Back! STS update and WA State, part 1

Hello Everyone Out in Bloggyland!!

I am back from an absolutely terrific trip to Washington State and our youngest son’s wedding. I am going to break the story of our travel into three blog posts. This one will be about our trip to Olympic National Park and Port Townsend, the next post will be about the WEDDING (still have some photos to upload) and the final one will be some ruminations on it all.

Port Townsend, WA: My hubby and I and our son Jacob and his wife Jenn and their three children started our Washington experience by first traveling around the Puget Sound to Port Townsend (where my son has property) and west to Olympic National Park. Our son is a boat builder and is working for the summer as an instructor at a boat school. He and his new wife will eventually make Port Townsend their home. Here are a few pictures of the scenery around PT.

Hubby and our son gazing at the Sound in PT (above).
Another view of PT (below).
Fort Worden Lighthouse (below)
PT at sunset

Olympic National Park: We stayed for four days in the Sol Duc Valley, which is in the northwest corner of the park and features old growth forest, subalpine lakes, and snowy peaks. The Sol Duc River serves as a key highway for coho salmon, running through the valley and ascending to the lakes and headwaters in the surrounding mountains. Sol Duc is also famous for a series of mineral hot springs which were very close to our cabins. Each day we hiked on the well marked trails, starting with a trail that wound up to the Sol Duc Falls.

Sol Duc River below

Sol Duc Falls

More of the trail

Relaxing after our first hike

On the second day, we did our major hike, a 5.2-mile hike to Mink Lake with a 1400 foot elevation gain. We kept a steady, but slow pace with the three kids along. We stopped along the trail for snacks and to view all the wonderful invertebrates. Here is one of the many foot bridges we crossed on this hike.

The kids were really troopers, completing their longest and most difficult hike ever.

Mink Lake in Olympic National Park

Baby came, too!

Here I am walking across a small creek

On our last day, we meandered over to Lake Crescent and down to Hurricane Ridge. The scenery here is just breath taking as you can see from these few photos. Wild lupine is one of my favorite flowers, so you can imagine my delight to see it blooming throughout the mountains. Here is a view of Lake Crescent.

Views from Hurricane Ridge

Wild lupines below!

Olympic National Park is a jewel of a place to visit and a genuine treasure of our national park system. If you have not been there, I would encourage you to put it on your “must see” list. The pictures I included here represent a fraction of the natural beauty of this park.

Slimmer This Summer Challenge update.

I was on vacation last week, plus we had the wedding, but I am happy to report I did really well.

Weight loss:
No weight loss to report. I plan to weigh in again on August 24.

Tracking food: I tracked my food for the first four days. Each tracked day averaged about 1350 calories. Starting on Thursday and through Sunday I stopped tracking because it was the wedding. We hosted a number of events that included food. At each, I was careful to include salads or fruit, however, I also ate in moderation the other wedding event foods. I never once binged or overate on any of these foods. I feel really good about my food choices and feel that I will have no problem getting back to tracking each and every day this week.

Move more: As you read above, I did several hikes in ONP totaling about 10 miles. I believe I was in the best shape ever for the hikes that we did. I was happy with my pace and best of all was only a little sore at the end of the day. While stair climbing is not mountain hiking, I do think it prepared me for some of the switch backs we climbed on hike 2.

What you do not know is that I rented a road bike (!!) from the Broken Spoke in PT once we were settled in at Fort Worden after our ONP excursion. I put about 35 miles on that bike during the 4 days we were in PT for the wedding. There was no odometer on that bike so I am estimating my mileage. PT is hilly!! I had to walk my bike each day up a few of the steepest hills, but each day saw me getting better at them.

Blogger love: Not last week since I was gone. But, I will be checking in on you all soon!

Thanks for reading. Thanks for your support. Have a great start to your week! TTFN, Michele