On Thursday our plan was to drive from Puyallup all the way to Rialto Beach via Aberdeen. We had a chance to see the Olympic Mountains from the south side and were able visit Lake Quinault Lodge. While at the Lodge, Traci and I played a friendly game of Chess while Ben sat quietly on a rocking chair pondering how many people would still own a flip phone. Anyhow, we let Ben played in the lake, then continued our journey to Mora Campground to set up camp and immediately took off to the beach. Since being at the beach brings fond memories of my childhood, I was eager to be the first to show him the waves as they crashed on the rocky shore. We had a campfire right among the piles of driftwood then enjoyed a wonderful unobstructed sunset while running and playing with Ben.
On Friday we were excited to do a bit of tide pooling so after having breakfast we headed down to Little James Island, a nearby seastack. However due to a late start on our adventures we were forced to take the higher ground back along the boulder filled breakwater. Ben decided this was a great time to take a nap so I carried him in my arms as I hopped from boulder to boulder. Since we still had plenty of energy after playing hopscotch on large coarse gravel we made our way to Sol Duc Hot Springs and had lunch in the rainforest besides the Sol Duc River. Once we finished our meal, we proceeded to walk to Sol Duc Falls but eventually turned around since I ate too much for lunch and Ben decided it was nap-time once again. Since we had not yet spent much time at our actual campsite, that evening we had supper and a fire at Mora Campground. Ben enjoyed playing with random sticks and rocks then proceeded to attack the bubbles that crossed his path and eventually wore himself out from all the commotion. Due to the fact that we would be gone the following day, we decided to take in one more sunset at the beach that evening before heading to bed and acquire some good needed rest.
On Saturday we drove more than we would have like to since it was our actually anniversary. Our goal was to drive from Rialto Beach to Puyallup via Port Angeles and catch the Ferry from Bremerton to Seattle. We had planned to walk around the space center yet being stuck in traffic wore us out and we headed south to Federal Way and celebrated our 6 year anniversary at Sub Zero with Traci's mom, Ben and our friend Ronnie. It's a ice cream and yogurt shop that grabs your ingredients and freezes them right before you... It's an interesting concept. Anyhow, after picking up Traci's mom magnum in Puyallup we drove straight north to Bellevue where we quickly visited the Cheesecake Factory. While at the restaurant, we briefly met with my sister and Jonathan then proceeded to the Edgewick Inn in North Bend and enjoyed sleeping in actual beds. On Sunday we felt bad of having Traci's mom drive the whole way from Seattle to Bozeman by herself, so we drove to Spokane then back to Walla Walla and stopped at Dayton for a quick break of sitting... Talk about plenty of driving.
It literally feels that Traci and I were just married last week. It's been 6 great years! Literally. From going to cupcake camps to working on her Plymouth, I have had terrible time trying to figure out why I am so lucky.
