We took Levi and Liberty on a trip in August that was Levi’s 16 year old trip a year late and Liberty’s, a year early. We knew these two would enjoy that more than a one on one trip with Mom and Dad. Since it was “their” trip, they planned it. They locked themselves away one Sunday afternoon and decided where they wanted to go and with the help of chatgpt found all the coolest places to go plus pictures and time lines to go with. They made a whole slide show presentation. Which I will link to here. Then they presented their plan to go visit the Olympic Peninsula (not Forks). Ironically enough almost all our kids think Washington is the greatest place on the planet so they always want to go on vacation there. After a few tweaks, we approved their plan. We flew to Seattle and then drove to Port Angeles where we stayed in a tiny home on a little lake called Lake Sutherland. It was a beautiful deep blue lake surrounded by mountains and forest. Our tiny home was indeed very tiny, but very comfortable.

On our first day we ate breakfast at a little place called Granny’s Cafe that opened in 1956 and was an enchanting little old fashioned cafe with delicious food. We liked it so much we ate there multiple times!

Then we hiked the 6 mile round trip Alava Trail which leads out to the Western most tip of the US, Cape Alava.

On our second day we went to the Hoh Rainforest and walked through the Hall of Mosses. It was very much like many places I grew up near, and I’m glad the kids got to experience it. You can’t get to the Hoh Rainforest without driving through Forks, which the kids stubbornly refused to be excited about. They didn’t want anyone to accuse them of going to the Olympic Peninsula with the purpose of seeing Forks. Rock was the only one willing to pose for me in front of the sign.

Our last stop that day was probably the highlight of our trip. We went to Rialto Beach, where my parents got engaged up on top of a sea stack. Levi was determined to climb the same one, but when they got out to the beach, they turned left and we never had time to go North towards the sea stacks they climbed. I was not too sad about this as I didn’t want Levi getting stuck on top of a sea stack when the tide came in. They had a fabulous time exploring the best tidepools they’d ever seen and climbing around on the rocks the low tide had exposed.

We watched the sunset before heading back to our tiny house.

On our last day on the Peninsula, we planned to canoe/kayak on the beautiful Lake Crescent but unfortunately, the winds were too strong that day and they wouldn’t let us rent boats. They were really sad, but the kids and Rock jumped in for a cold swim instead.

We headed to Seattle instead to play in the city till our flight left. We went to Pike Place Market to show Libby the gum wall. She didn’t love it. lol

We watched the fishmarket guys through around some fish.

Levi found his twin.

We finished off the day with dinner on the wharf at Iver’s.

We got one last view of the almost bare Mt. Rainier while we waited to board our flight. I sure miss this mountain. Liberty wanted me to make sure I pointed out how cool the big flag in the hanger is too. 🙂

And that was our big trip this summer to the Olympic Peninsula (not Forks).