Some highlights of this trip:

Bald eagle hanging out in what people told us was its usual spot, where we could walk right up to it... or right under it.

From its spot, we could look out and see seals sunning themselves on a sandbank. They were so fun to see. Adults and youngsters.

We also saw seals swimming in the water. There was a mama and baby swimming together that were so cute. Baby kept climbing on mama's back.

There were so many great blue herons out that day, both adults and juveniles. So many.

We went all the way to the end of the boardwalk, about a mile. 

From there we looked back at Mount Rainier which we had visited just two days before. So we went from where the Nisqually River started one day to where it ended another day. 78 miles.

As we were walking back through the forested area of the refuge, we stopped at a pond to see if we could find a frog. We found a frog then another then another. There were so many. I loved it.

We found out while we were there that this year was the 50th anniversary of the refuge so we just had to get a souvenir mug as it is one of our favorite places to visit in Washington.

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.

Our Vacation, Thy Creations, and Our Relations- Part 10

Cow Appreciation Day was July 9. As we were driving, I called out, "We appreciate you," a few times to cows we were passing. Tee Hee.

 

Road Trip! 

We decided a couple days before that day that since we were in Washington, we could go to Mount Rainier National Park using Lucky's National Parks Pass. We also found out that now you have to have timed reservations to get into certain areas of the park... between certain hours. All our kids are used to us getting them up early for trips, so we were able to get to the park early enough we got in no problem. 

 

Welcome to Jurassic Park, err... Mt Rainier National Park.

Jeremy's parents came with us and it was nice to share that experience with them. It reminded me of when we went to Yellowstone with them in 2017. I visited Mount Rainier once when I was a child and it was so foggy, we could only see glimpses of the mountain from time to time while we were walking around. This trip the sky was so clear, we could see so much. It was gorgeous.

We took so many pictures (with our phones and our Nikon camera) that it's hard to narrow down which to put on this post so bear with me.

We got some tips from Utah's Adventure Family about places to go and Jeremy did some research so we had a plan. We went up the Paradise Corridor through the Nisqually (Southwest) Entrance to the park. It's a good thing we went in the morning as it got busier and busier throughout the day. We didn't do some of the things we planned to do and that's okay. We had a full day with what we did.

 

Christine Falls

Ricksecker Point

 

Narada Falls

See the fence toward the top left of this picture?

That's where we are standing in this next picture. And you can see the bridge I took that last picture from at the top right of this picture.

It was a short hike for this waterfall. Jeremy, Lucky, and I decided to go down and back up and it was pleasant. The mist felt so good.

We told our other kids when we got back up that we got a picture of the waterfall. This is the picture. Tee Hee.

 

Nisqually Vista Trail

Look at that smile. Jeremy was happy to be there.

We got to see where the Nisqually River comes from the Nisqually Glacier.

It was definitely a hike, including hiking across snow on the trail that had not yet melted.

How Nichole takes a break in the middle of hiking

How Jeremy takes a break in the middle of hiking

 

Lunch Break

We stopped at yet another overlook (we stopped at so many).

Look. It's Narada Falls again but from a very different angle.

 

Reflection Lake

At first we thought the lake was too choppy to see the reflection, then we reached a point where people were going right up to the edge of the lake to take pictures and when I went there, I could see why. There was a still part right at the edge protected from the wind blowing across the rest of the lake. There was the reflection.

Longmire Museum. 

Outside the museum was a cross section/tree slice (aka cookie) showing different historical events during the tree's life. That was cool.

The museum also had a gift shop. My father-in-law likes any excuse to get me slug themed items (slugs are my thing). They are easier to find in the Pacific Northwest. Go figure. He got me a banana slug plushie which Jet immediately claimed. I'm happy to share. The boys named it Timothy. Jet took his hat off (which he also claimed. It's actually Jr.'s hat) and put it on Timothy but when we got back in the van he took the hat off and said, "No, banana slug. That's not your hat," while pointing his finger at Timothy in a scolding manner. Heh Heh.

It was a long but wonderful day.

 

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.