Hello, and welcome back. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve updated here, but our family has been on retreat for most of the past week, in celebration of our youngest spawn’s 31st birthday.

We spent the time over on the far side of the Kitsap Peninsula, near a small town called Seabeck, where there is a state park, which we have frequented off and on over the past 30 years. It’s across the Hood Canal from the Olympic National Forest, but even from there, you can’t easily see our West Coast Mount Olympus.

“Mount Olympus is the tallest and most prominent mountain in the Olympic Mountains of western Washington state. Often confused with the mountain of the same name in Utah, it is located on the Olympic Peninsula and is the central feature of Olympic National Park. Mount Olympus reaches 7,956 ft above sea level, ranking it 5th in the state of Washington.

What’s odd about this prominent mountain is that you can only see it from Hurricane Ridge and other mountain peaks (or an airplane). The mountain is hidden from view from Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Sequim, and even Port Angeles, with other mountains obstructing the view. It is the third most isolated peak in Washington State. Even though the mountain is often hidden from view, it is a right of passage for mountain climbers with three summits to choose from.” (https://www.myolympicpark.com/things-to-do/mt-olympus)

But, that isn’t where we were, I just find it a bit of interesting trivia about our state. /shrug/

Where we were, is Scenic Beach State Park, just over 100 miles from where we live. Scenic Beach State Park is a 121-acre camping park with 1,500 feet of saltwater beachfront on Hood Canal, with its views of Mount Olympus hovering over the toothy Olympic mountain range, welcoming everyone.

 

For many years, we camped here every autumn, as a community organization (NWCOG) to which we belonged held an annual retreat,  called the Mabon Campout.  But that organization disbanded roughly 15 years ago, and we stopped coming every year.

 

Last year, the “kids” (our eldest and youngest) and I went to the Summerstar Festival, which had moved to a new location from the Columbia River Gorge a couple of years back; it was the first time we had been in several  years, as the previous site had many issues, most notably, a lack of good shade, and as the event was held during the summer months, it was hot.

 

However, Dear Spouse couldn’t get time off from work to go with us, and so a couple of months later, she and the kids took a trip bacl to Scenic Beach. They enjoyed it so much, that this year, instead of doing the festival thing, we decided to take a family camping trip on our own, and reconnect with the park.

We spent several days, not quite a full week, but the spouse’s workplace couldn’t let her be away that long. It was lovely. There was very little outside contact, other than a few friends who came by on the Youngest’s birthday to celebrate it with us. I even managed to keep my cell phone (mostly) turned off (I was expecting some packages to be delivered while we were gone and had to check for delivery notices – at least that’s my story, nd I’m sticking to it!)

The cat, however, has not made up his mind if we are forgiven or not yet, as he was boarded and groomed while we were gone. This was also traumatic for him, as two weeks ago, his housemate went somewhere and did not return. (She had to be put to sleep due to kidney failure, and we miss her very much.)

All in all, it was a much needed break, and although we still haven’t managed the post-trip recuperation, and spouse had to work the past two day (she’s off Sundays and Mondays), we’re hoping that by the time the work week now reappears, we will all be more fully functional. And yes, I take a lot of upward-facing photographs of trees. There’s simply no way to get the full thing in the camera view, unless I do more contortions that I’m willing.