Day 3 Shipwreck Point and Neah Bay

Sleeping Beauty :)  Abby thinks that this stretchy headband is an eye mask, it’s very cute.

Shipwreck Point was really neat.  We got go explore a sandy intertidal area with chiton, crabs, anemones and lots of other little creatures.  The girls really enjoyed walking around the kelp and rocks.  The little pools of water were warm and felt nice on the feet.
After Shipwreck Point we went to the Makah Tribal and Research Museum on the Makah Indian Reservation.  The museum was so much more than I expected, it had great exhibits and a lot of history of the area.  There were no pictures allowed in the museum, but we did get some  postcards.

 

Also on the Makah Indian Reservation is the Cape Flattery Trail to view Tatoosh Island.  It is a nice little hike with slices of trees made into stepping stones and boardwalk most of the way.  This hike takes you to the most northwestern part of the continental United States!

  

We stopped back at Shipwreck Point at high tide to see how much the water had changed.  You couldn’t see any of the small rocks, and just this much of the big rock peeked out.

 

We had another Pinterest inspired snack and then a campfire to roast marshmallows.

Journal
800 am July 8th
We were so busy and had so much fun yesterday, I didn’t have time to write.  We did change our plan and skipped Hurricane Ridge in favor of Neah Bay and Cape Flattery.  On the drive out there we stopped at Shipwreck Point.  It was low tide so we could walk way out on the beach.  There were rocks but it wasn’t rocky along the coast.  We saw lots of neat creatures, small fish, rock crabs, hermit crabs, sea anemones, snails, limpets, chitons, barnacles, a kelp bed, and more.  We were the only people on the whole beach!  After leaving the beach, we drove to Neah Bay on the Makah Indian Reservation.  We visited the Makah Cultural and Research Center museum.  There were some neat exhibits. Whaling canoes and a full whale skeleton.  There were also artifacts from the Ozette settlement.  Baskets, nets, toys, and even a replica long house that we could go inside!
After the museum we hiked along the Cape Flattery trail to view Tatoosh Island.  On the hike we saw lots of neat trees and ferns.  The trail is mostly boardwalk with some stumping stones ( ha ha).  Selena learned the hard way that they were slippery.
1037 pm
I couldn’t finish this entry this morning so I’ll do it tonight.
At the end of the hike you get to see some neat sea caves and Tatoosh Island.  We were able to watch some kayakers go into one of the caves.  On Tatoosh Island there is a lighthouse.  This trail takes you tot he most northwestern part of the US that you can hike to (excluding Alaska of course).  After returning to camp we had chicken fajitas then marshmallows around the campfire.  It was a nice sunny day without a lot of wind (in other words, perfect!).

Day 1 Olympic Peninsula Trip

 

Crossing the Tacoma Narrows Bridge

Crossing the floating bridge at Port Gamble.  Hood Head, the nothern extent of Hood Canal is the island looking thing out there.

 

Enjoying the park at the campground.

  

Yummy sea snails for dinner :)

 

Camp before and after the fire…

I’m going to try to type in my written journal of each day.  I will type it exactly as I originally wrote it to get the real emotions/feelings of the events.
Journal Entry 1
Day 1 of our 12 day girls camping adventure!  And what a day it was.  We left the house at 9:15 and had an uneventful day driving the 400 miles to camp.  The girls either read, played with the Tags, or napped most of the drive.  We got to camp at 5:15 pm and it is beautiful here and the site is perfect.  We explored camp a bit before getting all settled in.  There is a fun little park a short walk from our site with swings, a big slide, and a big toy.  Even the bathrooms and showers are nice.  When we got back to the trailer is when the fun started.  We set the girls up playing with their princesses and play houses by the picnic table and we thought we would get the inside fo the trailer set up.  We got the gas turned on and went ahead and put the fridge to gas and lit the pilot light.  While I was sitting there on the floor, I opened up the fuse box and fixed the fuse for the radio, presto we have music! And spark! We have a spark at the fuse.  No big deal, just static, right?
Wooooosh!
Flames erupted from the front of the fridge, right in my face!  We grabbed the fire extinguisher and ran outside and there were flames in the fridge access panel of the fridge too!  I couldn’t get the extinguisher to work so I handed it off and started yelling “FIRE, FIRE, HELP, FIRE, SOMEONE HELP!”  Noone, not a single person, came to help.  Mom got the fire out and I got the gas turned off.  After the initial excitement and fear wore off, we were so thankful that if this was going to happen, at least it happened without anyone getting hurt or serious damage.  An RV guy is coming to check it out for us tomorrow, but we are pretty sure the fridge is toast.  It’s late and I’m exhausted!  We have lots to do tomorrow (our scheduled activities, plus new errands {new fire extinguishers and ice}). 
This is sure to be an adventure!
End of journal entry.
I’m so very thankful that the fire yesterday wasn’t worse.  It was very scary and to think about what could have happened is terrible.  I used that fridge on gas when I took the girls by myself to Yellowstone last year.  If that had happened during the night with me by myself, I don’t know if I could have gotten myself and the girls out of bed and out of the trailer in time.  I know I wouldn’t have had time to use the fire extinguisher.  We also could have walked away after lighting it to go for a hike or play outside and the whole trailer would have burned down, if not the truck 5 feet away.  Its so scary, and I’m glad there is a guy coming out to check it out in the morning.
I hope day 2 is more fun than scary!