Our 500th Post!

I have some good news, and some bad news. First, the good. Today marks our 500th post! Pretty exciting! Hopefully though, that number will go up considerably since we will be posting on a more regular basis. Maybe... Bad news, we don't have a cupcake to share for Cupcake Saturday today. Boo. We got home yesterday after four long days on the road, and didn't quite feel like baking today. Funny how traffic ALWAYS gets backed up so close to the end of a trip. As soon as we hit Connecticut two weeks ago, BAM! As soon as we hit Tacoma yesterday, DOUBLE BAM! Oh well. We made it back safe and sound, with the only two blemishes being really strong thunderstorms camping in Ohio, and Dawn dumbly locking her keys in the car in Montana. Oops.
Anyway, along the way, we realized that we haven't finished our scrapbooks from our cross country trip two summers ago. I think we've only made it to the Midwest on those. So I figured I'd work on one today. While catching up on all those other awesome blogs out there, the BBTB2 challenge was Disney! I suppose I could've scrapped our trip to Disney World, but somehow that didn't come to mind until just now... I wanted to make one using the Bambi cuts on the Disney Classics cartridge.

I love the cut with Bambi looking at his tail and thought that it would be perfect to help show off our pictures from Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park. The deer were so used to people being around that they came within a few feet of us. The ones at home get spooked if you're within yards of them. It was pretty neat being that close to them. (You can see the feet of snow behind him in the middle of July!)

The title was cut in the Pooh font, and of course Bambi needed some friends, so I added Thumper and some fun 3-D butterflies flitting around the page.

This project is linked up with the BBTB2 "We Love Disney" challenge here and the Fantabulous Cricut "Cute as a Bug" challenge here.

Thanks for stopping by! 

Day Twenty-Four: I Think I'll Move Here...

We packed up our campsite (it's getting so much easier!) and were off around 8 this morning. We HAD to stop at the Olympic Bagel place one more time before we left, since they were so good the first time. After breakfast, we headed out to Hurricane Ridge in Olympic. I'm telling you, this park is absolutely amazing! After spending a few days in Yellowstone, I didn't think national parks could get any cooler, but they can! I think Olympic NP has been my favorite stop so far. It is spectacular. Yesterday we were in the rain forest, the day before in the old-growth forests and beaches, and today, in the sub-alpine meadows and snow! How cool is that? Hurricane Ridge is about 15 miles from Port Angeles. The road to the visitor's center takes you past some breathtaking views. The first 5 miles or so today were clear and kind of just tree-covered. The next 7 miles were covered in a deep fog. It was kind of scary only being able to see about a car's length in front, but luckily there weren't too many other cars on the road yet (or that I could see!). We stopped on the way up at a few pull-offs to try to look out, but the fog was so thick that you could only really see just the tops of the trees below you. The rest of the way up the road was clearer. You can see where the winter snows are still melting and the awesome waterfalls that it has created. It's pretty cool that you can stand in snow up to your shins in the middle of July, wearing shorts! Once we got up to the top, we stopped at the visitor's center. They have all your normal touristy things there (better than the one at Hoh yesterday, though) and a bunch of Native American art. I love looking at their art and seeing the intricate beadwork and basket weaving that they do. (Definitely not "Basket Weaving 101 for Jocks!) From the top, you can see out to Mount Olympus. It is the 3rd largest glacial area in the continental US. We were going to hike the trails around the center but they were covered in some pretty deep snow. So we decided to forgo the trails and just walk were there wasn't any snow. It's too bad that it was a foggy morning, though. The top wasn't as bad as the middle, but it was still pretty heavy. On clear days, you can see out to Canada!
The animals at the top must know that they rule the area and that people aren't allowed to bother them (even though there were some very amusing signs posted telling you not to feed them). There were at least 10 deer hanging out in the meadows. Some of them were grazing and some of them were laying down. We saw 2 fawns under a tree and one of the deer came about 4 feet from us. Didn't flinch or run or anything, which was pretty cool. They would never get that close at home.
After a few hours at the top, we decided that we should get going to head out to the Seattle/Olympia area. We had to follow 101 back to the other side of the peninsula. At one point, we were stopped for road work. We had a great time making fun of/feeling bad for the guy with the slow/stop sign. He had some great stretching moves and facial expressions! We were going to offer him a snack, but he was kind of far away and he had his lunch box next to him. I think he was all set. The rest of the trip to Olympia wasn't bad, but man, driving on I-5 was a little nerve-wracking. They drive kind of crazy out here. Will definitely have to get used to that! We are staying about half way between Seattle and Olympia in a city called Federal Way. (It is definitely a city in Washington standards- 89,000. Forks is a "city" with 3,000 and Port Angeles with 19,000. So I guess we can call this one a city too.) Apparently Apolo Ohno is from here. Who knew??
We expect to explore Seattle tomorrow. Maybe catch some flying fish at Pike's Place? Or at least some good coffee.
(And we saw our final license plate today. Wouldn't have thought that it would take all this time to see a Delaware one!)

Life is a Highway (Washington Pictures)


States Visited: Connecticut, Idaho,Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New York, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming (13/50)
Provinces Visited: Ontario (1/10)
License Plates Seen: All 50 States!
Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan (8/10)

Day Twenty-Three: 'Hoh' My Goodness!

If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make any noise?! We spent today at Olympic National Park. We walked around the Hoh Rain Forest. It is amazing! Who knew there was (not one, but three) rain forests in the US?! We walked the "Hall of Moses" trail. It's a 3/4 mile long trail with a whole bunch of mosses hanging off of everything! The visitor's center and pay phone outside were covered in it! It's kind of a long drive, about 15 miles, off of Highway 101 (especially when there are no bathrooms around). When you think about it, there isn't much to do, really, except to gawk at your surroundings. They get around 142" of rain a year, which is why it's covered in green. There are also huge trees there. The Sitka spruces there can grow over 270 feet tall, be over 12.5 feet wide, and are up to 500-550 years old. We took a picture of one that fell, that was as wide on it's side as our shoulders. There was also one that was like 192 feet tall when it fell, but they have to cut them up so you can walk on the path. Then, over the years, other seedlings and trees grow out of the ones on the ground. They have a exhibit in the Visitor's Center that compares the spruce trees here to those in Alaska and the difference is amazing. The trees here are at least twice the size as the Alaskan ones. The area gets so much rain because of it's location between the Pacific Ocean and the Olympic Mountains. Of course, we got to the rain forest on the one day that it doesn't rain!After that, we went back to the camp to settle in for the night. It started to rain again. The rain isn't really too bad. It is a little chilly today, but apparently their summer hasn't arrived yet. It's kind of late- not sure where it is! Tomorrow, we are planning on doing the other side of the Park. Hopefully we will see some glaciers and Mount Olympus. And more forests! Then it will be off to Seattle and Olympia for a while!