my sister visit to Washington - day 1 and 2

My sister Stephanie lives far away in Washington state and since she has moved away she's flown home to visit twice but I had not been to see her. Terry and I talked about taking the whole family out there during the summer of 2015 if we could rent our house for the Sturgis Rally to make money for the trip. Our house did rent but only for a few days and we decided not to go. Directly after that was her visit here and we decided that I deserved a trip to Washington to visit my sister...all alone!

We saved up money from September through May and I boarded my plane the very next day that school youth group activities ended, Thursday, May 19.

I had been longing to get away on my own but when the time came and I could no longer see my family behind security, I got all teary in the terminal. That surprised me. I'm not the most emotional woman out there. That's my plane behind the kids. I could see them but they couldn't see me. Again, I was sad...and nervous about strange new airports, but excited for adventure.

I had no problems during my trip and made it to Washington right on time. Stephanie had no problems finding me but we did get lost on the interstate trying to find the correct exit for The Cheesecake Factory. We did find it eventually, but only after traveling north to a random park that Steph had heard of and then walking around downtown where the Pike Place Fish Market was closed for the day, the original Starbucks was located, and a famous gross gum wall. This was Stephanie's photo from Gas Works Park with Lake Union behind us. 

Stephanie and Steve live halfway between Seattle and Portland in a town called Chehalis. The following day we took Interstate 5 north to Highway 101 and into the Olympic National Forest. Our first stop (after Starbucks) was in the Quinault [temperate] Rain Forest. We did a short hike called the Quinault Loop where we saw lots of moss and ferns and enormous trees. Steph made me climb this old stump of a tree that a nurse tree had grown over so she could take my picture.

And I took her's from the top! 

After wandering around trying to get a shot of the creek we stopped to take panoramic photos of this massive tree.

And Steph's photo of me. 

Another silly selfie of Steph's. I can't take a decent selfie so she did most of them the first day.  

Steph took my photo through a hollow log... 

...and I took hers... 

...then a friendly woman took our photo together.  

We got back in the Forerunner for a short drive to Lake Quinault Lodge. Everyone knows Washington gets a lot of rain, but I guess I didn't know that part of it was a rain forest and that everything grows like crazy there, as if the whole place was made of Miracle-Gro. Rhododendron bushes get huge there. Here is a moderately sized one. At first I was so awed by the beauty and size of them. 

Here's the lodge. 

More Rhodies and even some hydrangeas...and the lake of course.

We got back on the 101 and drove north until we reached the coast. We stopped first at South Beach for a short time, had lunch, and explored a bit. I was so excited to see the ocean that Stephanie had to keep telling me there were better beaches coming up.  

Steph caught me looking so happy it appeared that I had to pee. 

We walked down the beach a short distance to this hanging tree she'd seen before.  

I had her take my picture doing the popular mid-jump shot that everyone does these days.

  Next up the road was Ruby Beach. It was my favorite stop on the whole trip. I could have spent all day there. Perhaps it was partly the weather. It was beautifully sunny and clear on the coast. Two days later we wished we had saved this part of the trip for the end since the weather was good there my entire trip, whereas in the south it clouded up big time and prevented us from seeing other things we had wanted to.

I loved all this driftwood. Many big trees fall into the ocean, are stripped clean by the waves, and then deposited back on the beach. The water here was from a creek coming out of the forest. 

Me in front of a fun sea stack. 

Steph's pic of a happy me.

Steph making a Stephanie face at me.

After Ruby Beach the 101 turned east to Forks, the town from the Twilight series, which I am ashamed to admit I loved when I first read them in 2008.  

The visitor's center had two Bella trucks. I'm way over Twilight and now think it's lame. It was fun to see everything and remember our mutual obsession from eight years ago though. 

We drove on to the coast and set up camp in La Push before going back to the beach for a hike. 

Meanwhile Terry had taken Noah and Evie mountain biking and they were rained and hailed on! Muddy kids and bikes.

At Rialto Beach we proceeded to trudge north up the beach to Hole in the Wall. The sand was more of a chunky gravel and we sunk into it with every step and many rocks found their way into our sandals and under our feet. I gave up trying to kick them out after a very short time and just dealt with it but my feet were quite sore after our two miles were done. 

Steph's shot of me.

Getting there. It was beyond those sea stack rocks. 

Made it!  

The Hole in the Wall from the other side where we explored many tide pools. 

Barnacles, clams, and anemones. I saw some crabs and fish too.

Steph took my picture inside the Hole. It was big! In a couple hundred years it'll just be another sea stack I suppose. 

Around 8pm we started hiking back to Rialto Beach with the idea that we would watch the sunset. 

Steph took my picture in front of those sea stacks.  

The light was so pretty. 

Selfie by Steph. We made it back but decided we were too cold to wait until nearly 9pm for the sunset. It stays light there so much longer than here in South Dakota. I liked that.

Steph had a challenging time starting a fire but we managed it in the end by tearing up paper plates for kindling. I don't like hot dogs very much but that night I was ravenous and cooked over the fire they were delicious. I slept good that night.  

I took many more photos and wish I could post all of them. I've already posted probably too many to facebook if you want to see more. 

my sister visit to Washington - day 5 & 6

On the final day of my visit we left the house with Steve after he got off work at 10am and drove north along the Hood Canal on Highway 101. We turned left into the Olympic National Park following the Hama Hama River until we came to the Lena Lake trailhead that Steve wanted to hike. 

Steph didn't feel much like hiking but led us nonetheless and she sure had a quick pace. It was all uphill for three miles and we were sweating in no time. 

Everyone on Facebook thought this was dog poop but it's not! It's a large banana slug. I had wanted to see one and unfortunately the only one I saw was dead. 

There trees there get massive and can fall over in big storms. Steph said they're called widow makers and therefore you shouldn't hike in the wind. 

Another enormous tree. 

Steph and Steve posing on a bridge under which was a stream buried under a rock slide. 

A second bridge almost at the top. 

Wild rhododendrons. 

Lena Lake 

Lovely blue and mountain reflection. 

Sisters! 

Steph took this picture of me. I was wishing I hadn't worn those jeans but when I wasn't active I was cold. I was cold the whole trip. I'm not used to humidity or rain. 

I set my camera up on a stump to get a shot of all three of us. 

It started sprinkling not long after we got there but we stayed dry under the trees. 

Selfie attempt and a Stephanie smile. 

I can't remember the name of these birds but Steph and Steve had heard of them eating right out of people's hands. Steve tried it with some craisins I had in my trail mix snack. 

He was unsuccessful so I tried and again, they wouldn't come. But when I put the fruit on the rock they came right down. Steph nibbled some almonds into small pieces to try to get them to come to her.  

They didn't want to. 

They liked the snacks on the rock though! 

Thick forest with lots of moss and ferns. 

After we hiked the three miles all downhill we went to one more place just down the road - this little waterfall with an amazing blue color. Steph took a picture of me from the top of the waterfall.

And I took a selfie with her in the background.  

I asked Steph to come down to take one last sister selfie with me and though she obliged, she slipped on the moss on the side of a rock and half fell in the river! She saved herself from sliding all the way in by grabbing some ferns and then I pulled her out. We laughed and took a picture :)

An iphone panoramic shot of the waterfall and pool...and Steph making her way towards me. 

Me at the top of the waterfall. 

Steve looked for about three minutes and then hiked back to the Forerunner where he took a nap. 

Looking down on the pool.  

Such a pretty blue... 

...and even better! Steph called it Powerade blue. She said when the river is lower and calmer you can see to the bottom more clearly. It was at least 15 feet deep if not 20.  

Steph's shot of me on her way over to my mossy rock. 

Steph sat down to take a couple of her own selfies and I, not knowing if I was even in her shot or not, took the chance of photobombing her with a silly face. Ha!

He he he. She still looks good even if I don't.  

Steve slept for ten minutes and then wondered why the heck we hadn't come back. He hiked down a bit and yelled for us to come back because he was worried about the dogs at home alone. I hiked back up and informed him of Steph's fall into the water. She had to wear Steve's second pair of shorts home. 

I love Stephanie's "white cat" Kato, but spunky Squirt also consented to let me hold him. 

We left their house the following morning around 930am and drove north to the Seattle area. They're buying a house (they had rented this one) so I'm glad I got to see where they lived. 

Steph wanted to eat out for breakfast so we landed out this place in Tacoma called Original Pancake House. I loved the wood the table was made out of. 

I've developed this dumb egg allergy so breakfast is not as enjoyable as it used to be. I was quite jealous of Steph's eggs benedict but my biscuits and gravy and FIVE pieces of bacon was good too. I saved half the bacon and ate it for dinner, along with a chocolate shake, in the Denver airport :D It was delicious.

Next we went to IKEA to burn some time. We were getting bored and tired when I received a text from United informing me that my flight was delayed two hours! That would make me miss my connecting flight in Denver. Steve immediately started trying to figure out what we were going to do but I just kind of went with the flow because there was really nothing I could do. My lack of anxiety was actually out of character for me. Strange. Just a couple minutes later I received a call from Delta informing me that they had a seat on a flight two hours earlier if I could be there in time. Good thing we were already practically right next door to the airport!

We booked it out of there, said a hasty goodbye, and I nervously figured out where to get my tickets and how to get through security and find my gate in a strange new airport. It all worked out, even though they changed the gate and confused us, but we boarded and flew to Denver with no problems. 

After our first two days in the Olympic Peninsula, it had been cloudy and sprinkly or rainy. Finally when we flew out of Seattle and above the clouds I was able to see Mount Rainier for the first time. We would have liked to visit that but alas, the weather did not cooperate. The week before and after my visit were sunny and beautiful though. Figures.

 After a couple hour layer in the more familiar Denver airport and a long chat with my dad on the phone since it was his birthday, I made it home to Rapid City. I wish I could always fly to Denver. 45 minutes sure beats seven hours of driving. Terry met me outside of security, took my picture, and took me home. It was good to be away but it was also good to be home.