Poulsbo
We drove through this cute little town on our way through Bainbridge Island

Viking
Poulsbo is, apparently, a town with a strong Scandinavian influence

Rod
Rod and I had both wanted to go out to the Olympic Peninsula and finally found a free day that worked in our schedules!

Hurricane Ridge
We drove out to the Olympic National Park. While there are coastal sections, rain forests, hot spring, old growth, and glacier valleys, we opted for the alpine forest and a hike at Hurricane Ridge. (Will have to make other trips to see more in the future). Despite some crazy fog early on, the views were amazing.

Deer
They seemed totally content to let us wander up with cameras and snap photos from a relatively close distance.

Cat
We didn't see any other animals, besides a few birds. This is a Cat photo.

Alpine Lily?
I learned all about the flowers, but as my memory has gone to hell lately, I can't even tell you the name of this delicate little flow that's just beginning to bloom. (There are still patches on snow up there, so it's a bit late in the season).

Daisies
Love the little flowers...

Lupine
Lupine is another common wild flower in the alpine forest. I really like the purple color... maybe because it reminds me of blue bonnets, flowers always near and dear to my heart.

Mountains
Did you know that you can ski in the national forest? There's even a rinky-dink ski lift operated out at Hurricane Ridge. They don't even have chair lifts or a lodge, but I guess if you live close by it'd be pretty handy...

After leaving the National Park, we went into Port Angeles and did dinner at India Oven, which featured good Indian food (despite little flexibility and slow service). As a vegetarian gal with food allergies, I love places that are a bit flexible with their menu. Happily, I can eat most anything at Indian restaurants, so I was content either way. (Photo courtesy portangeles.org)

After dinner, we drove out to Dungeness Spit. "Dungeness Spit is the longest natural sand spit in the United States. Extending 5 miles into the Strait of Juan De Fuca, Dungeness Spit has grown about 15 feet per year for the past 120 years." (My camera batteries died, but this photo and text are courtesy of your neighborhood Dept of Ecology). We walked up and down a section of the sandy beach and got to play on the driftwood. Educational tidbit for those of you not from the NW: the Strait of Juan De Fuca is the water between the US and Canada. Yeah Canada!

Kingston
We took the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island in the morning, and decided to come home a different route through the little town of Kingston. We thought it'd be faster to drive down I-5 from Edmonds than to drive through the island to the Bainbridge ferry dock.

Foiled!
Silly us... we got to the ferry in time for the 7pm boat, but that was one full, as was the 7:30, and the 8pm. Happily, we finally made it onto the 8:35 sailing. On the plus side, we had lots of time to wander the main strip, where shops sold perfect little t-shirts like this one. :)

Ferry
The wait also gave me time to wander the beach and take pictures of approaching ferries...

Sailing
And it gave me time to snap sail boat photos...

Edmonds
And finally the ferry returned us home to the mainland via Edmonds. Whew! Long day... and I was happy to be back in Seattle.