Seattle Trip on Tuesday -- Day #4

Well, at the end of Day#3, we were exhausted. We decided that a day in the car was just what we needed. It started with another coffee visit on our list. This one was Espresso Vivace. 

Me catching a few stitches. 

Coffee art!

Coffee shop wall art.

Cool coffee vibe at this place. 

  

Fortified with caffeine, we set out for one of our "must see" trips, the Olympic Peninsula. This is the only rain forest in North America, I think. Keep looking and you will see why it was a "must see". We took #5 down to Olympia and then did the 101 route all the way around, with a side trip to La Push beach. 

You can tell by this map that we were in for breathtaking views!  Look at all those mountain ranges!

There were many lovely metal bridges along our route. 

This was a side trek over to Lake Quinault. 

Some little cabins that you can rent at this place. It is way off the beaten path, so you had better like nature and a lot of it. 

Wonderful forest.

The world's, yes world's largest spruce tree!

Such interesting flora and fauna. 

And a waterfall! Merriman Falls. 

I could not get enough of it. I think I read where there was 26 waterfalls on this Peninsula. Next time we visit, I plan on seeing all of them! 

We stopped for lunch at Kalaloch. Knew that this would be the only place to eat for a while and was very pleased with our food. 

My first view of the Pacific ocean, right outside of the restaurant at Kalaloch. 

This was the view from the window of the restaurant. 

The trees were leaning against the wind.

Lots of driftwood in the inlet. 

It was a breathtaking view to have with lunch. 

We struck out in search of a beach to walk on. Ruby Beach was our first chance. 

                     It was really weird the way the fog just rolled in when you within a couple of miles of the oceans edge. Once you got further inland, the sunshine was blinding. 

                          Ruby Beach was breathtaking. 

             Michael walking down the path to get to the beach.

           Huge logs everywhere. You had to climb over them.

I just had to walk on the beach and Ruby Beach was the first chance that we had. The beach at Kalaloch was not accessible. 

The beach was not what I was expecting. I had only seen the Atlantic ocean. I was thinking St Augustine.  I was so surprised at the angry-ness of this part of the ocean. It was an angry beauty, though. 

Lots of lovely diftwood art.

Huge rock formations at the water's edge. 

We left our memorial on some driftwood.

More lovely driftwood.

We left there and passed through Forks on our way to La Push beach.  Little did I know that La Push would be disappointing compared to Ruby Beach. 

The fog was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Honestly.

It was cold, cold, cold, misty and windy, windy, windy!

You could not get any good pictures of the rock formations. The fog was just too thick. 

See?

See?

See?
As you can tell, my camera is messing up. The shutter is starting to fritz out on me in the left bottom corner. 

I wish that we had spent more time at Ruby Beach, but we had to get moving so that we could finish the rest of the trip around the peninsula and get to Bainbridge Island and catch the ferry back to Seattle. At this point, we were barely halfway around. 

This is the last picture that I was able to take before my battery died on me. I was taking so many pics that I had to recharge it every night. This was a beautiful lake in the middle of majestic mountains. The rest of the photos were taken on Michael's Galaxy Tablet, but we were having trouble with that source of photo taking, too. 

Driving up into the belly of the beast! The ferry. We got there just in time to drive on. 

The Seattle skyline coming at us.

Closer.

Almost there.

Serious Pie for supper that night. I love this photo. It looks so cool. 

Okay, now you have Day #4 on our Seattle trip. 

Sorry to have been so silent, but have been knitting up a storm for Christmas gift knitting, getting my mind all geared for my workshop next weekend, decorating the house for Christmas, and knitting for some baby showers that are happening this month. Got two of them, both boys.

This is the set that I am making for them. I will show you the other one later. I have not downloaded it from my camera. The cardigan is from a pullover pattern on Ravelry. The shoes are Grayson Loafers on Ravelry. The hat was just a simple, knitted in the round, rectangle with the top sewn and the corners tied together with a contrasting chain loops. You can see all the details here and here. 

A block that I am working on so that I can teach it to my SIL.  It is from an afghan that I made years ago and had put back for someone special. Until recently, there had been no one. I am glad that I saved it. 

Here is the one that I had stashed. It is going to OH to warm  the lap of my sweet little Aunt Rootbeer. 

Cindy and I, felted some soaps for gifts. Here are hers. 

Here are mine. They smell delicious!

Some slippers that I knitted and was about to felt. Turned out to be skis. They will have to be Ben's, since they swallow Michael's feet. The pattern is on Ravelry. They are called 19 Row Duffers. I did 23 rows on mine. 

Experimenting with my potholder loom from Dewberry Ridge Looms. Took an odd ball of cotton yarn and just chained it and used the chain to weave a potholder. Here  and here is how to do the weaving. It makes a wonderful potholder. Go try it!

Here is a quick shawlette that I made for fall. I am wearing a yarn scarf, made of 10 different yarns held together and used as a scarf. Cindy and I made about 30 of these, too. Love wearing them and giving them. 

 That is it for now, back to the decorating. I am sure that I have left something out, but it will have to wait until later.
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