!!!! ROAD TRIP !!!!

Big weekend! 

So this weekend the girls (Shannon, Janelle, and myself) decided to take a road trip to do some sight seeing. Since we are "living on the cheap" as my father would say we planned to camp everywhere we travelled and brought most of our food with us. 

We left after work on Thursday and drove to Mt. Saint Helens, but got there really late so we pretty much just set up our tent 

(I built a small fire with the aid of my headlamp though) at a vacant spot in a camp ground and went to bed, hoping to wake up early enough to leave without having to pay the 18$ fee. 

It was a success :) 

We left early the next morning and drove to the Mount Saint Helens observatory and got to see some fantastic views of Mt. Saint Helens and watched a video on the whole story behind the mountain.

This old guy with a binocular/telescope thing who I assumed was one of those people that are pretty much unofficial volunteers who just love talking to people about whatever there passion is and answering every question imaginable, well, he had a telescope set up to see herds of elk that lived around the base of the volcano. There were like eight herds or something like that, and we could also see a group of climbers that had just reached the apex which was so crazy!

So after leaving Mt. Saint Helens, we drove 2 hours to a little island called Bainbridge Island which is right across from Seattle and set up our campsite near the beach. But, on the way we found this town called Toledo and stopped to eat some pizza before heading to Seattle. 

After buying $8 worth of expired food from a mini mart, we found this really old c

ity jail built in the 1890's that was now a landmark in the city. So, obviously, we had to climb on it and do goofy poses. 

So after unpacking at Bainbridge Island we took the ferry ride over to Seattle which only took about a half hour or so. It was so pretty! 

The water was filled with giant yellow jellyfish and apparently the world's biggest species of octopus lives in Puget Sound. 

After getting into Seattle our first stop was t

he Space Needle. 

We took the looonnggg 10mph elevator ride up the middle of the building and got to see an amazing view of Seattle at night which was just beautiful. We then headed back to our campsite and hit the hay to rest up for another big day in Seattle the following day. 

In the morning I made chocolate chip pancakes for everyone, and we decided to check out the beach of Puget Sound before taking the ferry over to the city. The water was COLD, like, really cold, but Shannon and I decided to jump in anyways even though it was only for like 10 seconds because we really needed 

to bathe in something.

 So after an ice cold bath, we took her car on the ferry over to the city and parked it so we could walk around for a while.

 We first checked out the Saturday market at Pike's Place which is famous for throwing fish around and yelling a lot. There were lots of cool vendors selling clothing, jewelry, art, trinkets, etc. I got to eat lots of samples in the food section which was really nice too. 

So after leaving Seattle we drove to Forks, Washington, which is the town Twilight the movie and  books are based out of. Not only was this a Twilight town, it was a Twilight WORLD. And Shannon was dazzled. Last but not least, we went to the beach! (the Twilight beach in La Push) It was SO awesome! 

 water was freezing but I had to dip my toes in. I also found a pier next to the water with some old fishing boats I got a couple of pictures of as well. 

And this was the lovely end to our weekend road trip extravaganza! Going to California in 2 weeks for Shannon's 21st birthday hooray!!

CHEERS!!!