Day 4 Tongue Point and Olympic National Park Visitor Center

We were nearly the only people visiting Tongue Point Marine Sanctuary this morning.  We had the tide pool areas to ourselves!

It was foggy, but still really neat to see.

 

At the Salt Creek Recreation area there was a fun playground and the girls played for a while.  On our way out of the area we saw this family of deer.

 

At the Olympic National Park Visitor Center we got to check out some really neat exhibits and watch  a movie about the area. 

 

We stopped at the Dream Playground on our way through town, it was so much fun.  There were castles, and tree forts, and a lighthouse!

 

Back at camp we started taking things down to get ready to move camps tomorrow.

Selena is so creative, she made a charcoal pencil out of a twig and drew this picture!

Before bed we made these really cute jellyfish crafts.

Journal
1101pm
Whew!  I just finished getting ready for bed, I’m awfully tired so I don’t know how much I’ll get down.  We started today out with a relaxing morning with Spam and eggs for breakfast and then the first showers of the trip!  Once we were on the road, we went to Salt Creek Recreation Area and Tongue Point Marine Sanctuary.  We got to walk out on the rocky tidepools at access 2 (?) as well as the main enterance (#2? was better).  We saw tons of muscles, sea anemone, sea urching shells, two sea stars, crabs, chitons, kelp and more.  It was lots of fun to walk out there.  On our way back through Port Angeles, we stopped at the Olympic National Park visitor center.  We enjoyed the exhibits as well as the kids discovery room.  We got to watcha video about the many parts that make up the park.  We decided that we would enjoy eating fish since we are in a “port” town.  It was fairly difficult to find a fish place.  We drove all over the place.  We even ended up at the end of Ediz Spit.  On our drive through town we spotted a really neat park.   It has the same kinds of toys as the park in Wentachee.  It was loads of fun.
We did find a fish place, but we were not impressed.  We have better seafood at home than this place.  This evening, we prepared camp for leaving tomorrow.  The girls played outside and found a cool clearing to play in.  We even had time to make a jellyfish craft and go on a flashlight hike to the playground before bed.  It was a really fun day and we will be sad to leave our really cool campsite.

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 2 Port Angeles

We had a really fun day in Port Angeles today.

We went to the Feiro Marine Life Center, a really neat place that has tanks to look in with lots of sea creatures, as well as touch tanks so you can feel all the different animals. 

Sea star suckers, many legged sea star.

 

Basket star and a little star.

 

Selena holding a sea star, Abby touching a tube worm, and the girls playing in the touch tanks.

 

Can you see the fish?

 

Chiton

  

Baby six legged sea star, for size reference the wiped line is my finger width!  It is a tiny star, just a few weeks old.  Bottom of a limpet.

 

Sea anemones, limpet bottom, Lion Nudibranch.

 

End of City Pier in Port Angeles.

 

Fun ship toy to play on.

Vie of ocean from camp.  Hike to Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.

 

Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge, and the Dungeness Spit.

 

Hiking on the Dungeness Spit, the longest natural sand spit in the world!  The hike to the lighthouse at the tip of the spit is 11 miles round trip, we did not hike to the lighthouse! 

View of spit with large ship near the bend.

 

Another pinterest snack.  

Journal Entry
645am
Last to bed first to wake up!  Mom hasn’t been feeling well and didn’t get much sleep so I’ll let her and the girls rest as long as possible.  The repair man is coming at 9, so if they aren’t up by 8, that's when I’ll wake them. 
Before bed last night we played go fish and memory with the kids.  They seemed to like that.  After our unplanned errands, I still hope to get a couple fun things done.  We had planned to go tot he Feiro Marine Life Center and the Olympic Coast Discovery Center.
I know the beach/ocean is only like 50 yards away out of the trees, but we couldn’t see it for find a trail when we explored yesterday.  Finding the beach is a BIG priority today :).
900pm
Today was a lot of fun and not as much stress.  We had the repair guy out this morning and got us all secured for the rest of the trip.  We went into Port Angeles and visited the Feiro Marine Life Center on City Pier.  I don’t know for sure what I expected, but it was great.  They had lots of exhibits to see and touch tanks with animals.  We got to touch sea anemone, tube worms, sea stars, rock and hermit crabs, chitins, barnacles, sea urchins, sea squirts, and many others.  In the other tanks we saw flounder, sole, nudibranchs, limpets, 6-legged sea stars (and babies!) {they were very small from this size (3 mm) to this size (1/4 inch), nearly a year old(!) to about 8 inches across}.  Scallops and a giant octopus (plus tons more I’m forgetting).  The girls were too shy to touch some of the animals but eventually warmed up to the idea of touching them.  Selena even had her finger hugged by a sea urchin!!  I really liked getting to touch the creatures and a sea anemone even injected me with neurotoxin (according to our tour guide guy), totally safe since I’m not a crustacean.
After the marine center we went to the top of the pier observation tower and watched a ship and ferry come in.  It was VERY windy!  There was a really cute toy that the girls played on for a while and then we explored the Olympic Coast Discovery Center.  There were some neat exhibits and even cool ROV submarine videos from around the area.,
We stopped at Walmart and got our coolers, ice, and fire extinguishers, as well as new shoes for Selena, because we always outgrow our shoes ON vacation.  Back at camp the girls played and we had lunch (grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup).  After lunch we hiked over to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge.  We enjoyed our walk through the woods to the sand spit.  Once we made it to the beach it was high tide so it was hard walking, the spit is only about 50 feet across with driftwood logs through the middle.  We didn’t see any live wildlife, but did see lots of deer foot/hoof prints and a large bird track. 
Back at camp the girls played then we had a snack (fruit palm trees) the girls loved them.  Now everyone is asleep but me, so I got to write this huge journal entry!  We are considering a schedule change for tomorrow.  We will decide in the morning.