We took our big vacation at the end of last month and traveled to Washington State for a Baker Family reunion. It was lots of driving, but totally worth it! We traveled with all 5 of us, Lyndee's parents- Larry and Nadine, Lyndee's brother Ben and his wife Jessica, Lyndee's brother Brandon, and his daughter Brinzee. We took our van, Larry's truck, and their 27 foot trailer- and camped the whole time! Larry, Nadine, Brandon, Brinzee, and Ella stayed in the trailer. Matt and Nick shared a small tent. Lyndee, Russ, Ben, and Jessica shared our big tent.
We left St. George/Washington City on Wednesday, July 18th and headed to Farewell Bend State Park in Huntington, OR. It is on the border of Idaho and Oregon. We had a slight detour in Burley, ID for a flat tire, which put us getting into Farewell Bend kind-of late. It was a really nice park next to the Snake River.
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| Morning sunrise on the Snake River |
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| Morning Stroll |
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| Ben skipping rocks on the river |
We left there to head to Port Townsend, Washington. But first we had to travel halfway across the state of Oregon!
When we travel to the northwest, we always stop at this viewpoint in Oregon. It seems like you can see across the whole state.
Russ's favorite game for this trip was - spot the ambulance and take a picture of it! This one was outside the tri-city area of Kennewick, Richland, and Pasco, Washington. There were so many vineyards and orchards throughout the area that we could hardly keep track! It was gorgeous.
We were pretty lucky to have a total of 7 DVD players between the two cars- two in the back of the truck for the kids, and five in the van. We even had it rigged up so that everyone in the van was watching Strange Brew at the same time. (Well, everyone except Lyndee- who was driving!) It was a life saver for the adults,.... I mean kids.
We passed Bremerton Naval Yard after we went through Tacoma. Russ and the boys were super excited to see the destroyers.
We stayed at Fort Worden, an old Army Fort, in Port Townsend. There were campgrounds right on the beach, and campgrounds in the woods. After we got camp set up, Russ went down to the beach and snapped an amazing picture of the sunset over the Puget Sound/ Strait of Juan de Fuca.
Views of our campsite!
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| Boats in Port Townsend |
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| A Naval Destroyer we saw coming in from the ocean headed to Bremerton |
Jessica and Ben bought fishing licenses and went crabbing on Friday and Saturday. We bought the crab pot 13 years ago on our last trip to Port Angeles. We were glad that it could be re-used! The only problem that they encountered was that apparently starfish like stinky meat bait too. They caught quite a few crabs, but were only able to keep one of them due to the regulations. The starfish (of the sunflower variety) we just threw back.
Jessica made a friend while crabbing!
There were deer everywhere! And unlike our Utah varieties, they weren't afraid of us. We could get fairly close and they didn't even bother looking up from eating.
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Since we were staying at the fort, we were able to go explore through the batteries. It was amazing to be able to go through the old rooms, imagining what was once stored in them. We also saw the remains of the old artillery guns that could pierce a destroyer's armor in World War II. It was amazing to see that it took 51 men to man just one gun. It was also neat to see how well the battery was built- still intact after 50 years in the coastal weather. There was almost no damage visible.
On Friday Night, we met with some of our family members who were camping on the beach for a campfire and marshmallow roast. We had a lot of fun sitting around the campfire and enjoyed spending time with them.
Saturday was the main day of the reunion. Anne and Maria came to our campsite while Roy, Jacob, Matt, Nick, Ben, and Jessica went out fishing on the ocean in Roy's boat. They had a lot of fun. The fishing was great, but the catching wasn't. In the meantime, the girls enjoyed playing around while Brandon started a campfire to cook pancakes on.
Ella absolutely loves lighthouses- something we discovered when we went to Oregon two years ago. She was ecstatic when we got to go on a tour of the lighthouse and go to the very top! Russ, Lyndee, Brinzee, and Maria (a cousin) had fun sharing in her enthusiasm on the tour.
After all of the reunion festivities, the family came up to our campsite for another gathering around the fire. Matt, Nick and Jacob became fast friends this trip. The three of them were always off running somewhere, doing typical boy things. They were dared by a relative, who shall remain un-named : ), to climb to the top of one of the trees. Had it not been so dark, I probably would have let them climb higher. They did make it up 30-40 feet though.
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| Matt on top, Nick below. |
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| Jacob is just on the other side of the tree from Matt and Nick. |
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| Family and Friends Forever! |
On Sunday, we drove to Des Moines, WA and camped at Saltwater State Park. It was a very nice park, however the website failed to mention that it was in the flight pattern for the SEA-TAC airport. It really didn't bother us too much, though because we were exhausted!
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| What can I say, I love Blackberries! |
The beach was about 1/2 mile from our campsite and full of driftwood.
We pitched our tent next to a hollow base of a tree that had a smaller new tree growing out from the middle.
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| The trailer is on the right. |
We went to Joint Base Lewis- McChord Sunday night to visit more family. Lyndee's cousin Daniel is stationed there and we couldn't go 1200 miles without at least stopping to see him, his wife Julie, and their precious baby David. It was a new experience getting clearance to drive the cars on base- showing all the adult's ID, car registration, and insurance. Having never actually been on base before, the boys (big and small) were thrilled. While we were getting our clearance, Nick mentioned to Julie that he would love to see the plane that Daniel flies (the C- 17 Globemaster). She kind-of hinted that he might get to fly with Daniel. Of course, everyone started to act like kids on Christmas morning. When we got to their house, Daniel mentioned that he had made special arrangements for the boys to spend some time in the 30 million dollar flight simulator. Because of the price of fuel and other things, Daniel actually spends more time in the simulator than flying the plane. Unfortunately, due to government regulations, they weren't able to take cameras in it. The simulator is state of the art and can simulate every single situation. It has motion sensors, light sensors, and everything. Everyone got a chance to fly, in various situations. It definitely was one of the most memorable moments of all of their lives.
On Monday, we headed into Seattle. The kids had been working hard for several months to earn money to go to the Aquarium. Being from a land-locked state, and having only visited the ocean on two other occasions, the kids were in heaven.
It took us about 45 minutes, but with the help of one of the workers, we finally got Brinzee to touch a starfish!
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| Nick |
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| Matt and Ella |
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| Russ looking at the baby Salmon fishies |
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| We got to watch them feed Commander, the Northern Fur Seal. |
After the Aquarium, we headed to Ivar's Fish and Chips for lunch to experience "real" seafood. It was incredible! We ate outside next to the fire boat. (Take a wild guess who took these pictures......)
Apparently, it is common for everyone who eats outside to feed the seagulls. They are quite brave- even stealing some of Matt's fish off his plate! If you held a french fry in your outstretched hand, they would swoop out of the sky and take them out of your hand. It was very entertaining!
Just a funny video of Ella trying to feed the seagulls.
After lunch, we headed to Pike's Place Market to see them throw the fish and see all the shops!
The guys that threw the fish were really funny and even let Nick try on an apron. He wanted to stay, and the worker wanted to leave with us. If we would have had any way to keep the fish fresh, we would have bought some.
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| One of the workers catching a fish |
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| The family outside Pike Place Market. |
We were completely exhausted after traipsing around the aquarium, the waterfront for lunch, and Pike's Place. Next we headed to northern Seattle to have dinner at Roy and Anne's house. We severely underestimated the traffic in downtown Seattle and spent quite a bit of time waiting to get on the freeway. You have to realize that when Lyndee, Brandon, and Ben get tired, they get silly. We had a very entertaining drive through downtown Seattle though! It easily took us an hour or more to get from Pike's Place to the freeway.
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| Ben decided that it was better with his head out the window. |
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| Notice the exhausted child sleeping..... |
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| We loved the sign! Look closely! |
One of the reasons we were stuck so long was because there was an accident along the way. Hmmm. More pictures of- you guessed it- Ambulances. Then a few blocks later, we saw another!
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| Seattle at night- finally heading back to the campsite..... |
On Tuesday, we were so exhausted that we just stopped back at the beach to take some family pictures. We didn't even want to stay very long- we just wanted to get going.
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| Brandon and Brinzee |
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| Ben and Jessica |
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| Princess Ben in Board Shorts with a stump of driftwood |
We camped Tuesday night at Three Island Crossing State Park near Glenn's Ferry, ID. One of the cool things we saw when we got there was a family doing a reunion with the theme of Christmas in July. They had Christmas lights decorating their camp sites and Santa Claus even came in the morning on July 25th! Fun idea..... Lyndee and Russ took a walk that morning, taking pictures of the deer. Unfortunately, these were the only pictures that were taken!
We finally made it home around 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday the 25th, after a flat tire north of Scipio, UT and another one at Cedar City, UT. We were never so excited to see our houses and to stop driving!!
We had lots of fun, but don't want to take any long trips for a few months, though!
1 comment:
Looks like a fun trip! And what beautiful campsites!
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