Crater Lake

With the mixture of being too busy and not having service, we haven't had a chance to blog for so long! But we've been having continued adventures. Crater Lake was a beautiful lake created by a volcano exploding and then collapsing into the ground to form a hole. That hole filled with rain and melted snow, forming Crater Lake.

This is a pumice desert from the volcanic explosion that formed the lake.

There was a lot of snow and construction on the roads because of it up around the lake. We had stayed at a mosquito infested campsite the night before so we packed up from it quickly and waited to eat breakfast until we got to this beautiful view.

In the lake there is a cone shaped island that came from inside the volcano.

The lake was so clear and blue! The water is actually really pure.

We hiked down to the edge of the lake on a trail that dropped 700 feet in almost a mile. It was steep, but it was so beautiful down by the water!

What We Found In the Tide Pools

We saw so many cool creatures in the tide pools at Rialto Beach!

Different colors of star fish

Sea anemone

And obviously not in a tide pool, but we saw many seagulls!

Rialto Beach

Our last stop in Washington was Rialto Beach. We were amazed by the huge pieces of driftwood and all the colorful stones.

We hiked along the beach for a mile and a half until we reached Hole in the Wall and the tide pools. Hole in the Wall is literally a hole in a rock that you can go through during low tide.

There were many tide pools and it was fun to look for creatures in them.

We enjoyed walking along the Pacific Ocean, some of us for the first time! :)

The Hoh Rainforest

We were curious to see what a temperate rainforest looks like. It's the dry season, so it wasn't as green as it is in the rainy season, but we saw huge trees delicately draped with moss.

We had the opportunity to go on a ranger-led hike where we learned about the rainforest and its trees and plants.

And then we also hiked along the Hoh River, which is so blue, because of glacial flour.

And we even saw another black bear!

The Dungeness Spit

The Dungeness Spit is a narrow strip of sand, stone, and driftwood that sticks out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca. It is also a wildlife refuge, and there is a lighthouse at the end of the spit, 5 miles out. We didn't have time to go the whole way out, but we still loved walking along the beach at golden hour, as the sun was setting.

Seattle

One of our days in Washington we went across a ferry into Seattle! On the way across we ate lunch and enjoyed seeing the Seattle skyline with the Space Needle and Mt. Ranier, which is over 14,000 feet.

Once we arrived in Seattle we walked to the Waterfall Garden, a nice rest from the city streets.

After walking around looking at the tall skyscrapers we stopped at Starbucks for a fun treat before heading back home.

Hurricane Ridge

After the Grand Tetons we headed to Olympic National Park! And we were so thankful to stay at Renita's great-aunt and uncle's house, after camping for a week.

On Saturday we rested and then went to Olympics's visitor center and Hurricane Ridge.

Our whole family happened to be wearing blue that day. :)

The 180 degree view of the snow-capped mountains was grand.

Beautiful lavender at the house we stayed at.