Whidbey Island, WA

I'm glad I took this picture...it was the last bit of sun we saw for the next few days!

 As we were driving back into the United States, we had many options open to us.  Going home was NOT one of them.  I decided that I needed to travel the Washington Coast and see more of the Pacific Ocean.  Please, I wanted to see Forks:)  We woke up on Sunday morning, went to breakfast at an amazing doughnut shop, and headed for our ferry to get to Port Townsend.  This would lead us around the island to Port Angeles and onto Forks.  We got to the ferry a few minutes early and decided to drive around a bit.  I'm glad we did... It brought back some memories of a summer with Aunt Jeannie, Jamie and Brennon.  I'd been there before with them!

 

Fort Casey, WA

May 26, 2013

 Designed as part of the massive modernization program of U.S. seacoast fortifications initiated by the Endicott Board, construction on Fort Casey began in 1897. In 1901, her big guns on disappearing carriages, which could be raised out of their protective emplacements so that the guns were exposed only long enough to fire, became active. However, the fort's ammunition batteries became obsolete almost as soon as their construction was completed. The invention of the airplane in 1903, and the subsequent development of military aircraft made the fort vulnerable to air attack

  In addition, the development of battleships designed with increasingly accurate weaponry transformed the static strategies of the nineteenth century into the more mobile attack systems of the twentieth century. Most of Fort Casey's guns and mortars were removed and sent to Europe and the Pacific during World War I, where they were mounted on rail cars to serve as mobile heavy artillery.

 In 1935, the Coast Artillery withdrew the station's battery assignments and placed it on inactive status. As World War II approached, military officials reactivated Fort Casey after making physical improvements to the aging frame-plaster construction

 Two of the fort's 10-inch (25-cm) seacoast artillery guns on their carriages were salvaged in the mid-1960s from their final active duty location at Fort Wint on the U. S. Naval Base Subic Bay. The guns showed visible shrapnel scarring from the effects of the Japanese bombings in the Philippines at the opening of World War II. Two 3-inch (76-mm) rapid-fire guns from Fort Wint are also mounted at Fort Casey.

 We didn't get out and explore for fear of missing a chance to get on the next ferry, so we took some pictures from the car and headed out.  I'm sad now that we didn't...

 The next ferry was canceled due to low tide.  That next one running would be in an hour and a half.  And since we hadn't made reservations, it was full except for 7 Standby spots.  We took one of the seven and sat in our car for an hour and a half!  Without being able to go out due to rain.  And cold.  Man, we sure wished we would have been able to explore that Fort then!!!

 I had been dizzy for a few days, so decided to hang out in the car and close my eyes while the kids went with Randy on deck.  They saw dolphins in the water!  How fun.  Sorry I missed that!!  Although, 30 minutes laying down in complete silence was nice after that hour and a half of constant whining we had just moments before!

 It was a beautiful drive over to Port Angeles.  It was so green.  No wonder with it being one of the wettest places in the US!  I enjoyed the drive immensely!  We stopped to grab lunch in Port Angeles.  Not at the quaint Italian place Edward took Bella, but nice enough as fast food goes:)  We took our meal and headed to the pier.  It was nice eating food in the car (rain) with the windows down.  If we couldn't eat outside, this was the next best thing!

 Crescent Lake

This is one of Randy's most favorite places on earth.  It was pretty disappointing to see mostly clouds.  We couldn't see anything for a good portion of the drive.  Randy was so excited to show us this place, only to have another disappointment.  First Victoria, now Crescent Lake.  It was still a great time.

 Where am I?  Oh yeah, taking a picture from the luxury of our heated Yukon:)  It's all about dry clothes for me!

 I love the scenery.  Tall GREEN trees lining either side of the road.  Gorgeous!

Forks, WA

 Yep!  I went!  It would have meant a whole lot more to me a few years ago...I'm over the whole Edward/Bella scene, but it was still fun to go.  A favorite time remembered!  A dream of long ago come to life.  And I actually got out of the car, braving the heavy rains, to get a picture of proof!

 As we were leaving town, Randy commented that I should take a picture of the blue skies.  It's a good thing, we didn't see it again until Tuesday!  There were two Twilight shops, a Twilight tour bus with Kristen Stewart painted on the side (very terribly I might add) and a roadside Twilight firewood stand.  I had to laugh at that one.  Some things can be taken too far, and that was one of them!

 Lovers overlooking the cliffs of LaPush

 Cold?

 

 We stopped at a beach with a ton of driftwood (Zatarra, if you watched Count of Monte Cristo)  It's crazy to see so much washed ashore.  I could totally see the scene of Bella and Jacob walking along the beach talking about the "Cold Ones."  I may not care about Twilight as much as I used to, but I still get a little crazy:)

 As we were leaving we saw these two treasures.  You don't see these anymore, do you?!

 We didn't want to head home from there, even though it was only about 7 hours and we had all day, so we decided to stay another night.  It was at that time that Jamie and Cameron invited us to go with them to Boulder Cave and Grove of the Patriarchs the next day.  So, we decided to stay in Puyallup to erase driving all the way home, and then backtracking two hours back.  So we made a reservation and stayed.  This time swimming when we got there in good time!