Morning on the Beach

               After we got our RV on Monday, we started driving down the Oregon coast. The RV was a learning experience for me, because last time I used one I was five, even though the rest of my family remembers the trip very well. Long story short, I put shampoo on a shelf in the shower and subsequently covered the shower with it. We did finally get it cleaned up and get settled in for the night at Fort Steven's Campsite. They were nice as was the site, though my father complained that we were almost touching our neighbors. He shouldn't have worried, however, because we spent the entire evening inside, watching an utterly predictable romantic comedy.
               In the morning, we looked at our campsite map and tried to go on an adventure. The map marked the beach, an old shipwreck, and an old battle fort. We started walking along the only path we could discern, and found ourselves in a rainforest. We had already noticed that the trees were larger than those back home. Our winters seem to stunt tree growth, but these were giants. They appeared similar but the same as cedars. I’m not the best at identification. Anyways, they were impressive. On the trail, however, the forest also offered large foxglove (a purple/poisonous flower) and the weirdest ferns. We even found that the slugs were very large—about as large as my index finger. Later on in the walk we saw some elk or deer, walking across the pathway. By this time, however, we had already discovered that this could not be the most direct loop to where we wanted to go. The mosquitoes were attacking and the path was looping around.
              We found the fort first. It was a small concrete structure, with about 4 rooms and plenty of graffiti. Oh, and a plaque that Mom had to read. Nearby were some stairs and we decided to venture up to the top of the hill. This was a very good decision, because this is where the real fort lay. It was a three story structure, about a hundred yards long and maybe three rooms deep. It was the only fired upon since the war of 1812, and it was bombed by a Japenese submarine during World War II. The plaque seemed to say that no one was hurt, but neither could they retaliate on a submarine. We enjoyed the echoing rooms within.
              We did eventually find the beach, once it started to rain a little. Just a drizzle, just enough to be uncomfortable. The beach was very nice as to quality, though the weather was nothing that can be associated with beaches. There was a lot of burnt wood, and off to the left you could see the rusted metal remains of a ship. Once nearby, it was evident that it was no so impressive in size, nor did the plaque give an exciting story. It was fun to look at the waves and the drift wood. We found a way back to our RV that was much shorter, and we got back with just enough time to make lunch and check out.

Elizabeth

Biking to the beach

               On Monday, the RV Rental company called and let us know that the RV would not be ready until 2pm.  This changed our plans a bit since we were planning on picking it up at 8:30am.  We are generally flexible vacationers, so this didn't bother us too much.  Alissa and I let Justin and Elizabeth sleep in and recover from their jet lag while we went for a bike ride.  We ended up renting mountain bikes for the trip from Recycled Cycles.  The bikes are not great, but are certainly better than what the RV was offering for the same price, and our family would not function well without access to bikes.

               For our bike ride, we decided to head out to Dash Point State Park.  It was about 9 miles from our hotel, so about 20 miles on mountain bikes would be a decent ride for Alissa and me.  The first 3 miles were on city streets in an industrial area, and Seattle is not as bike friendly as Maine.  Many large trucks and honking motorists made for a stressful start.  I don't know what they expected us to do...maybe people ride on the sidewalks here, but glass and industrial debris made this a daunting path even for mountain bike tires.

After the city streets the road mellowed to "Shoreline Drive".  This was a nice road that followed the shoreline of Elliot Bay.  This also meant that our ride was mostly flat.  The final 3 miles to Dash Point State Park was up and over a large bluff.  The view from the top was pretty, albeit rather industrial.  They still store logs in large pens in the bay.  It is always surprising to know that seemingly obsolete practices are still being used in urban settings.

               Dash Point State Park was a typical beach park with some hokey camping area and a parking area near the beach.  June in Seattle is not exactly beach weather, so Alissa and I had the beach to ourselves except for a professional beach comber with a metal detector.  We locked the bikes up, took of our sneakers, and went for a walk on the low tide beach.  We never figured out whether the tide was coming in or out, but given the distance from the beach head to the water it must have been about as low as it goes.

The Pacific is rather cold, but we were determined to find a sand dollar for each of the kids.  We initially found a couple of "Sand Pennys" which were about the size of my pinky nail....but until we found something different, these were going to have to suffice.  Alissa and I noticed that the sand pennies were especially fragile, and most of them broke apart just from our attempt to pick them up from the sand.  We speculated about different species or environmental reasons for the weaker shells, but came to no solid conclusions.  We were about to give up our hunt when Alissa finally found a true Sand Dollar, about 2-3 inches in size.  A minute or two later we found another, similar size one, and couldn't believe our luck.  The third one seconds later made us suspicious, but we didn't realize what we had truly found until we stood up and realized where we were.  Alissa and I had found Fort Knox of the Sand Dollar collections.  There were thousands of them, all piled upon each other.  Some were semi-buried in the sand which led us to ponder what live sand dollars actually looked like and how/where they lived.  We decided that the furry ones were alive and should be left alone. 

               We selected three obviously dead ones and packed those and the original sand pennies into a small bags of beach sand and headed back.  After we returned to our hotel and had a chance to shower, we started to realize that these particular sand dollars smelled awful.  It wasn't completely obvious while we on the beach, but it seems that Seattle hasn't completely worked out its sewage problem that they mentioned from the early 1900's in yesterday's tour.  After several washings, the sand dollars seem to be passable, but they probably won't make the cut in our final selection of what returns with us from this trip.

Mike (Dad)

Day One--Accidently Prideful

The internet is sort of a disaster, so excuse our challenges.
            We decided to start with the underground tour of Seattle. Apparently Seattle used to be about 15 feet lower. Our tour guide described the almost comical building up of the city--where the businesses wouldn't initially comply with the city's intent to build up from the flood zone. The city built walls at the edge of the street, then filled it in and raised the streets anywhere from 8 to 32 feet. You would need to climb a ladder at an intersection to cross the street. 17 people fell off the street and to their death during this transition time. Though most jokes were simple and dumb, it kept the crowd interested. I liked the tour very much, despite the basement-y smell. Once were were back above ground, we went out to lunch. The sports bar isn't much to write about, though the food was good.
             Walking around the city, we were immediately aware (even before we started the tour, I believe) that there was a Gay Pride Festival going on. If we had tried very hard, I supposed we could have avoided the crowd, but it was hard to believe how large the fest really was. It was easier just to mix in, however. Rainbows flooded the streets--streets that were lined with vendors, artists, dancers and musicians. In a large central park there was stage for an ourdoor concert and blasting music, accross from a skate park where teenagers tried to show off. The outfits that people wore were...a little intense, and often skimpy. Many pictures will not be included because of their nature...however, below will be a link for today's pictures. Dinner was quiet, at a diner/restaurant called Mitzel's. Tonight we're staying quiet, because our systems are still very confused from the flight and the time change. Hopefully we will have more interesting things to show you tomorrow. :)

Elizabeth

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=mtowle167&target=ALBUM&id=5622742411568709761&authkey=Gv1sRgCMu7iOPxsKmHrwE&feat=email

Our Seattle Hotel in hobbitville

We are at our hotel in Seattle for 2 days until we pick up our RV.  Check out the lamp in the lobby!  currently making a plan for the day... space needle? a Concert in the park?  underground tours? guess we will have to wait and see.

Alissa (Mom)

gordo's burritos

Yes, that means fat's burritos. We haven't made it far, only into new Hampshire. We'll be flying out from here, but now we're just at lunch....waiting for food. It's okay thought because the chips and guacamole is pretty amazing. They have a little scavenger hunt for children, where if you find their stuffed monkey you can get a lollypop. Not that we're going to claim our lollypops even if mom did totally just win. Ooh--foods here. Later!

Elizabet

Let's See How This Goes

So hopefully this will work and be the first post. So far we have only just started packing, we won't leave until Saturday, but it's still pretty exciting. I am Eizabeth, by the way, and I will be doing the majority of the posting, but we will always sign with our names. In case you don't know, I am the youngest at 15, and just finished my freshman year. It will be nice to have some time away from home, away from all of my stuff. Hopefully, I can share that freedom with all of you.

~Elizabeth