Dosewallips

We sneaked out of Seattle mid-week for some camping at Dosewallips state park. The park is on the Olympic peninsula, right on Hood Canal and the Dosewallips river runs along the northern boundary, so there is water everywhere. It wasn't quite warm and sunny enough for swimming, but we did a fair bit of hiking and beach combing. The boys really enjoyed looking for crabs, oysters, and clams, but Liam's favorite find by far was the partial skeleton of a harbor seal. At least, we think it's a harbor seal, given its size and the fact that we found it wedged under a piece of driftwood out in the estuary (if there are any taxonomists out there who want to provide a more accurate ID I'd be happy to send additional photos of the bones).

Camp Orkila!

Last weekend we made the trek (car-->ferry-->bus-->foot) to Camp Orkila on Orcas Island. It was awesome! The camp was organized by KapKa, a private K-2 school with close ties to Liam's preschool. The preschool families were invited to attend as well, and about a third of us went. It was really fun--there is a bunch of stuff to do at the camp, which is apparently one of the YMCA's largest in the nation. We rowed boats to the Y's teeny private island (that Liam named Goose Island because of the nesting geese we saw there) where we explored the tide pools and found crabs, limpets, sea stars, and various other creatures. We shot arrows, roasted marshmallows, sang songs, and even had a raccoon in our cabin. The whole experience makes me want to be 10 again so I can go to camp for a whole week.