No Decepticons At Deception Pass

I’m not sure how many times something has to happen for it to become a tradition, but I think our annual car camping trip with the rheas and co has become a tradition. This was our third year. We went to Deception Pass State Park on Whidbey Island. On the way there we did a little side trip/picnic to Mt Erie on Fidalgo Island. Apparently Mt Erie is a well-known climbing destination in addition to being a popular tourist/sight seeing stop over. There’s a road that goes all the way to the 1250ft summit, which makes it especially nice for families. From the lookout perched atop some impressive cliffs we could see the a couple lakes, several islands, the Puget Sound, and Deception Pass State Park (where we’d be spending the rest of the weekend). After enjoying the view and a picnic on Mt Erie we took the scenic route back to Hwy 20 along the west side of Fidalgo Island and drove across Deception Pass Bridge on our way to the campground. Our campsite was in a great location near the beach (with great views of the bridge), bathroom, and water spigot. The kids were mostly into playing on the beach. The last couple years we’ve camped in the mountains. This was our first year camping near the Sound. It was a pleasant change of pace. I think we’ll do it again.

Tide Chasers

Took the kiddos to Carkeek Park a couple days ago to check out the minus tide. We saw a couple critters but for the most part the kids were more interested to play in the sand and go up to the playground.

Sea Kitty Sherpa

I'm a new member of a group called the Trail Blazers. We're not an NBA franchise. We are an organization that transports fish to mountain lakes for the Washington Dept of Fish and Wildlife. I've been given the responsibility to stock 3 lakes this year. This morning my family and I carried a backpack full of fish into one of them. We picked up fish at 10am under cloudy but clearing skies. Anza wouldn't stop glaring at the hatchery worker who was helping me transfer fish into the jug for transport. The dirt road to the trailhead was a little bumpy but our station wagon was able to inch along. We got about halfway up the road before we were stopped by a washout with some big rocks blocking the way. We got out and started to walk up the road. In about 10 minutes a family in an SUV gave us a ride to the trailhead. Once on the trail it was the usual hiking-with-2-toddler-age-kids scenario. It took us almost 2 hours to go a little over 2 miles. We had lunch at the lake before we released the fish. Mojave seemed to enjoy eating the wet lakeside duff as much as his PBJ sandwich.
I thought Anza would be interested to see the fish get released, but she couldn't have cared less. Instead she was more interested in the gray jays that were strategizing how to grab the abundant bits and pieces of Mojave’s lunch that were scattered around him. The birds tried a couple times to do their usual swoop and grab maneuver but whenever they got close to Mojave, he would let out a shriek of joy and would begin violently flailing his limbs. Kind of entertaining for the misses and I but terrifying to a gray jay. We had been hearing distant claps of thunder (forecast called for possible thunder showers). It started to rain. With the fish happily swimming among the rocks in their new home we packed up and headed home. The way down was quick and the kids slept for the drive home.