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 8

Road Trip!

Goodbye, mist.

Goodbye, covered bridge.

Goodbye, slug. It apparently wanted to come with us but we moved it before we left. 

We drove along the Southern part of the Oregon Coast from California. We also wanted to drive along the Northern part of the Oregon Coast to Washington. So that's what we did. We drove to Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area. We got a kick out of the signs that all called it that. It's not just a natural area, it's an outstanding natural area. I'll be honest. It was outstanding. We spent so much time there looking at birds and seals... and the lighthouse. We didn't even make it down to the tidepools. 

We were able to use Lucky's National Parks Pass to get in the area. I loved it. We got see different kinds of cormorants and we even got to see an oystercatcher- lifer for Jeremy, Nichole, Lucky, and I.

At one point we were watching nesting cormorants (and the nearby seals) and realize that some of the cormorants had eggs and some even had babies in their nests. So awesome.

I love how much the common murres look like penguins, even waddling around... until they take off flying. Not so much like penguins in the air. Tee Hee.

We found out about Yaquina Head Lighthouse because Jr. went there with his cousin and grandparents on his Oregon trip. My parents showed us pictures of the birds they were able to see and get pictures of with just their cell phones. We definitely wanted to go because of that and were not disappointed.

We got to celebrate International Kissing Day and Play Outside Day, July 6.

We drove by the Tillamook Cheese Factory. Wow, that place is busy. Glad we got our cheese curds at Face Rock Creamery. I remember going to the Tillamook Cheese Factory once when I was a kid and it was not like it is now. Huge line of people waiting to go in, overflow parking, crazy busy.

 

We were hoping to stop at Haystack Rock since a few days before we left we introduced a couple of our children to Goonies. Unfortunately, Cannon Beach and even Ecola State Park were so full we didn't stop and only got glimpses of Haystack Rock as we drove by. Oh well. 

We continued up through Astoria, once again pointing out the setting from the movie. We crossed a looooooooong bridge into Washington and took a huge break at the rest area on the other side of the Columbia River before continuing on.

Welcome to Washington.

I told you the doll head made its way around on our trip.

We made it to our final destination of Jeremy's parents' house.

They had a bubble machine to entertain Jet when we got there and root beer floats (one of Jeremy's favorites).

I'll share more of our wonderful vacation later.