Day 4 (aka "the day we discovered the best restaurant on Earth")

Well, maybe not "on Earth" but certainly on the Olympic peninsula and certainly in the opinion of three fairly picky children (and one picky spouse). Here's the set-up: we're tired of eating breakfast at the cabin and not too excited to repeat the overly greasy breakfast mistake from day 1. We saw a little place on the way back from the Olympic Game Farm and we decide to try it out. Everywhere food prices are about 20% higher than they are here at home (not surprising given the complications of transporting goods to the area) but we're on vacation so we decide to go for it. The kids order up their favorite breakfasts - eggs, potatoes, and toast for C; an animal-shaped pancake for A; and two orders of sourdough toast with butter for R. K got a cheese omelet and I got a big ol' pile of veges and some breakfast taters (I would normally get eggs but the wild and twisty ride of the day before still had my stomach feeling a little wonky and eggs never EVER help that). The kids got Italian sodas with cream and whipped cream, K got orange juice (the quality of which separates the good breakfast from the great), and I got some really good coffee. Here's the kicker - at the end of our meal, all that was left behind was a small piece of A's pancake that she had saturated in syrup so completely that it was inedible. Their toast was proclaimed to be the best ever (and I agree with the kids, it was exceedingly good) and our server as well as the owner of the place, Larry, were really fun and helpful and gave us great ideas of how to spend our day a little closer to Sequim. Bonus points all around. This wouldn't be our last trip to the Old Mill this vacation. I do feel a little guilty for cheating on The Rainbow, though...

Then, on Larry's recommendation, we went for a walk along the old railroad trail and enjoyed fooling around on the RR bridge while our (large) breakfast settled.

Then, we went back to our cabin for a little bit and decided to go explore the Dungeness Spit. There we saw bald eagles, fish, crabs, and lots of people having a good ol' time. We hiked a little bit, enjoyed the views a lot, and enjoyed watching the BIG ships in the distance as they made their way through the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Once everyone was good and hot (this was our first warm day), we decided to head back to our cabin and have a little pond-exploring fun before we went out for a hike in the evening at Hurricane Ridge. Hurricane Ridge is Olympic National Park's answer to Rocky Mountain National Park's Trail Ridge Road. The scenery was extraordinary, the roadside drop-offs were droppy-offy, and the wildlife were alarmingly tame.

There's no doubt that the views were incredible and there must be miles and miles of amazing backpacking routes but for the drive-by observer who is accustomed to high-mountain scenery, it didn't blow my mind (shame, really... living in Colorado has its disadvantages *wink*). Then, back to the cabin and off to bed to get ready for our next day of adventure.