Camping at Salt Creek

 We decided to go camping this weekend.  We braved Salt Creek Campground (which is known for the wind and wearing winter coats during the middle of July).  But the weather was beautiful.  It wasn't windy at all and the beach was warm (but not hot) on Saturday.

My children was so excited to go camping they were willing to put up the tent, start the fires and basically do anything I asked them to do (too bad it doesn't work at home.)  For dinner the boys cooked me a hot dog, marshmallows and their favorite---roasted Starbursts.  

Before Salt Creek was a campground it was an important defence point in WWII.  There are a couple of bunkers left were you can go check them out.  Thomas is standing where a weapon use to be.  It is fun to explore the bunkers on the inside and outside.  I like to image that I am the one looking for enemy battleships when I look out at the ocean.   

Aren't they crazy!!!!!

Both Thomas and Henry love making fires and used every opportunity to start one.  Oh yes,--- we do have fire benders in the making. 

Early in the morning we decided to head down to the tide pools.  It was a low tides so we were able to explore the beach shore.  There wasn't anything out of the ordinary like whales swimming about but just the normal stuff like lots of crabs, seaweed, starfish,  and coral.  There was a lot of silt from the Elwha Dam.  It was instersting to see what effect taking down the dam is having in the ocean near by.

This is my favorite picture of the weekend.

Look close at Lizzy----Yes she has no shoes but is wearing her winter coat and hat.  She never wears shoes (no shoes during the months from April to November and this year she wore slippers everywhere during the winter months) and I don't think I have brought her socks for a couple of years now. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of Thomas. 

After lunch we decided to see if we could make it up to the top of Striped Peak.  We hiked and hiked and hiked and hiked (well it seemed that way) for 2 hours and didn't make it to the top.  It was a nice hike.  We could see the ocean and had some beautiful views of the cliffs.  There was many plants that were blooming (some of my favorite---bleeding heart, Trilliums, glass slipper orchid) We decided to turn around when my hiker said she was tired and wanted to go home. 

Once Lizzy got on Chris's back she fell asleep within 5 minutes.  I don't know how she did it but she slept for a long time.  She was right----she was a tired girl. 

The boys decided they wanted to take a scenic route and go down to the ocean on the hike.  They said it was very pretty down there and thought it would be great to swim in during the summer.  Thomas came back with a couple of cool rocks.  Lizzy slept and I sat with her while the boys explored.

We had a wonderful weekend and Henry said it was the best camping trip!!!!