Coming of Age

Sick and tired of sleeping on the ground in the wet and cold of the PNW, Todd made a decision:

Yup, he bought a camper for the back of his pickup.  We have now entered the realm of RVrs of the world.  Our maiden voyage was to the Washington Coast, Olympic National Park and Seashore area.
Inside the camper we were warm, dry, and comfortable.

Olympic Coast- Beach 3

The drive out to the coast took 4 hours including the ferry.  By the time we started seeing beach from the road, Todd was getting stir crazy so we parked and proceeded to go for a beach walk.  Wow, I am such an inlander.  The "ooohs" and "ahhhs" and "what is that"s we never ending.  Henry was loving it also.  The fetching opportunities on a beach are endless.  These pictures were taken by Todd.  Look for Scooby in the above tree!

Olympic Coast- camping

We spent two nights in a designated campground.  We PAID for camping, gasp!  But, it was the only place we can camp on the beach and there were heated bathrooms.  One night, we even had a campfire thanks to the neighbors who came out only to have a cozy fire.  The view from the camper was good.

The sunset was beautiful.  How many different shades of color can one photograph in one night? 

Olympic Coast- morning

More beach walking.  What do you expect when visiting the coast?  We probably walked 10 miles the entire trip.  Picked up over 20 gallons of trash (mostly plastics and ropes).

Saw a seal, reflections, fog, sunshine, blue skies, twisted trees,

Olympic Coast - Afternoon

Olympic Coast - Rialto Beach

Thursday morning, Todd and I left the zoo in the truck and hiked Rialto Beach up to Hole in the Rock.  The beach here was mostly pebble rock with no trash.  The waves were steep and always crashing, you do not want to go swimming here.  Up near Hole in the Rock, seastacks stood above the crashing waves, tidal pools swayed within the striped rock.  Along the way, large woody debris protected the inland slopes.
This was out last hike as Todd was feeling the early stages of a nasty cold moving into his body.The top three photos are Todd's, the bottom 3 are mine.

Todd's Eye

Below are some of the artsy photos Todd took while on the coast.  He sees awesome patterns and textures in nature:

this one is better turned 1/4 clockwise.

New Years Day

Welcome, 2011.  Please be a better year than 2010.

This octopus never got to see 2011 as he probably washed up during the high tides earlier in the week.

To recap 2010 in a sentence: It was a year of discontent as I was homeless and experiencing thesis stress which over shadowed all good things. Sigh.