After homeschool on our second day at the Quinault Casino we drove South to the nearest vehicular beach access. Cars can be driven on this length of Washington’s shoreline, so we drove North for a bit on the beach and then got out to walk.
The kids took it upon themselves to make sure that the birds got in their flight time for the day:
The ocean carves out interesting patterns around driftwood:
The kids found a long strand of kelp:
B stood at the rear bumper of the truck to compare the kelp’s length with that of the truck:
In the afternoon, I rode north to check out how to access Copalis airstrip, the only public airstrip in the US which is in fact on the beach. Turns out access is three miles north at Rosevelt Beach, followed by a three mile drive south on the beach to get to the airstrip. Here’s the view from Roosevelt Beach looking south:
I won’t have time to fly my PPG from Copalis today, but hopefully on Sunday.
By late afternoon, most of the spots here at the Casino were full of RVs. We will have to find out what’s going on.
Good Shabbos from the Quinault Casino in Ocean Shores, Washington!
Last night was very windy, and I had to get up in the middle of the night to stow the WiFi cowling, which had blown off the roof of the RV where I store it when it’s been unscrewed. Towards dawn, I got up again and hitched the RV up to the truck since the RV was moving around in the wind so much that I was worried the front jacks would snap off.
The high winds continued this morning. After homeschool, we wandered down to the beach where we leaned back into the wind:
Last night’s storm flooded the path from the casino to the beach:
Before dinner, the kids built the Great Wall of China out of sugar cubes as part of geography class. They also recorded another Roadschool Minute podcast, which we will post in the future:
Towards sunset, the sun actually came out for a couple minutes. Hopefully we will have better weather tomorrow!
This morning we left Walmart and drove down to Willie’s Coin Laundry. Something had gone horribly wrong with another customer’s wash cycle, resulting in many cubic feet of suds being generated. M couldn’t just let it go to waste:
After finishing up the laundry and doing a bit of homeschool, we drove down to the Feiro Marine Life Center, which has a number of aquaria and touch tanks showcasing local intertidal and marine life:
The docent showed us around, sharing with us interesting facts about the various creatures:
Here, the docent is explaining to us the life cycle of the female octopus:
Feeling a Sea Urchin:
For me, the highlight was picking up a living sand dollar, flipping it over, and watching its hundreds of legs wiggling around.
Our last stop was the used bookstore to trade in read books and buy a new set of used books. We then drove back to Walmart to overnight.
Tomorrow should be a big day. Rainforests! Beaches! Casinos! Stay tuned.
Today we packed up to head North. M faked wheelies for the camera by applying rear brake and pulling up and back on the motorcycle, then lifting up his feet as the motorcycle came down:
Trish built a sensory table for Z and dyed noodles to go in it. B and Z tested it out:
Last minute trampoline fun:
We said goodbye to Liz and Jason and their two kids and headed North, working our way around the Eastern edge of the Olympic Mountains. Tonight we are guests of the Jamestown S’Klallam Tribe of Washington, overnighting at their Seven Cedars Casino near Blyn, Washington. See the trip map for today’s drive and our current location.
Good Shabbos from Blyn, Washington! We will see you on the blog tomorrow, or as they say here in the native nəxʷsƛ̕ay̕əmúcən (Klallam), k̕ʷənnúŋə caʔn ʔaʔ či kʷáči.
We woke up to another rainy day here in Olympia. B worked on her science lesson, here observing the volume of gas created by a chemical reaction:
M has graduated from fried egg sandwiches and is now making scrambled eggs:
Trish and B made stamps to decorate the fable that B wrote for writing class. The moral of the story was “never be afraid to wear mismatched socks”:
Around noon, we drove into Olympia to tour the Washington state captiol. We were excited to compare it to the Nevava stata capitol and Yukon Territorial capitol that we had previously toured. This building is the last domed state capitol built in the US. It also has the largest masonry dome in the US, and has one of the largest collections of Tiffany light fixtures in the world.
Guided tours are given on the hour, and our tour had just the four of us and another couple:
That chandelier above us weighs 10,000 pounds, is large enough to contain a Volkswagen Beetle inside it, and hangs from a 2,000 pound chain. The docent told us that it took weeks to stop swaying after the 2001 earthquake:
The captiol building has a small ballroom:
The unofficial 42 star flag, commissioned to include Washington as the 42nd state. It was never used because flags were only issued annually on the fourth of July, and Idaho became a state that same year on July 3rd as the 43rd state:
View of the main dome:
The House chambers:
Another view of the main dome:
The Senate chambers:
Lots of amazing details here:
Another unofficial 42 star flag:
1930s era staff office:
The exterior doors weigh 4,000 pounds each and are 4 inches thick:
It’s quite the edifice:
We also briefly visited the “Temple of Justice”, where the supreme court works. It was the first building built in the capitol district:
The big chairs:
The law library:
From the capitol, we drove to Lacey where we dropped off Tricia and B at Shipwreck Beads, one of the largest bead stores in the US. Liz would meet them there and bring them home:
M and I bought parts for the truck and RV, as well as stop at Lowes for parts for a project Trish is working on. I think I turned my back for a bit too long:
We then came home and replaced a fuse in the truck, replaced the faulty water heater switch I found a couple days ago, and replaced the anode rod in the RV water heater. Can you tell which one is the old one and which one is new?
Tomorrow we will head North to the Olympic Peninsula. Stay tuned!
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