U.S Roadtrip: WA is for Washington

We left our long stop by Flathead lake in Montana to head west. Did a quick stop at a colleague of Alex in Cour d'Alene, ID, before entering into Washington state. Beautiful drive and very surprising that there is plenty of dessert in Washington. I had no idea! Dessert so close to rain forest! 

Our first stop in Washington was Spokane, where Alex spoke and we enjoyed the pool at a very nice camp ground. 

Gabriel has gotten so brave and jumps with no hesitation!

 

On the road again... Now heading to Seattle and one of the suburbs - Puyallup. We got there late and parked in a Walmart parking lot for the night (the next night would be in an hotel!!!).

On the way we made a quick stop at Ginko Petrified Forest State Park, where we could see fossilized trees. Pretty cool!

Walmart parking lot is good for many things! :-)

Alex spoke at a church in Puyallup in the morning and after having lunch with the pastor and his family we headed north to Lynnwood. After checking in at the hotel where we would spend the night. Whoop! Whoop! Me and the boys took the ferry over to the peninsula where the Olympic National Park is. I was really looking forward to a night at an hotel. Little did I know how short it would be...

Me and the boys went to visit a friend of me who lives there. I was there maybe 12 years ago last time so it was great to be back. She took the boys for a drive on her property while I had some time with her other guests, a family I had met many many ears ago in Dallas, TX. I used to babysit the mom of the family :-) Now she has three children and they all arrived the same day I came to visit.

View from the livingroom

Just having a good time with my friends and did not think about the ferry that we needed to take back to the hotel.... and long story short we missed the last ferry with less than five minutes. The ferry we took over to the peninsula was more than ten minutes late so I was hoping this one would be, too, but no... Luckily the people working by the ferry was still there and could direct me to another ferry what we could possibly catch, if we drove fast enough. It was about one our away... We made it to that one and got over the bay and back to the hotel, where we arrived around 3am... Luckily Alex woke up and could help me carry all the kids in since they were all sleeping... We probably did not look like the most responsible parents at that time. Lol!

Breakfast at the hotel. So good!!!

 Then back on the road again!

Crossing Columbia River, entering Oregon!