Even though my birthday isn't until Tuesday, Mike planned an amazing 3 day weekend backpacking trip.
We started out by dropping the kids off at the McOmber's for a day and then they went off to Spencer & Kathie's... Thank goodness for wonderful family! After that, we caught the midnight ferry and headed to Port Angeles for the night.
The next morning we went to the visitors center in Port Angeles and asked the woman working there a very common question, "If you only had enough time to do one thing in the city what would you do?" She replied, "Well, there's really not much to do around here." Let's think about this...She's a woman, who works at the visitor's center. Isn't it her job to tell visitors like us how wonderful their city is? hmmmm.
Amazingly, we found interesting things to do without any suggestions from the visitor center. But we seemed to find ourselves in a very dangerous predicament along the waterfront trail. A very large octopus grabbed me and tried to devour me! Mike saw what was happening and ran to my rescue. He is my hero. I'm fine now.
From Port Angeles, we drove a couple of hours from there to the Ozette trail head and started our hike. It was POURING down rain for the entire 3 miles in. Because of this, my practical husband decided that in order for the contents of our pack to stay dry, we needed to look like the junk lady on labrynth.
At least we look happy even with enormous humps on our backs.
It was a beautiful place to camp and the rain stopped in time for the sunset!
Mike did all the extra work like setting up the tent and cooking. It was a special treat to be waited upon.
We woke up the next morning and when I came out of the tent I saw about 50 bald eagles flying close to our campsite. We decided to hike over to the eagles after a delicious helping of peaches n' cream instant oatmeal. We layed in the grass losing track of time and happily watching them for awhile and then... it started to hail. 
We saw a shelter and ran for it. We went inside and were suprised to find that it was full of whale bones. We discovered that it was a memorial for the local tribe. The whale bones are a tribute to their ancestors since the whale is their totem. Later on in the trip we also saw petroglyphs from pre-colonial times. (in the picture where we look like the junk lady).
We had lots of fun adventures exploring and I am embarrassed to say that at one point I slipped on some wet driftwood and fell upside down in the middle of a big stack of driftwood. My pack was so heavy that I couldn't even get up and needed help. Yes, I am clumsy at times. By the end we camped in two different locations and hiked about 12 miles.
It was an amazing weekend full of relaxation, amazement, and adventure! Here are some other random pictures that might be of interest.
