The Husky is Home

We've got another college student! Bug moved into the dorms at the University of Washington Wednesday afternoon and began a new chapter in his life. We helped him get his room set up and everything unpacked (and started the shopping list of everything we hadn't thought about yet.)

Even though it seemed like a lot of stuff when we were loading and unloading the car, his room looks much more sparse than Bean's did, although some of that might be that she had so little space in her triple, and he has half of a room. 

We walked around campus a little, and were surprised that it was clear enough to see the top of Mt. Ranier above the clouds.

More brother time (and once again, this was actually Peanut insisting that the mountain was just clouds, and the rest of us were delusional thinking it was a mountain top, haha.)

We went with Bug to dinner to make sure his dining card had been activated, and then he headed over to the church institute where they were having dessert and a beginning of the year kick off of some sort. 

It was kind of weird going to our hotel without him, knowing that we'd see him the next day, but only briefly because he had orientation and welcome activities and roommates to get to know.

We ended up taking him to Trader Joes the next day for a food stock-up, and then to get dinner at a really good Thai place near campus. And then we saw him the next morning for a quick breakfast before we had to take off.

Goodbyes aren't fun, but it's a lot easier when you're leaving a kid who seems to be in a good place and is already excited about the friends he's starting to make. He had plans for the day with some of his roommates and seems to be looking forward to everything coming up in the next week as they get ready to start classes.

Love this boy--and we're so excited for what he has coming up.

Not All Rainforests are Tropical

Olympic NP is huge and we knew we couldn't see it all in one day, so I asked my brother which part we had to see (it's their family's favorite park) and he said absolutely the Hoh Rainforest. So, that's where we went and it did not disappoint. We are huge fans of the redwoods, and this had a very similar feel, but with more variety in the plants.

And from the very beginning, I found mushrooms! Tiny, perfect little mushrooms in a carpet of moss,

 and bigger ones, too. All types of mushrooms. It was fantastic.

Also loved all the different mosses and lichens.

They're so beautiful. The first trail we did was called the Hall of Mosses and there were a lot.

It's like a whole second forest, in miniature, on each log or under each shrub.

Also found a couple of banana slugs.

After we finished that first loop, we went back to the car to get out our picnic lunch.

And were quickly joined by some visitors. These canada jays were relentless, and despite our best effors, were rewarded with 1/2 a graham cracker when they swooped right in front of Peanut and grabbed it from him. We defended the rest of our lunch pretty well.

And then it was back to the hiking trails to do a few more miles, and find more fungi, like these bird's nest fungi,

and this slime mold.

There were some very large trees around. Our biggest take away is that an old growth forest, whether redwood, or Douglas fir and Sitka spruce, is stunning. They have a lot of similarities, and are so impressive. It's sad to realize how many have been completely destroyed.

We walked to the first river spot on the Hoh River Trail and watched a couple of fly fishermen for awhile.

These trails were just so green! It was a lovely area to hike in.

After we were done, we stopped at Beach 4 on our way home. The low tide was still a couple hours off when we got there, and it was drizzling pretty good, which meant we got completely soaked in the hour we were there and didn't even stay for the lowest tide.

But we saw lots of barnacles, snails, and mussels.

And a lot of anemones and sea stars, too. It was a beautiful beach and I'm sure a great spot when you can time it with a negative tide.

But we were cold and wet, so we'd had enough for the day.

The hike to and from the beach was a beautiful stretch of rainforest.

Back at the house, we got warmed up, made dinner, and played video games. Peanut has been wanting to do stuff with Bug more than usual--trying to soak up the brother time before he's gone. It sounds sweeter than it usually is, haha, because the interactions aren't always fun, but I still feel a little sad when I think about how much our house will change when there isn't the daily sibling interaction. We're all going to have to get used to it.

Off On An Adventure

The day has come: It's time to take our little Bug to college! We decided that if we were going to drive all the way to Seattle, we should make it a bit of an adventure, so we left a few days early and planned a couple of fun stops along the way. We got loaded up after church on Sunday and drove to Eugene, OR before we stopped for the night.

That put us in a good spot to stop at Silver Falls State Park the next morning where we hiked to two of the many waterfalls in the park.

Both South Falls and Lower South Falls had a trail behind the falls which was fun.

It was so beautiful!

Glad we got to enjoy a few fun sibling moments before we only have one at home. That's going to be a weird shift--it's been almost 18 years since we've only had 1!

Found a banana slug along the 2.6 mile trail.

And then came to the Lower South Falls.

Peanut found a couple little caves carved out of the rocks.

Walked behind this one as well.

Kind of a two-for-one fall with a straight drop and cascading over the rocks on the lower half.

We found a spot to check out the creek.

This whole area is so beautiful!

I'm so glad we were able to sneak in this hike, even with several hours of driving.

Back up near the visitors' center, we checked out the old kitchen house which was made of rocks that had lots of fossils.

Shell imprints everywhere!

And then we finished the drive to Olympic National Park.

Our home away from home for a couple of days--cute little cottage in the woods--it was near the Quinalt Visitors' Center, which is closed, but such a beautiful location. It was a little creepy because the road was closed to through traffic and it turns out that this is the only house on that stretch of road, so we were really isolated.

We walked over to the old homestead before dinner.

Everything was closed for the bats living in the area, so we didn't get to see it any closer, but it was a gorgeous view and we still had a day in the park to look forward to!

College Tour: Seattle Edition

4 years ago, we were supposed to plan a 13-year-old trip with Bug. Bean had gotten a weekend of backpacking when she was 13, and we had every intention of doing something similar with Bug that next spring when the weather was better. And then, Covid happened and we didn't do anything for a long time. When we finally felt like we could plan a trip, we had decided on some desert hiking in AZ, and then. . . I broke my ankle. 

So here we are, only 4 years late, but spending a jam-packed weekend with our Bug exploring Seattle and the University of Washington. He was accepted here, and waitlisted at all the UCs, so it's looking more and more likely that this will be his choice if he wants to both go away to school next year and play water polo.

We took a tour of the campus and fell in love. 

One of the reading rooms in the main library is straight out of Harry Potter.

I love how much water is every where around Seattle.

Campus is right on Lake Washington.

And is home to the famous boat house from Boys in the Boat. We LOVE that book and have listened to it twice as a family, so we had to go peak in the room where it happened.

By the time we had spent a day walking around campus, I think he was ready to be a Husky.

We also explored downtown--went to Pike's Market,

found a gum wall,

and wandered around near the waterfront.

I really love this city.

Water views everywhere!

And we had to visit the Space Needle!

I'd been to Seattle once before back in college, but was too broke to go up.

We timed it perfectly so we got up there a little before sunset.

It's hard to see, but we got views into the Chihuly Garden,

and got the thrill of leaning back on the glass over the city.

It's steeper than it looks in the photos.

Little nerve-racking to watch.

But so fun being up there.

Lots of views of the city.

Such a cool structure.

We hung out up there as the sun set,

and the lights came on.

So pretty!

This was such a fun stop.

We also went to church in the singles ward and visited the institute, and walked around the area just off campus, checking out the neighborhoods that would be most accessible if Bug lived up here. And we had a lot of great time to talk with our middle child who was so patient with us as we, in typical middle child fashion, totally bumbled his special trip, haha.