Becca comes to town!!! - part two

OK, not too happy with the alignment of the previous post. That'll teach me to try to get tricky. So, Paul's back from Rainier and the girls are home from Youth Conference - now the adventure we've (Becca and I) have been looking forward to - our pilgrimage to Forks, WA - home of the fictional book - Twilight. Yes, I know - we're pretty pitiful, but indulge us. There's actually a lot to do and see over on the Olympic Peninsula. We had to take two cars. Becca and I, Brianna, Morgan and Justin and Case were in the van. Paul had Kenzie, Carly and Aaron in the car behind us. Becca had brought the audio CD of Twilight for us to listen to during our 3 days of travel. We began with a ferry ride from Edmonds to Kingston in beautiful sunny weather (albeit chilly in the wind):Now, I want to paint a picture for you - we're off the ferry, driving along the northern, very curvy roads of the Olympic Peninsula, listening to Twilight, having a lovely time, I might add. Baby Case is sleeping happily in the back seat and, 4 year old,Justin is complaining that his "throat hurts." Not much we can do about a sore throat at the moment - so we continue on. All of the sudden, the throwing up begins. Rebecca dives to the back seat and we're scrambling for a bag from somewhere to catch any further outbursts, but alas, its too late. It's everywhere. So, I swerve off the road to a gravel area. Here's what we get to clean up (now, I debated on putting this on here, Paul said "no", I say, "the moms can handle it" - and will appreciate what was going on - so here goes):It was a group effort getting Justin changed, cleaning the van, etc. We were quite the circus on the side of the road for about 30 minutes: Now we're ready to go again, with a bag ready "Just-in Case" he has a "sore throat" again!

I say the story had to be told! Anyway - here's the beautiful view of Lake Crescent as we were driving:Once we got to Forks, we checked into our rooms, went and ate pizza, then headed out to LaPush (a reservation on the beach) - about 15 minutes away. We spent the rest of the evening hanging at the beach and watching the sun set. Very beautiful! Cool formations out in the ocean:

Wait for it! - Woops!

Amazing Sunset - note the eagle flying right in the middle of the picture. They were flying everywhere. Quite a peacefully, surreal scene!

Day two found us heading out to Neah Bay (another reservation northwest of Forks) and then out to Cape Flattery, which is the northwestern most point in the continental U.S. The hike out to the point was 3/4 of a mile each way - easy hiking. And very beautiful - especially once you get there...

A couple amazing views before you arrive at the BIG view!

Below - Tatoosh Island out beyond the point. Used to be an operating lighthouse.

Just to the right of Tatoosh Island at the point of Cape Flattery

Here's our obligatory Twilight fans picture in front of Forks High School - this IS the reason we took this trip isn't it?

Day 3 - after we checked out, we headed to the HOH Rainforest. When my kids got out of the cars, they said, "It looks like our backyard!" I guess it does, but there was way more moss - and - it was a beautiful sunny day - go figure!

Above - Trying to climb up on a huge root ball for a photo op.

Right - Amazed at all the shades of green!

Left - Carly "hugging" a tree and Justin doing his standard "pointing for a picture" pose.

Right - Morgan and Brianna

About 20 minutes after we got home, that evening, my brother Jacob arrived at our house. He had flown in from Arizona that day and would be in town for a few days. We were able to spend that Tuesday and Wednesday nights with him after his meetings in Seattle. It was the first time he'd been up to visit since Carly was born - before we even moved in to our house! Let not let it take so long next time Jake! K?

On Thursday the 26th of June, Paul, Kenzie and I drove to Portland with Becca, Justin and Case. We would be dropping off Becca with her mother-in-law and Paul and I would be attending Tyler Hesselgesser's sealing to Kelly. Kenzie went down to help watch younger cousins at the hotel. Pictures in my next post.