Long Beach Peninsula

We left Whidbey Island and drove south toward Seattle, stopping off to see a lighthouse in Mukilteo. The lighthouse was closed, but we met a volunteer coming out, and when she heard we were from Texas, she took the girls passport books to have them stamped and gave them shells, stickers, and postcards. Most of the people we meet are so nice and so willing to go out of their way for us--or at least for my cute girls!

From Seattle, we headed back toward the coast at the far southwest point of Washington. We stayed in Long Beach and drove up and down this great, homey peninsula that looks like a 1960s beach resort. Carousel, museum of curiosities, the whole bit. The free museum's main attraction is Jake, the Alligator Boy. I didn't take the girls, but I bet it's something a 10-year-old would love.

We hiked to the lighthouses at North Head and Cape Disappointment. North Head Lighthouse is taller and had a beautiful view, but we liked the black and white stripes on Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. On the way to Cape Disappointment Lighthouse, we passed Dead Man's Cove. It was a lovely cove with a beautiful sheltered beach, but the beach was closed because the paths down were too treacherous. Gloria did not accept that story easily, but she smiled for a picture at the overlook. At the end of the hike, the girls were tired and happy to find a bench to stretch out on.

We also visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretative Center. When I talked to Gloria later about where the expedition camped and how they hiked from Station Camp to Cape Disappointment, she said, "But I didn't see them there." History is a little abstract for a 5 year old, I guess.

Her favorite thing, as always, was walking on the beach and watching the animals. There are a lot of shore birds at the Willapa Wildlife Refuge at the tip of Long Beach Peninsula, and we hiked out a little way along the beach there.