please take my money

i am already completely enamored with how green washington is, but the hoh rainforest in olympic national park is green on an entirely different scale. green underfoot, green overhead, green hanging from every branch. truly stunning. loved, loved, loved it.

every turn looked like the forest had been left alone to invent another kind of green.

we went on the fourth of july, when admission was free. a bargain, technically. the two-hour line of cars was less of a bargain.

i do not recommend visiting on a holiday. national park service: please take my money. whatever it costs to never spend two hours waiting to enter a rainforest again.

so brave

roy and brandon were visiting, so we took a little tour around seattle harbor and out into the sound. seattle managed to give us exactly one evening of sunshine before the rain arrived, which felt generous.

we asked someone on the boat to take this picture. when she handed the phone back, she told us—completely sincerely—“you were so brave.” such a funny, odd thing to say after six adults successfully stood still and smiled. brave how? brave why? we may never know.

to be fair, mt. rainier was out in its full glory. i am always amazed that there is a 14,000-foot active volcano sitting just yonder, and everyone treats it like a pleasant bit of scenery instead of an enormous geological threat looming politely over brunch.

maybe she had a point.