"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105
Let the sightseeing begin!
We were so excited how the LORD worked everything out for us. We wanted to do some sightseeing but only for a couple of days and we didn't want to miss out on a good load. They are far and few between in Washington. Once again the LORD took care of everything. We unloaded Monday afternoon in Sequim, WA....got booked for a good paying load out that same day but the best part was that it didn't have to load until Friday. So that gave us three days to do some sightseeing. Which by the way was plenty. Carl said he had to go back to work so he could get some rest. He told Timothy he thought I was trying to kill him.....WHATEVERRRRR!
Day 1...We rented a car and off we went. Since Carlos has to drive all the time I decided to give him a break and do all the driving. Now, just so you know, I get road rage driving through my little bitty home town on Friday afternoons but I was willing to tackle that crazy Seattle traffic. I probably wasn't on the highway 10 minutes when I had to pull over. This very nice man walked up to the car..smiling, leaned his head in the window and said "Miss I clocked you going 71 coming around the curve. Did you realize you were going that fast?" Smiling back at him and batting my eyelashes; I said, "Yes sir, I'm sorry! I just said I had to slow down. We get to drive a little faster where I come from." He smiled checked my ID and gave me what he called "a Washington postcard." and told me to try and slow it down. Thank goodness that smile worked...just a warning! Carl could not stop laughing. He said, "Woman, you haven't even been on the road 10 minutes and already getting pulled over. You just wait until I tell Timothy about this." The speed limit was 60...REALLY...who goes 60! I told Carl I was doing what the book says...go with the flow. Carl laughed and said, "Yeah, go with the flow not pass the flow!" Just for the record I set my cruise control and did the speed limit the rest of the trip. It almost killed me but I did it.
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| My Washington postcard |
After receiving my "postcard" we were on our way once again. We headed back up north to tour Townsend then Sequim. We wanted to tour Port Angeles but it got dark and started raining on us. These small quaint little towns are located right on the coast. Our waitress in Sequim said she could look out the windows on one side of her house and see the water and look out the windows on the other side and see the mountains. She said the view made up for all the cloudy overcast days they have...like the one that day.
In Townsend we went out to Fort Worden State Park to see the lighthouse and to walk on the beach. I meant I was going to put me feet in the water and my toes in the sand. It may have been black sand but I didn't care.
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| Fort Wilson Lighthouse |
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| Oh my goodness...this water was cold! |
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This dog was so funny. He tried really hard to catch a duck...just wasn't
fast enough. |
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| Toes is the black sand. Yes I know I have flip flop lines! |
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| Path leading out to the beach. |
Townsend marina was next on our stop...boats, boats and more boats....all shapes and sizes. We watched them lower this commercial fishing boat in the water...was pretty cool.
After touring Townsend, we went to Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. It has one of the world's longest natural sand spit...5 miles long with a lighthouse at the end of it. I really wanted to walk to the lighthouse but it was starting to get dark plus it was very cold and windy. Oh, and it was lightning really bad. Standing 5 miles out in the water on a sandbar is not where I want to be when it is lightning. I kept saying, "That would be so cool! Don't you want to walk out there?" Being the good sport that he is Carl said, "Well, if you really want to we can come back tomorrow." That will just have to be an adventure for another trip.
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| Path leading back to the spit. |
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| Very tall trees |
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| 5 mile long spit |
Day 2: Mount Rainier National Park. A volcanic mountain with breathtaking waterfalls, rivers and views. The walking trails to reach some of those breathtaking views were literally breathtaking. You would have thought we were an 80 year old couple. We would stop and act like we were taking pictures so others wouldn't see how bad out of shape we are. At one of trails a little old couple passed us while we were "taking a picture." I said, "Now that is terrible when they can out do us." His response was "Well, they came prepared. They have their walking sticks with them." So I guess next time we will make sure we have our walking sticks. There is no telling how many times Carl and I both said "Wow, isn't that beautiful!" When we reached the top...6,400 feet...Carl said, "So what do you think!" I couldn't even talk. The view was so magnificent that it brought tears to my eyes. The highest point of the mountain is 14,410 feet but is only accessible by foot. We did a lot of hiking that day but we opted out of that one.
I hope the beauty comes through in the pictures. They are posted from the bottom of the mountain to the top.
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"Ma'am would you mind taking our picure?" "Yes, I will. Where are you from child?"
One word is all we had to say and people were asking where we were from. We got
so tickled at some of them because it was as if we spoke a foreign language. |
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| Admiring the view from the top 6400ft |
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| We're in the clouds now. |
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| Sunrise Point |
Day 3: Mount St. Helens National Monument....Another fabulous day! It was amazing to see the destruction this volcano caused from its eruption in 1980 and how life around the mountain is more abundant today than it was before the eruption. The eruption began with a massive landslide that filled the valley with an average of 150ft of mud, rock and huge pieces of the mountain. It destroyed 230 sq. miles of forest. The eruption changed the landscape forming 150 new ponds and wetlands.
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| Alvin!!!! |
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| The eruption blew out the side wall |
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| Stumps left from the fallen trees |
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| The mountain still has fallen trees from the eruption |
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Silver lake..it was left alone and it only 5 years for it to clean itself. It is
crystal clear now. |
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| It still has debris from the eruption |
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| Mount St. Helens in the background. |
This area of Washington is also known for its sighting of Sasquatch several years ago. Much to our surprise we were almost attacked by him after we left Mount St. Helens. He is a very large and scary creature. It's amazing we made it out of there alive!
As we were reading and learning about the destruction from Mount St. Helens I got to thinking about the storms that we face in our daily lives. There are so many different levels of storms..thunderstorms with little destruction, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and the eruption of a volcano. We go through similar storms in our own lives. The amount of damage is determined by the kind of storm. If we know the storm is coming we can prepare for it. Just like in our lives the amount of pain and suffering we go through is determined by the storm we are faced with. Losing a love one is always difficult but when you know that time is coming and you can prepare for it it makes dealing with the loss a little easier than when faced with the sudden tragic loss of a love one. I was amazed at how quickly and abundantly life has grown at Mount St. Helens since the eruption. They left everything along and let nature ...at the hands of God.... take its course. One by one the animals started returning and with them they traipsed in seeds. So slowly plant life started returning. This should be the same for us. God is there and wants to get us through whatever it is we are dealing with. If we just leave things alone and lean on him slowly the storm will pass and we will come out of it stronger than we were before.
A year ago Carl and I woke up to a beautiful August day. What started out as a beautiful, sunny, calm, enjoyable day quickly turned into one of the worse storms we have been faced with in our lives. It was definitely the calm before the storm. I never asked "Why us LORD?" but I did ask "What I am suppose to learn from this?" I remember waking up in the middle of the night just craving scripture and the closeness of the LORD. That is exactly what He wanted. Before that day I read my Bible, I prayed, I tithed, I went to Sunday School and Church. The problem...I was not consistent at all. Through that experience I learned to truly trust in the LORD and depend on Him for EVERYTHING even the tiniest of the tiny things. Nothing is to small for Him. I now read a devotion daily, pray all the time and just have conversations with Him, and the first thing we do when we get a check is tithe. We didn't come out of that storm over night but just as life came back to the mountain so has abundant life come back to us. Our faith, trust and love for the LORD is so much stronger than it was before.
We may not know when a storm or a volcanic eruption will happen in our lives but we can be prepared for that moment. By putting our faith and trust in the LORD and bathing ourselves in His word we will come out of the storm stronger than ever before. The LORD is with us always. He is right there holding out His hand and waiting to carry us through. All we have to do is grab His hand and hold on.
There were several verses that really helped me and continue to help me today. The main one was "Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not on thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct my paths." Proverbs 3:5-6. It was amazing how many people quoted that verse or even sent cards with that verse on it when we were going through the storm. It was definitely a God thing. He was right there. Storms are going to come there is no doubt about that but if we put our faith in God we'll come out stronger on the other side. When all you have is sunshine, all you get is a desert.
Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not on thine own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5
Til we meet again!
Only by Grace!
Lynne
