Lighthouses, Crabs, and Seashells

Since Ryan had Friday off, we decided to travel to the beach for one of our last excursions. We chose a place called the Dungeness Spit. There is a half-mile hike to get to the beach and then another 4.5 mile long sand spit, one of the longest. At the end is a lighthouse, which can only be reached by hiking. Ryan was planning to run to it, but in the end decided to hang out with us. The kids liked the rocky beach, but weren't quite sure about the waves, which were big and pretty noisy. I couldn't get Glade to even let the water get his feet and Kimberly would only do so at great urging. It was a neat place though. It is a national wildlife refuge so you aren't allowed to take sticks, shells, rocks, or anything.

Here is a view of part of the Dungeness Spit from the hill going down.


The lighthouse at the end of Dungeness Spit is in the background. Can you see it in front of Mt. Baker? Also notice the cruise ship sailing close by.


Ryan and I both thought the waves were neat. There were some pretty big ones. Glade thought they were neat also, from the safety of Dad's shoulders.


Kimberly the sand queen. She loves to dig and build and play in the sand.


Glade the beach boy.


We asked around and heard that "The 3 Crabs" was the best seafood place in town so we drove over there to get a late lunch. Ryan opted for a platter with a little of everything. He enjoyed it. Kimberly got her favorite . . . shrimp. Glade also likes shrimp so they shared a plate.


It turned out that there was a very nice beach right by the restaurant. It was protected from waves by the spit, so the water was calm and much more fun for the kids to get into.


Kimberly and Glade both got into collecting seashells and mom helped. There were some big nice ones.


Glade enjoyed the water, which seemed a little warmer than at the Dungeness Spit. He enjoyed it so much he went all the way in, literally. Good thing he was right by Mom. I grabbed his arm and pulled him out right after his head went under. After a few minutes to dry out, get out of wet clothes, and warm up, he was ready to wade a little more.


After that beach, we decided to drive to Port Townsend, where one of Ryan's colleagues was posted while in the Coast Guard. He took care of the Point Wilson light. We were able to walk around the light and take some pictures of it. I don't know about you, but I have always had a fascination with lighthouses and it was fun to see one up close. Unfortunately, they didn't have any tours going so we weren't able to go inside.


After that we went to our third beach of the day, right by the lighthouse. It was a neat beach with nice sand and we even found a few little jellyfish that had been washed up. It was starting to get late and a little cold at that point though, so we decided to call it a day and head home.


We heard that the Startins were moving to Port Angeles, so we thought about them, but didn't have their phone number any more. We were only about 10 miles from there though so it would have been fun to see them.