lake quinault

we've been visiting the lake quinault lodge since before the kids were born, it's one of our favorite places! we skipped last year and really missed it, so we took advantage of the kids' mid-winter break and enjoyed a few sunny days in the Olympic rain forest.
measuring up at the rain guage...neil, alan, larry and landon - their friend who came along

not a cloud in the sky - in february! in washington! in the rain forest!

our favorite little hiking trail was completely changed this year, after a recent storm with winds up to 130 mph. it used to be very dark and dense with trees, and now the trail is more open, with cut-through trees like these lining the way.

alan's bigfoot impression

...and what I call his "not-so-bright bigfoot" impression

there was even some snow around

we had to climb through and around lots of big craters like this - the big pile on the left is the mass of roots from a huge tree that fell to the left and created a big muddy hole

elk poo! the road we take to look for roosevelt elk was closed due to the storm, but we saw lots of evidence that they are resorting to 'people trails' to get around.

larry, neil, landon and alan

tree hugger alan

the best thing about this year's visit! the sutton family was passing by on the way to their own mid-winter vacation at kalaloch lodge on the coast. we were so happy they stopped by to have lunch and visit

megan can really skip those stones!

we couldn't hold back big laughs when ella kept bending over to pick up rocks and flashed us her little "plumber's crack" :)

natalie's first visit to the lake

the girls in the gazebo

ping pong in the lodge


and chess, too.

neil enjoying the sunset view from our balcony

pool time

the boys climbing on a waterfall

paddle harder, larry!

the lodge's restaurant is called the Roosevelt Room because FDR visited in 1937 before establishing the Olympic National Park. We always request this table because it's where Roosevelt sat. No one can tell us for sure which chair he sat in, but we're pretty sure it was where Alan is sitting, so that's the chair we fight over :)