These were taken on the pier close to the hotel. They had historic boats in the port to celebrate the 4th of July, or at least that was our best guess as to why they were there since we couldn't get the attention of the sailors dressed in old timey clothes on board.
Grandpa and Grandma Roueche came to visit! After their 15 hour drive from Denver we put them back in the car the very next morning to drive the 4 1/2 hours to Olympic National Park. We had heard good things about the park but were still surprised by what an incredible place it was. We started out at Ruby Beach. We wished that we had had longer there since we only planned to stay there for an hour. The girls were surprised to see waves at the beach since they've grown so accustomed to going to the beach along the Puget Sound. Another surprise was that the water was warmer, although not a lot warmer. The girls were sad that we didn't have swimsuits handy so they could get in the water. The lack of swimsuits didn't stop Leona from taking the plunge. She was running along the beach and all of a sudden fell into a deeper puddle along the edge of the water and was instantly soaked. All of the photos with her in her rain jacket are because she didn't have a shirt on underneath. It was hard to get Leona in any of the photos because she's not in a photo phase right now. Luckily Gpa Roueche was able to pester her into a few photos.
After Ruby Beach we headed over to the Hoh Rainforest portion of the park. Because I am big and pregnant we could only do a couple of the shorter "hikes" around the Visitor's Center. Walking through the forest it was easy to see how all of the Sasquatch sightings happen in the Northwest. The trees are absolutely massive and covered in green and brown moss. They look like giant Muppets. It was also amazing to see how clear the water in the streams were. We learned tons about how the forests grow and saw beautiful sights. It was a beautiful place. Possibly the most anticipated part of the trip was the hotel. We got two adjoining rooms and Clara got to sleep in the room with Grandma and Grandpa.
The hotel that we stayed in was actually close to the third and final ecosystem of the Olympic National Forest, the mountain ecosystem. We chose a hike in the Hurricane Ridge area. Leona demanded that Gpa Roueche hold her hand for almost the entirety of the road trip, while Gma Roueche snuck m&ms to Eliza and Clara in the back seat. The mountain area was also very beautiful and had a lot of surprises. Leona escaped her handler and disappeared outside to chat with strangers while everyone spent frantic minutes trying to locate her. We saw bluebonnets (or their northerly cousins at least) as well as chipmunks, a marmot, lots of deer and most exciting of all bears! Before we left on the trip Gma Roueche told the girls that she would buy a milkshake for anyone who saw a bear. We didn't actually anticipate seeing any bears. Then right before we left Hurricane Ridge everybody except for Leona and me went on one last short hike up to a lookout point and there they could see a baby bear, at a safe distance. The big girls came racing back down excited to tell all about it and Leona was super disappointed that she had missed it. As we were driving out of the park though there was a back up of cars, which seemed weird. As we approached the source of the back up we saw two baby bears and a mama bear up the hill just a little ways. In the end everybody got to see a bear and earned their milkshakes. The girls have retold the milkshake story a hundred times since we got back. How grandma promised them a milkshake if they saw a bear, they saw a bear, we went to get milkshakes and grandma forgot her wallet, so then mom had to buy the milkshakes, and then grandma paid mom back. I think that is their favorite part of the whole trip.
We also took Gma and Gpa Roueche to several beaches, to Pike's Place Market (where we ate donuts), Collin and Grandpa went on a real hike, and we saw fireworks on the fourth of July with them. We definitely maximized our short 4 day visit with them to be sure. We loved having them and hope that they will be able to come again.
