Well, it's labor day weekend, and on Friday Tom and I decided that we would explore the areas around Tacoma a little more. So where did our adventurous hearts take us? --- Sequim! (pronounced Squim). It's a cute little waterfront town north west of Tacoma. We left thinking we'd hit the beach with our books and blankets for a relaxing afternoon of sun but ended up with a totally different experience!
Sequim a town notorious for Elk crossings and dungeness crabs (no we didn't get to go crabbing). But, we did get to explore the dungeness spit, a 6 mile stretch of land off of the shore of Sequim.
You have to walk about .5 miles to get down to the waterfront and on the way you can see the spit that seems to go forever into the horizon.
It's home to the Sequim lighthouse, operated by volunteers. The lighthouse is at the very end of the spit. We looked at the map, then at each other, and decided to walk the 5.5 miles to the lighthouse (it's .5 miles from the end, that's why it's only 5.5 miles).
It's also a wildlife preserve on one half of the spit so you have to walk along the ocean side which is gorgeous but it was really windy! I had a back stock of warm clothes stored in the truck that I keep there for emergencies (and cold drives :), and I'm so glad that I did. I didn't match at all, but I was warm!
We left Tacoma around 2 so we didn't get to the start of the spit till around 4:30, but we were optimistic and figured we could beat the sun, so we headed out for our adventure!
Throughout our walk we had gorgeous views in every direction. We enjoyed the sights and smells of the ocean and helped clean up the litter along the way.
I didn't get a picture, but tom found a washed up plastic baseball bat that was his walking companion on our way to the lighthouse--he was thoroughly entertained hitting rocks into the waves!
It wasn't until about 4.5 miles in that we rounded the corner and actually got a glimpse of the lighthouse.
It was gorgeous! We made it out there by around 6 p.m. only to realize that the tours of the lighthouse were only from 9-5. Luckily the volunteer living at the lighthouse spotted us outside and came out to let us in for a private tour :)
It was a very cute lighthouse, full of history. It was going to be shut down completely, but then volunteers stepped up and offered to run it for the staes. The volunteers get to stay for one week, and their job is to give the visitors tours, water and mow the lawn, polish the brass hand rails of the lighthouse (and I'm sure a bunch of other things she didn't tell us about).
From the top we had views of Mt. Baker, Victoria B.C., Whidbey Island and the cruise ships leaving out of Vancouver B.C.!
It was beautiful, and it only made us want to figure out how to become the next volunteers for the lighthouse.
It was so tranquil (even with the wind). You were excluded from the city, but you could still see a city in almost every direction. It was like your own little paradise.
It turns out that it's about a year long waitlist to be the volunteers, but Tom and I are looking into it :)
We had our fun at the lighthouse and realized that we had to race home to beat the sun. We had a head wind, cloudy weather and big waves that splashed us on the way home. It was tough! The sand seemed to be twice as difficult as it was on the way in, but the gorgeous sunset helped us along.
We only had apples and granola bars to tide us over, and when we finally made it back to land at 8:45 p.m. we were exhausted and starving. My calves are still sore! It was an adventure for sure, and one we'll never forget. (And by the way, we'd highly recommend it---but bring a picnic lunch and leave more than 4 hours before sunset!)
Sequim a town notorious for Elk crossings and dungeness crabs (no we didn't get to go crabbing). But, we did get to explore the dungeness spit, a 6 mile stretch of land off of the shore of Sequim.
You have to walk about .5 miles to get down to the waterfront and on the way you can see the spit that seems to go forever into the horizon.
It's home to the Sequim lighthouse, operated by volunteers. The lighthouse is at the very end of the spit. We looked at the map, then at each other, and decided to walk the 5.5 miles to the lighthouse (it's .5 miles from the end, that's why it's only 5.5 miles).
It's also a wildlife preserve on one half of the spit so you have to walk along the ocean side which is gorgeous but it was really windy! I had a back stock of warm clothes stored in the truck that I keep there for emergencies (and cold drives :), and I'm so glad that I did. I didn't match at all, but I was warm!
We left Tacoma around 2 so we didn't get to the start of the spit till around 4:30, but we were optimistic and figured we could beat the sun, so we headed out for our adventure!
Throughout our walk we had gorgeous views in every direction. We enjoyed the sights and smells of the ocean and helped clean up the litter along the way.
I didn't get a picture, but tom found a washed up plastic baseball bat that was his walking companion on our way to the lighthouse--he was thoroughly entertained hitting rocks into the waves!
It wasn't until about 4.5 miles in that we rounded the corner and actually got a glimpse of the lighthouse.
It was gorgeous! We made it out there by around 6 p.m. only to realize that the tours of the lighthouse were only from 9-5. Luckily the volunteer living at the lighthouse spotted us outside and came out to let us in for a private tour :)
It was a very cute lighthouse, full of history. It was going to be shut down completely, but then volunteers stepped up and offered to run it for the staes. The volunteers get to stay for one week, and their job is to give the visitors tours, water and mow the lawn, polish the brass hand rails of the lighthouse (and I'm sure a bunch of other things she didn't tell us about).
From the top we had views of Mt. Baker, Victoria B.C., Whidbey Island and the cruise ships leaving out of Vancouver B.C.!
It was beautiful, and it only made us want to figure out how to become the next volunteers for the lighthouse.
It was so tranquil (even with the wind). You were excluded from the city, but you could still see a city in almost every direction. It was like your own little paradise.
It turns out that it's about a year long waitlist to be the volunteers, but Tom and I are looking into it :)
We had our fun at the lighthouse and realized that we had to race home to beat the sun. We had a head wind, cloudy weather and big waves that splashed us on the way home. It was tough! The sand seemed to be twice as difficult as it was on the way in, but the gorgeous sunset helped us along.
We only had apples and granola bars to tide us over, and when we finally made it back to land at 8:45 p.m. we were exhausted and starving. My calves are still sore! It was an adventure for sure, and one we'll never forget. (And by the way, we'd highly recommend it---but bring a picnic lunch and leave more than 4 hours before sunset!)
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