Seaquest State Park (Trial trip part 3 and we are home)

After leaving Cape Disappointment as we are driving I am constantly looking out the window at the scenery and looking for wildlife. As we were driving I was getting a snack out for the girls when Sierra yells..."mommy look at those!" and I barely had time to pick up the camera and snap off a photo of the elk. We have seen a few on different days on this trip but I have never been quick enough to get a picture snapped off. Luckily Sierra saw them way off in the distance, and I had time to scramble for the camera. Not an excellent shot but a photo non the less.

We are headed to Seaquest State Park which is very close to the I5 so we can hop on it in the am and head home.

We arrived and took a quick drive around the park as it is self service this time of year. The park was empty. There was no one around at all and only 2 other campers arrived that night. We chose campsite #4 a pull through with electric and water service, a nice open area with the picnic area behind us and playground a crossed the road and lots of space for the kids to roam, explore and discover.

We took a quick walk to investigate a small playground just a hop skip and a jump away. It was a bit too big for Aayla but she made out just fine. There was a second playground as well that daddy made it to with the girls that had a couple of swing sets just on the other side of the picnic area.

Sierra collecting fallen branches for her wedding bouquet

as she walks along humming...here comes the bride!

The sun was shinning through the trees when we arrived so it was a nice little walk before heading out to Mt St Helens. The cashier at Safeway said to hurry up as fast as we could because the clouds roll in and cancel all hopes of any view at all. The drive up was pretty with lots of scenic over views.

With the warm sun shining down as we left we were ill prepared for this:

very snowy scene we quickly came upon as we climbed the mountain on our way to the Mt St Helens Visitor Centre.

FYI this time of year the momuments and visitor centres are closed. Closed to people and closed to cars. It would have been nice to be able to at least get into the parking lot instead of having to brave the snowbanks. Ian ended up with a couple of wet feet but made it in to at least read the signs. We popped into the main visitors centre right beside Seaquest as we pulled in but it was closing at 4 and we wanted to hurry up before we lost all chance of a view. It would have been nice if they informed me that everything was closed up before we left so we could have packed up the boots instead of just informing me that the road is 40 miles long...owell we had a fun drive anyway even if all we could see was this:

Right at the top of this photo above is where the volcano top is and yes, it is right behind the clouds as Murphys law would have it! If you have a really good imagination you can see through the clouds...LOL!

The next morning the girls had a quick bath, (yes they both fit in our little tub) we packed up and hit the road for home. Getting out of the park was a bit narrow but slowly and surly we made it out with no scratches :)

And then somewhere before Tacoma we saw a Cabela's on the left.

We have never been to Cabela's before as we don't have them near us in Canada. Let's just say as we pulled in I was amazed at how crowed the parking lot was and I couldn't image that all these cars were here for this store. The parking lot was huge and full and there was nothing else around so...

As we entered the store our jaws hit the ground I am sure. It was huge and it was 2 stories and even though the parking lot was jammed, the building was so big it didn't feel busy at all. We managed to dwindle away 2 hours in there. The girls loved the Mountain of taxidermies (animals of all shapes, types and sizes) and the mini aquarium inside.

I bought a pair of binoculars (Nikon Monarch 10X42 ATB) which should be more then I need but with the girls I wanted something durable, water proof and with a great warranty!

Ian got a scope for his Robson Arms XCR (the gun of his dreams he recently purchased...I must say it is taking me some time to get used to the guns as I have always been anti guns even in imaginative play with the kids...but I am trying to open up and might even visit a range with him this week so he can site it in???), a wood splitting axe (we had a heck of a time with the firewood this trip), and some other odds n ends...

Which makes me think about this post at Big Dawg and Freeway I read last night about gadgets...funny no matter how compact we are in our RV's there is always room for the gadgets and it's amazing at how quickly our lists of gadgets grow. We have a long list of iphones, laptops, GPS's, many cameras but there always seems to be something else on the wishlist...like an ipad, or a new camera lens... the possibilities are endless! How many gadgets do you have? What are your favourites and what could you have done without? We are considering an in dash GPS as we left home without our portable one on our trial trip and really missed it.

Overall our trial trip was a huge success, despite the rain and cloud cover, we had lots of fun exploring new areas, making new memories and getting a better taste for life on the road! With about 20 days left before our maiden voyage we need to get fixated on finding an internet solution as with the amount of time it takes to sift through pictures, edit them, upload them and write about them, an occasional hour at the coffee shop just won't cut it :) Any suggestions? And what about satellite?

WELCOME to PB & J Adventures! Thanks for joining us on our journey!