Today marks the best day of our trip so far.
But since we have said that every day…we will see if it sticks.
We woke up in the Hoh National Forest. We found an outlet on the side of the road last night, and slept away until the sun started shining this morning. When it did, Micah and I quietly drove through the campgrounds and the area to check out the area. As we were driving through a campground, Micah said, “WHOA!” I looked over to him, and saw the hugest moose directly outside his window.
This moose (who we made great memes out of), was literally four feet from us. We stopped our car and he crossed right in front of us. I got out and followed him for a few hundred feet, and just to give you an idea of how huge he was…
Here is our buddy next to a four man tent!
He was huge.
The kids woke up to a wild moose roaming — pretty rad!
Then we headed to Moss Forest.
Pippi loves moss, so I knew she would love it.
She did.
As did Scout, who became the “troll of this bridge”, and made us solve a riddle to pass through.
As did copycat Dash, who was the “troll of the trees”, who also made us solve riddles to pass by.
The best story from Moss Forest came from Dash.
Scout had inched his way out over the water on this fallen tree. He made it to the end and back without an issues. We applauded him. Then Dash got on it, and ran at a quick speed all the way to the end and back. We all looked at each other with our mouths opened wide. Then he did it again. And again. I finally said I would video him and to do it one last time. Like before, he ran all the way to the end, turned around, ran back while dodging low branches..and at the very end leapt to the trail….
AND FELL A FEW INCHES SHY OF HIS TARGET!
We were all laughing so hard, and he thought it was pretty funny too!
The poor boy must have stage fright!
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As we were leaving the Hoh National Forest, we followed a really pretty river. I was aching for some fresh water to clean up in, and we found the perfect little spot.
So just down river of me taking a river shower, my five partners in crime were perfecting their rock skipping skills.
We think Dash has finally mastered it!
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When we left the forest, we headed to the coast. The drive itself was nothing short of magnificent. Everything was beautiful. Everything was bright green, the wildflowers were in full force, and the sun was shining down on us.
This PCH is very different than our PCH!
As soon as we were right next to the water, we took the first turnout to a place named “Ruby Beach”.
Who knew that this very short walk to the beach would be my favorite beach I have ever been to!
In one word…it was magic.
As soon as the greenery stopped, the driftwood started.
The exploring was awesome. I was with Dash, and we spent 20 minutes checking out the driftwood. And then we saw the sea stacks. We spent another 20 minutes as Dash climbed and explored them! We had no idea where everyone else was, and it didn’t matter, because we were in heaven ourselves. We were sure they were in one of Heaven’s different rooms.
There were driftwood bridges, driftwood huts, driftwood words…it was a free for all, with no shortage of driftwood.
When we finally caught up to the others, Micah was teaching Pippi how to put posts in the sand.
She collected driftwood for an hour, and created her very own “circus” where she sang and danced and even tamed a lion named Dash.
Navy collected bigger pieces to expand and perfect the rad driftwood fort they had all started!
It turned out so rad!
While Navy was perfecting, Scout and Dash were playing ninja warrior on some of the sea stacks, they were having an absolute blast! I love this stage of my kids, where all of them are still in love with playing and everyone is capable to do everything.
Then Scout and Dash decided to make a bridge over a stream coming down from the mountains.
After they finished it, it was awesome. But they decided that there were a few things they could have done differently, and the engineers hired two other employees to help build another. These four worked on making this a perfect dam/bridge for another hour. They could have stayed at this beach for three more days. Micah and I sat at the water’s edge watching our amazing kids, and collecting jade and agate as it washed up from the sea. Can you imagine a better moment in life?
Because the kids were filthy, they took a dip in the fresh water lake that was also at Ruby Beach. They cleaned off and played in it for a while. Watching them with the mist that hovered in the pine trees that edges the sand was like out of a dream. Like I said — it was just magical!
On our way out, we stopped by the teepee Dash found. It said “All Welcome”, and that is exactly how we felt at Ruby Beach. I hope that sign is there next year and the next, because I plan on returning many times in our lives.
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Our final stop of the night was found after we drove by a local oyster farm to see what it was all about. They were just about to close up shop when Navy saw a huge barrel full of sand dollars. She asked where they came from, and the nice guy behind the counter told us exactly where to go and collect them. Then he told us all about another rad place we will visit tomorrow morning. I love the whole “ask a local” thing, because we have had such great luck with it!
We followed his directions, and got to the beach where the sand dollars wash up. He said it would be difficult to find whole sand dollars, which we nicknamed “Holy Molys”, but we were up for the task.
Navy walked towards the mist, and took us out to the beach for our search.
The beach was empty.
We were literally the only ones on the beach, which meant all of the sand dollars we could find could be ours!!!
Scout and Navy were running all over the place they had pretty decent luck with Holy Molys.
They also kept finding these “blobs” or “squishys”. Some were small like this, but there were others that were as big as our hand.
Pippi found several pieces of sand dollars, but no Holy Molys…until we heard a loud shrill “HOLY MOLY”! She had found one, and felt like a million bucks.
Dash literally didn’t care too much about the hunt. He was more interested in running, cartwheeling, karate chopping the sand, and any other stereotypical thing a six year old boy does! Notice that Pippi is now in a sweatshirt. Sweet Scout was a hero when he passed his warm and cozy sweatshirt over to his little sis.
Sidenote: Scout is the only one with a sweatshirt on the vacation. Minus Micah who has a down jacket.
The rest of us…our adrenaline is keeping us warm.
Navy and Scout were comparing some of their finds.
in the end, we ended up with something like 35 Holy Molys. Not bad for a local’s tip only 2 hours ago. Now…we need to find way more to fill up one of our jars at home!
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This day was magical. We went from one cool place to the next. And all of the in between was beautiful. I must sound like a broken record as I say…”Look at those wildflowers!” or “It is just sooo pretty and green”. When I am old and looking back on my life, I know without any doubt, that today is one of the days I will look back on as one of our best.
That today is one of those days where everything in life just came together perfectly.
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