Port Townsend Weekend

A few months ago, our friends Jimmy and Mariann planned a weekend trip to Port Townsend for our two families.  Earlier this week, Mariann had to have emergency surgery, so I assumed we would cancel the trip.  After much discussion, we all decided that she would be able to relax even better away from home and would have six extra people to wait on her if we kept our plans.  Since Mariann's mom had come to town to help out after the surgery and was flying home Saturday morning, Brad and I and the kids went up Friday night, and Jimmy, Mariann and Izaac joined us Saturday afternoon.

Saturday morning, the view from our balcony looked like this:

Next time we're bringing the kayaks! 

Since we had a few hours before the Wises arrived, we decided to drive over to Fort Worden and play in the bunkers. 

This is the bunker down by the beach, for those of you who have been there (this was my first time!)  We're standing at the very top of a three story cement structure, with railings that are definitely not up to current safety codes!  I don't think safety codes were invented 100 years ago... Notice the look on Jillian's face, she's trying really hard not to look down!

Inside the bunkers are these cool narrow passageways that are pitch black!  We didn't bring our flashlight, but fortunately I had the camera, so by holding down the button half-way, I was able to turn on the "red eye reducer" and shine an orange light in front of us so we could see where we were going.  And every so often I'd take a picture, which set off the flash.  I was pretty impressed with the way the flash lit things up.  These pictures were honestly taken in total darkness!

There were all sorts of cool stairways on the outside of the bunker, too.

The beach was beautiful, but it was pretty windy and cold, so we didn't go down to the sand.

I love this picture of Jillian.  It looks like she's in a picture frame.  The colors in bunker were so in harmony with winter.  Greys, whites, dull greens and blues. 

After we'd explored the "beach bunker" for a while, we drove up the hill and then walked up to the upper bunkers. 

This is where my dad takes the scouts on an outing every fall to play Capture the Flag.  There's at least 1/2 a mile of bunkers waiting to be explored! 

Ben was so excited about going into the dank, dark tunnels.  One time he went in ahead of us and when we got to the end, he wasn't there.  I called his name and he didn't answer.  I was totally freaked out for a second, until he popped around a corner, giggling.  He obviously hasn't ever watched a horror flick!

Kylie wanted to climb on top of everything she could, and of course Ben followed her. 

Every time we saw a small room with a door, Ben asked if it was the jail.  We finally found what we thought could have been the jail, but the sign says it's the store house.  Bummer.

Some of you know I have a thing for doors.  I don't know why, but I'm very attracted to pictures of doors.  These were too good to pass up!  Look at the colors, the textures, the details.  What's inside?  Where do they lead?  One of them I took a picture of had profanity graffitied on it; I didn't even notice until Brad pointed it out.  I decided not to post that one.  Now that Ben knows how to read, it's pretty hard to explain why people write certain things in really big letters all over walls!

All that running around left us with a big appetite!  Fat Smitty's was only five minutes away from where we stayed, so of course we had to stop for lunch.   I finally got to eat there!  Every other time I've stopped, they've been closed.  Of course I made the kids pose in front of the giant burger, even though they were starving. 

When we pulled up, we saw my dad's red pickup truck with a bunch of bicycles in the back!  He always stops at Fat Smitty's after Scout outings, and yesterday he had taken the boys up to the Discovery Trail for a bike outing to train for their big bike trip this summer.  We had no idea he was going to be there at the same time, but it sure was a treat to eat at Fat Smitty's with my dad!

And it was a treat for Kylie to eat with three of her adoring fans!

The Wises arrived a little later that afternoon, and we spent the rest of the weekend like this: