Leaving Seattle 16 August 2015

We checked out of our Holiday Inn Express with our abundant luggage in order to head south for the last two days.  I had to walk and pick up a rental car--no problem right?  Wrong.  Any rental car place near the water front is a nightmare on the weekends, I soon learned.  There are hundreds of people coming and going from cruise ships and it was packed.  My customer service time was less than 10 minutes, but I was there for over 2 hours! Amazingly, the staff stayed patient and cheerful and offered to tweak my pick-up time to make it cheaper and threw in a tank of gas--so I didn't bother filling up on the way back which was nice.

And this is why I got a minivan for a couple days.  Too many bags!

We were going to hit the Woodlawn Park Zoo, but after driving through 3 packed parking lots and seeing dozens of others circling, we decided to bag it and just head south.  After a lunch stop, we got a call from Matt and he suggested checking out Point Defiance Park.  It was fantastic.  The kids started with frisbee on the lawns, followed by tree climbing.  I got impatient waiting, so walked across the path to check out the rose garden.

I wish I had something to show the scale of these trees.  The lowest branches were many feet above my head.  

Ah, Makenna.

Set up for another wedding!

I eventually talked them into walking towards the water and forest in search of berries and geocaches.  

Quick playground distraction.

They found the creepiest...fish?  Pictures below.  

Calming and lovely to look out at the water, but we turned around and went into the woods.  

Location of one of the geocaches we found. 

Another geocache.  I actually found this one!

Time for berries.  We got several handfuls of delicious ripe ones, but there were thousands of unripe ones that just teased. 

Balance was a little tricky.

They were playing on the rocks right down there a couple hours before.  Now its covered in a few feet of water.  Tides!  Now waves, but the tides are serious business.  

I finally drug them away around 7pm.  We had a view of Mt. Rainier as we finished the drive to Puyallup.  First time since we had clouds the first 5 days.  The kids had tentatively scheduled an online gaming date with David and we still hadn't checked into our hotel--in fact it was another 20 minute drive.  We got there, Jess and I ran out to get a few hiking snacks and sandwiches for dinner.  Then she swam while I popped in and out doing laundry while Isaac and Makenna battled on AoE.