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Published: August 26th 2013
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August 22 – 23
th, 2013
The Olympic Peninsular is home to, I’m assuming, some wonderful scenic forests and mountains. It can’t be that dissimilar to British Columbia after all and we have in the past explored a little of it. And this visit we‘ve travelled over beautiful glacier blue rivers en route to the coast and have been tempted by forest trails and waterfalls but the truth is we only have 4 whole days here and the coast, like a giant thunderous magnet, draws us every time.
On Thursday we travelled the same stretch as the day before, taking us back through Forks to reach Ruby Beach a bit lower down on the Pacific Coast. Another glorious day of sun so we eat lunch on yet another idyllic beach and stay a few hours, lounging in the heat and playing on the logs, sand and surf.
At least one harbour porpoise (yet another animal to add to our ever-growing list) and a couple of seals (or quite possibly seal lions?) were frolicking in the waters in front of us and with the pelicans diving headlong into the ocean in search of fish we were provided with as much
Ruby Beach
Always on the look out for passing wildlife! fascinating entertainment as we could wish for.
As the sun warmed my feet to the extent that I needed to remove my socks and walking boots I attempted once again to cool them off in the sea but only succeeded in turning them into painful blocks of ice instead. Some daft woman in just a swimsuit was actually up to her waist in the sea as we arrived. I imagine it will be several days before she can feel her legs again.
Unfortunately the walk down to the beach, despite being lovely, was very short so little exercise was had. We tried to make up for it by walking as far along the beach as we could but I think hopes rest on next week in North Vancouver for some serious mountain climbing again to shift a few of these extra calories we’re inevitably consuming.
Friday August 22
nd finds me typing a few lines of this blog but mostly staring out of the picture window. It didn’t help that earlier, while eating breakfast, I spotted a billowing of air and then the huge, speckled-grey, barnacled covered body of a grey whale rose out of the water. We
were all on our feet and by the window in seconds and it’s been difficult to drag ourselves completely away ever since.
Matthew is doing a few division and multiplication sums I’ve set for him while Sam is writing a comparison of Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution. It seems he has found a subject that has caught his attention. Animal Farm is the book Sam would have been studying in English come September so we picked up a second hand copy in Vancouver and Sam read it pretty quickly. It is thankfully quite short. He then wrote quite a bit about the Russian Revolution, which obviously piqued his interest because he didn’t need too much encouragement to do it. And now he’s comparing the two. Obviously George Orwell’s little novella is a good choice for Year 9 boys.
Shame he’s not doing the Russian Revolution in History but I’m sure he’ll come to it eventually. What they are doing in History is the First and Second World Wars and Sam’s already tackled a few essays on that. We’ve found a few sample questions aimed at his age for him to tackle. Once again, little persuasion required, as
the topic of war and aircraft was enticing enough. (Slightly worryingly but no doubt unsurprising considering sex and age).
Steve is clicking away on the computer, every now and again laughing out loud as he’s also listening to the cricket commentary while supposedly working. Phil Tufnell is quite the comedian it would seem.
We’ve decided we owe it to this cosy little cabin in this fabulous location to stay around the place today. The boys can continue with a bit of work and we’ll spend a fair time on the beach as well as play some more of these great board games. Tomorrow we have over 5 hours of driving plus a ferry to get us back to North Vancouver so no driving today is good.
Come the end of the day and we’ve seen another couple of grey whales, a group of orcas and huge fish jumping out of the sea, which we assume must be salmon. And without even leaving our place!
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