We drove the trailer on the ferry!!!!!!!

Well, we had to leave the Olympic Peninsula, though we loved our time there. The friends we were visiting in Oregon were traveling (we came earlier than planned to be with my family), so we had decided to spend some time in the North Cascades. The only problem from the Peninsula, we would have to travel the windy road back down to Olympia, then get back on I-5 through Seattle, drive north and then east toward the Cascades. It would take us all day in the truck....or we could take the ferry over to north of Seattle and cut off as much as 5 hours or more. The idea of pulling the trailer on to a ferry was daunting. I am not the best driver. I always tell everyone I do fine pulling on to a highway and just going. Even at our campgrounds, we always have pull-through spots. I can't for instance maneuver to "move over". We prayed a lot, (I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength), asked questions and my Dad kept saying it would be "so easy". So we decided to try it out. As we approached, I felt something bordering on panic, so the kids started praying. What an adventure it would be, but Lord, please don't let anything go wrong! Well, everything went smoothly. God Himself was my guide on to that giant ship. We got parked and climbed out to see the sights. Mark was quite upset we didn't get a picture of the actual truck and trailer on the ferry, but we were so relieved, we weren't thinking. The ferry trip was awesome. Micah loved it the most and wants to go again (Yikes!) The only hiccup was when Hannah and Nat headed to the restroom. They took a really long time and the shore was approaching, so I went in search of them. We must have missed each other on the way, as they weren't in the restrooms. When the ferry parks, you need to have your engine running and ready to go when they say. So we had to head downstairs without Hannah and Nathaniel. Thankfully, as soon as we got to the car, they showed up. I must have said something like, "if we're gone when you get back, it means we had to head down to the truck"...and they actually listened. Thank you, Lord. Family intact, we drove off the ferry without a hitch (no pun intended)and due to traffic, may have saved as much as 6 or 7 hours in the car! As Hannah would say, "Yee-haw"

Customize your own digital slideshow

More fun on the Peninsula!

Well, we toured tons of Lavender farms, spent a day on the Dungeoness River and went to the Audubon Center (very interesting). We also saw a Salmon shark in Sequim Bay! However, I didn't have my camera for any of these outings...sorry! We had a lovely day with the girls...Mom, Melanie, Natalie, Jaime, Hannah, Cori and myself touring lavender farms. The final one had a beautiful cafe, set up like a garden room. We sat and had a late lunch, complete with lavender lemonade.
Mark had to return home and two days later, everyone else, but the kids and I headed home. We felt a little lonely on our own, but continued to have adventures. We drove to Port Townsend one day to check out the ferry. I was considering pulling the trailer on to one as it would save us five hours or more heading to our next destination. It seemed doable...with a lot of prayer. the heat hit a whopping 89 degrees that day with slight humidity. That was our hottest day in Washington. It was a cold, but fun, fourth of July. Every day after that has been beautiful. Sorry Californians,
(105!?)
Well, we decided to do a very touristy thing and go to the Olympic Game Farm. We heard that you drive around and see animals and you can feed them bread. How dangerous can that be? We thought it was neat, but a little hokey at first. Llamas wander around, but zebras are caged. Then we got to feed a rhino, and some kind of musk ox. When we came out of a forest, we hit grizzly bear country. We were five feet away from these guys! After that, we saw wolves, lions, and fed buffalo and elk. What fun it was. We used up all our bread, bought five more loaves at the booth and went around again! You've got to see these pictures, to believe it.

Free picture slideshow customized with Smilebox