4 Wheels 4 Girls

July 25th, I was suddenly awoken and rushed out the door and out into what was supposed to be a parking lot but was complete whiteness. I could barely even tell where Dad and my sisters were! I finally spotted them and ran to catch up. Where on Earth were we going? I asked where the visitor center was, and I didn’t get an answer, but two seconds later, I almost ran in to the building. All of us were freezing until we finally we were in the visitor center. We were walking in a cloud!

Can you see Mt. Rainier behind us? Neither could we.

From the visitor center, we couldn’t see anything because of the fog. But once we got a little down the mountain, it was clear and I could see Mount Rainier. I found out that Mount Rainier is a giant volcano. I also learned that when the volcano erupts, sometimes something called a lahar. A lahar is when the volcano erupts when there is a ton of ice on top, so the lava melts the ice and it turns it into lava-y water and mud. All that weight pushes everything out of the way which sends all the trees, rocks, and rubble down with it. When that happens, it can spread all the way down to Seattle, which is about 60 miles away from Mount Rainier. Mount Rainier was pretty cool!

Checking out a waterfall on the way down Mt. Rainier

On July 24th, we, sadly, saw the Pacific ocean for the last time on our trip. 🙁

We waved goodbye to it, and then went to have Subway sandwiches for dinner. It was a good way to celebrate our goodbye with the Pacific ocean. The subs were super good!!!

On July 24 we drove to Olympic National Park. After what seemed like forever we stopped at the visitor center to pick up our junior ranger packet. We all got ready to go on a hike. When we got out of the RV and Ana said LOOK DEER!!!! Where we all said? On the grass!! Oh we see them! Cool! After that I looked at the snow and saw something moving! What is that? Then it ran a bit and then I realized it was a deer. Of course deer. Then I said there’s 2 deer!!!

The deer at Olympic were a little too friendly

Then Daddy came and told us we needed to find Mommy. Greta spotted her walking tord us. After that we went on our way. We started on a trail for about 3 minutes until we came to a stop. There was a huge pile of snow in our way. So we turned around and headed back. So we went on a different trail. This time it went though snow but the trail still went on so we went in the snow. It was so so hot out. We rested for a while and walked on. We went and walked on the trail in the sun until we got to the top. We looked and saw the mountains. They were pretty with all the snow on top.

On Hurricane Ridge

After that Daddy hurried us down the trail. We had to hurry because we had to go to a ranger talk. When we got there it had already stated. He talked about the animals that lived only there in the park. I only remember the olympic park. Me Greta and Daddy went up and pulled things out of the box. Greta pulled out a marmot, I pulled out a picture of a Peter bell flower or something like that and when Daddy went up there was nothing left and the ranger said “and there’s us here to0.” After that he gave us a pop quiz on the park and then it was over. I thought it was a really good talk. After that we went to junior up, says Daddy. After that we went on our way.

Atop the Olympic Mountains

July 23, after walking around Seattle for what seemed like forever, we started looking for restaurants to have dinner. Daddy looked on his phone and found a Thai place and an Indian place. Some of us wanted Thai and some wanted Indian. We checked out the Indian first and when we got in there it smelled delicious. We decided to have dinner there. We ordered butter chicken and mutter paneer and a special paneer. We talked about how pointy our noses are and stuff like that until our food finally came. When I put a piece of butter chicken in my mouth I knew we had made a good decision. I said, this is to die for! It tasted spicy, flavorful, and delicious. I told our parents that I wanted to fly back to Seattle on my birthday and go to that restaurant and have butter chicken.

After eating the best Indian food, we headed back to the ferry.

Riding the ferry back to Bainbridge Island

On July 23rd, in Seattle, we saw a HUGE gum wall in Pike’s Alley. It was absolutely GINORMOUS, and it was so so so so SO cool!!!!!!!!!!!!! There was gum of every color and flavor, and some people had even made designs with their chewed gum. We saw one woman that was chewing gum and trying to make a bubble to stick on the wall, but every time her bubble touched the wall and got deflated, SHE PUT IT BACK IN HER MOUTH EVEN THOUGH IT HAD TOUCHED ALL THE OTHER CHEWED GUM!!! Talk about instant viruses! It was soooooooo nasty!!! We took a picture in front of it. It was the coolest thing EVER!!! 😀

Want some gum? Ever again?

On July 23rd, we took a ferry from Bainbridge Island to Seattle.

The day was beautiful, with sun, blue skies, and a great, clear view of Mount Rainier. After the 30-minute ferry ride, we got off and started to explore the city. I liked all the tall buildings, shops, and the loud noise and groups of people; it reminded me a lot of home. I get so tired of being out in the middle of nowhere, so it was nice to be around lots of people.

It was such a clear day, Mt. Rainier was crystal clear across Puget Sound.

We walked around town, seeing all the cool buildings and statues and whatnot. We walked unto this little waterfall garden and we saw a wedding party getting their pictures taken. We saw a bunch of trees wearing brightly-colored tree socks, and then… *gasps in fake horror* Dad and Jean found a national park, Klondike Gold Rush National Park. Of course, we had to go inside and do JUNIOR RANGER PACKETS. (Bleh.) But the museum was actually pretty cool. After we finished those up, we realized that we were getting hungry. We found a delicious Indian place and then after our bellies were full, we had to catch our ferry back to Bainbridge Island. The mountain wasn’t as clear, but it was still gorgeous.

In Seattle, the trees wear sweaters!

Then, when we got off the ferry, tired from our long day, Wes was waiting for us by the RV! It was a nice surprise. We met Wes back at our campground, and then us kids went to bed while Dad and Wes chatted it up in the living room. I was EXHAUSTED. It was a fun and busy day!!! 😀

Seattle was full of cool statues.

At Eagle Tree RV Park, Daddy went outside and came back in the RV with some salmonberries. Me and Ellie went out to play for just a tiny bit and then came back in and went to bed. In the morning, me and Ellie went out to play and we started picking some salmonberries. Then Stella and Greta came out, too. We picked and lot and came inside again. I asked Mom for a container. I got a plastic cup and picked more salmonberries. They were really good. It was really fun to go around and pick them and to eat them. We picked some blackberries, too, but I couldn’t really pick them because I had shorts on and the blackberries had thorns and I couldn’t get to them. But then I put long pants on. Then it was time to go into Seattle and ride the ferry.

On July 22, we came into Washington in the early morning. We arrived in Bellingham at around seven or eight a.m. on the ferry, and we looked around and then drove on to Seattle. Then we took a ferry to another island, (I don’t know the name) and then we drove to Poulsbo, the town where our campground is. We pulled into a spot, ate lunch, and sacked out. We were all SO tired from the week before of having almost no sleep.

When we woke up, I did the dishes *stomps feet* and then Wes, one of my dad’s good friends, came to our campground. The last time I saw him I was about two or three, so I didn’t really remember him, but he was really super nice. We hung out with him for a while in the RV and then we decided to get some dinner in Poulsbo.

Wes recommended a great little pizza place in town, so that’s where we went. It was SO delicious. After we ate, we went to have ice cream. I had peppermint, and I loved it. *licks lips*

By that time it was getting late and we were all getting tired, so we went back to the RV and drove back to the campground. We said goodbye to Wes and then went to bed. It was a fun day and I’m really glad I got to meet Wes again! 🙂

Pizza! Poulsbo!

July 22, at around 6:AM, our ferry arrived in Bellingham, WA. We had slept (little) on the ferry floor for two nights and we were exhausted. We hauled all our stuff back down to the RV on the car deck and waited for our turn to drive off the ferry.

Ellie and Ana completely sacked out during the trip down to Bainbridge.

We drove through Bellingham and made our way south toward Bainbridge Island, across the Puget Sound from Seattle, where we would get to hang out for a couple of days with my dear friend, Wes. Along the way, we stopped at a roadside stand for some organic cherries and raspberries to have with our breakfast cereal. They were fabulous. We rode one more ferry, but just a little one across the sound to the quaint town of Port Townshend, WA. We pulled into a campground near Poulsbo, WA in the early afternoon. And napped, hard.

On June 7 we went to a Hobby Lobby in Spokane, WA, to look for pipe cleaners and hair for our wee folks. Wee folks are little dolls that we made ourselves. They look like little fairy people. They have wings made out of flower petals. To make them, you shape the pipe cleaner into their body and wrap string around their feet to make boots. You wrap string around the arms for their skin. For the girls, you cut out only the shirt and you cut bigger holes in the flower petals for their skirt. For the boys, you cut out their shirt and pants and sew them on. Then you put the hair on, but we didn’t have any hair.

Wee folks like to hang out in the garden

We looked all over until I spotted the hair. We got black, brown, orange, and blond hair. After that we went to look for pipe cleaners but they did not have any. After that we went to Joe Ann’s Fabrics, where we found the pipe cleaners. My mom found a book that showed you how to crochet stuff. She told us that she would make us each a poncho. We all got really excited about that. We all went to go pick out a color that we wanted. When we came back my mom told us that we had to find this exact same kind of yarn. We looked around and could not find it. So Mommy got a different kind of yarn. She is making Stella’s first.

After our shopping, we drove to Coeur d’Alene, ID. We picked up some groceries and then we drove to a place where we had no idea where we were, and Daddy went into a store. We waited for him for a long time until he returned carrying six big, white cups with colored straws. He handed one to each of us and named a fruit for each straw color. Mine was orange. Then we realized they were all huckleberry shakes! They were really good! It was my first huckleberry shake. We all thanked Daddy over and over for the great surprise.