Heat Wave

We are sitting at home today enjoying some A/C due to the 100 degree temps outside. But earlier this week, we enjoyed a sunny and hot day at the beach in Hansville. The cousins came along and the kids spent their time digging a big hole:

buring themselves in the sand:

serving a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct:

They all stayed very busy and gave me some time to read my book while Steve slept. Afterward we headed home to cool of with some Otter Pops and Rockband.

My husband joined the Mariners!

Just watching the M's tonight and noticed that Chris Shelton looks a lot like Steve. Apparently, I'm not the only one who noticed the resemblance. He even has the same sideburns.

Photo from flickr.

Summer Hike #3 Franklin Falls and Denny Creek

Length: 4-5 miles total for both hikes
Elevation Gain: 500 feet or so; uphill first, then turn around and down hill on the return trip
Views: forest, waterfalls
Wildlife: bugs, bugs, and more bugs
Kids: Some whining during the trail walking
Difficulty: toughest one yet

We decided to do the Franklin Falls hike after seeing it in the newspaper (it was also in our hiking book). It is near the Snoqualmie Pass summit, so this was a whole day trip for us. We started off by missing the Bainbridge ferry by about 5 cars. There was a lot of "if only Simon had gotten his shoes the first time we asked" and "if only we hadn't stopped when the cooler tipped over." But then we got over that and decided to kill some time wandering around the beach near the ferry. (Steve killed some time napping).


The tide was super low and from the ferry it looked like the two sides of the inlet were going to meet in the middle. I worried about the ferry hitting the sand, but it didn't. It had to sort of weave through the area so that it's in the deepest sections of the inlet. I think it does that all the time, but today you could see why.


Once we got to the Franklin Falls area we found that we had to go somewhere else to get a forest pass before we could park and do the hike. We had to drive a little farther up the road to get back on the freeway and then we realized that where we got on the freeway was where we were supposed to get off the freeway, so we ended up driving in a circle.

We did finally get our pass, find a space to park, eat the lunch we packed, and then we were ready for the hike. We started with the Franklin Falls trail. It was mostly uphill all the way there until the last 100 yards or so, which was a steep downhill climb. They boys really liked the area and played around in the water there for a while. If you stand in front of the pool of water near the falls, you get a nice spay of cold water to cool you down after the hike.

The return trip was quick and easy once we passed the first uphill section, since it was mostly downhill from there. The boys stopped to climb on a rock and do strange poses.

Then we stopped at the car for a quick drink before heading up to Denny Creek. This trail was over a mile long and was also mostly uphill, with even more elevation gain than Franklin Falls. I was beat after about 1/2 mile. I wanted to quit and go back, but Steve made me keep going. When we got to the creek there were a lot of people there playing in the water and falls. Some kids were sliding down the rocks in the water (although that wasn't that easy to do--rocks are not that slippery). The boys had fun here as well and we wished we'd been to this one first while the sun was still overhead.

Torsten tried to get under the falls a little and got sucked in.

Simon is showing just how cold the water was.

After our workout, we were definitely ready for some food (and it was dinner time by then as well). We stopped in North Bend and Steve found Los Cabos. I think he has some sort of supernatural ability to spot Mexican restaurants. Simon and I split Carne Asada:

After a stop at the fish store, we made it to the ferry and found we had a 40 minute wait until the next boat. But the sun was getting ready to set, so we enjoyed the scenery and let our muscles rest from our hike. It was a good day and definitely a hike we'd do again.

Sunny and Warm

Today was a perfect day for digging big holes in the sand:

Summer Hike #2 The Grand Forest

Length: 2-3 miles (not really sure since we didn't follow the trail in the book)
Elevation Gain: 50 feet or so; some ups and downs
Views: forest
Wildlife: squirrel and horses
Kids: Both whiny at the beginning. One still whiny at the end.
Difficulty: Easy if you can stand the whining.

This afternoon we headed out to Bainbridge Island for a quick hike. It turns out that there are a lot of hikes on Bainbridge, so because of its proximity to us, we may end up there a lot. The weather was nice and the kids had been in the house all day, so I thought it would be a perfect after work activity. The boys did not agree with me.

But after a pit stop in the woods (Simon couldn't stop smiling through the whole thing), Simon decided that the hike was a great idea and a lot of fun. Torsten didn't really agree. This was a really woodsy hike, with plenty of opportunities to stop and climb on rocks and fallen trees, which generally pleases most boys. We also encountered a couple of people on horses who had left a few gifts along the trail, which we didn't really appreciate.

We started out on the main trail, then decided to take the fork at the upper loop. After taking that and ending up back on the main trail, we decided to take the main trail all the way around, so in the end, I'm not really sure how long the walk was, but I think it took us about an hour to walk it.
Tomorrow's plans: no work, freezer jam, another hike?

Summer Hike #1

In an attempt to get out of the house more and get some exercise while we are off for the summer, we decided to start hiking. My original goal was two hikes per week, but then I bought a book of hikes and found that many of the hikes listed are a bit of a drive from us, so we'll see about the two times per week thing.

We started off with one that is closer to home: Point No Point.

Length: 1 1/2 miles
Elevation Gain: 50 feet
Views: Beach and forest
Wildlife: deer, snake, jellyfish, seal
Kids: Cranky

This hike starts off at the light house at Point No Point. It goes through a little wetland area along the beach and then moves uphill into the forest. It was a fairly easy hike, although that didn't stop Simon from whining through the whole thing. We took a pit stop at the very beginning to walk out to the water, where the boys threw a few rocks. I guess boys just don't outgrow the need to throw rocks.


Shortly after getting back on the trail, we spotted a mother deer and her baby. Very cute, but I didn't get a good picture. They didn't let us get close before heading back into the woods.

The wooded part of the trail had a lot of fallen old growth trees, like this one:


The trail goes through the woods then ends on a residential street. We followed the road back towards the Point No Point park and then played on the beach. Simon complained at first that he just wanted to go home, but then once he had his shoes off and was playing in the sand, he was happy.

This would be a great place to go just to hang out on the beach on a nice day. The sand was soft and good for making sandcastles. We saw some jellyfish hanging out on the sand and a seal in the water. It's that small dot above Simon's head in the picture. There were a few seals swimming around while we were there.


Overall, it was a good way to start the day. Looking forward to the next one.

We're Back!

We are now home. It was a great trip, and we wished we could have stayed even longer. There are beaches we didn't get a chance to explore, things we didn't get to see, activities we didn't get a chance to do. Next time: spend more time at the beach, go on ATV rides, go to a luau, eat out more.

We didn't eat out much at all while we were there, which was good because the food there is expensive. But we missed out on tasting some of the local cuisine. So on our last night "on island" we went to Hamura Saimin, which we read was a local favorite. It was definitely a dive. It only had a couple things on the menu. We got noodles, beef and chicken skewers, and lilikoi pie. It was cheap and pretty good. There was a huge line shortly after we got there, so that is usually a good sign. We sat and chatted with a local couple (lived in Kauai their whole lives) and got some pointers on what to order and how to make your own hot sauce with hot mustard and a black liquid (not sure what that was). I really liked the chicken and the pie. Simon didn't want anything at all to eat, but then he tasted my noodles and took over the bowl.


Can't wait to go back to Kauai again. I even started looking at real estate online, although I don't think we could ever afford to buy a place there. (Most places in the area in which we stayed were several million dollars). Thanks Janet for taking us on a great trip!