According to my bff, Wikipedia, “Dolos (plural dolosse) is a concrete block in a complex geometric shape weighing up to 20 tons, used in great numbers to protect harbour walls from the erosive force of ocean waves. They were developed in East London, a port city in South Africa, in 1963 and are found in millions around the world.”

Dolosse at Crescent City jetty

These dolosse were found at the end of the jetty at Crescent City, near the beautiful Battery Point lighthouse. As you can see from the pictures, the hazard signs kept us away.

Looking down jetty at Crescent City

Dolosse on jetty

Battery Point Lighthouse from jetty

Battery Point Lighthouse

It’s easy to see why the Battery Point lighthouse is much photographed. It was very pretty, and is still a working, occupied lighthouse. With a keeper and a resident ghost too. The lighthouse is only accessible at low tide. Must make grocery shopping interesting.

Ok, Budget Travel, FOX News, NBC News, and Yahoo Travel all may have said it first, but we agree that Port Townsend is indeed one of the coolest small towns in America. There were cute shops, restaurants, and lots of great historic buildings in the downtown area. Plus, after driving right through Forks, and just spending a night in Port Angeles, it wasn’t too hard to be impressed with this cute town on the Olympic Peninsula.

We stayed at Fort Worden State Park and had a great time exploring the fort and surrounding grounds there.

Beach driftwood at Fort Worden

Lighthouse at Fort Worden

Beach at Fort Worden

That’s what the sign said was their record in the winter of 1998-1999…  747 inches.  62 FEET.

That’s A LOT of snow!

Hurricane Ridge is in Olympic National Park, an easy drive from where we are staying in Port Angeles.  The views of the Olympic Mountains were beautiful, although not as clear as we’d hoped.

This sign shows what we should have been able to see:

Nope, can’t see it

Still can’t see it

There was a long, winding road to get to the top of the mountain, with just a little bit of nail-biting going on.  We particularly enjoy the tunnels that make the ride so interesting.

What fun – a tunnel.

Hope the horn works.

Oh, look. It’s another tunnel ahead

Rachel and Summer have been desperate to ski or snowboard, but settled for sledding at Hurricane Ridge.  They had to make their own trail, but it was still a bumpy ride.  Check out Rachel’s page for some funny videos.  Particularly, Peter’s…

Trailblazing

Rachel vs Sled

The views from the top were spectacular.

View from the ridge

Snow on the drive up the mountain

we drove this winding road to get here

The nicest view

The view keeps getting prettier

Winter wonderland in November

It’s a good thing we didn’t bring the motorhome up here. Peter would’ve taken the dare.

This means you, Peter

This little guy seemed pretty happy up here

The drive back down was fun. The windshield was a bit dirty, but mostly it’s the fog you can see. Not the road.

Fog is fun

STILL in Washington (stay tuned to find out why we are still here in this lovely state) – we visited a rainforest.  Who knew Washington had a temperate rainforest?  We do now…

Some areas of the Olympic Peninsula get 12 FEET of rain per year.  Yes, we went from lots of snow, to lots of rain.  We miss the sun.

Apparently, all this rain they get is great for growing trees.  Really, really, really big trees.  Like, some of the world’s biggest.

BIG Cedar Tree

Towering Trees

Tree huggers

Rainforest waterfall

Creepy trees

Drowned rats

Does this look like a giant spider??

How we crossed the river

BIG Spruce

Log rats

We saw snow, rain, and the sun all in hour.

Peter and the girls decided to have some fun in Paradise, one of the snowiest places on earth.

Mt. Rainier

Still Mt. Rainier

Mt. Rainier National Forest

Mt. Rainier

Narada Falls

Mt Rainier hiding

Narada Falls at Mt. Rainier

The Port Defiance Zoo in Tacoma not only has a beautiful view from the parking area, but they have an incredible assortment of critters from around the Pacific Rim.  We saw Asian elephants, clouded leopards (cubs too!), Sumatran tigers, otters, gibbons, meerkats, and even some sharks!

The girls and I went to the zoo with my friend Dyan and her two kids, Marc and Sara.  The weather was a bit chilly and cloudy (surprise, surprise) but the rain held out for us.

Big Cat

Little Cats

We enjoyed seeing this little cattle-like critter – the anoa, aka “midget buffalo”.  We noticed that its horns were unusual not only because they pointed backwards, but because they had dog toys stuck to the tips.  Yep, the word “Kong” was clearly visible.  (for those of you caninely-challenged – a “Kong” is a hollowed out, rubbery dog toy that one can stuff with a dog treat or fill with peanut butter to keep a pooch amused for hours)

Anoa, we re-named this one “Kong”

We also got to check out the shark tank.  The zoo has started an innovative way to feed the sharks.  It seems they lure visitors into a cage, then release them into the tank with nothing but scuba equipment to defend themselves.  We didn’t stick around to watch the feeding frenzy, but it appears that this shark’s food bowl is empty.

Time to feed the sharks

The girls made some new friends, Jaclyn and Jessica, at the campground we are staying at in lovely, Bothell, WA.  Summer & Rachel decided to crash their trick-or-treating, and are we glad they did!

Fierce Foursome

We ended up in a nice town called Kirkland for the annual candy-fest.  We tagged along with our new friends Kim and Ken, and the afore-mentioned J’s – Jaclyn and Jessica.

Summer, the Evil Queen

Post-looting sorting of the loot