Discovery Park

Last week, on Monday we went to Discovery Park.  It’s the largest park in Seattle, with miles of trails, an environmental education center, a native american center, and most importantly, a beach.  It’s a 2 mile hike to the beach, but I read online that people unable to make the hike (including little kids) qualify for a parking pass to drive down and park at the beach.  Oh, boy!  We are going to the beach!  Everyone’s excited!  And then the visitor center is closed and we can’t get a pass.  So… we’ll try the hike!  We found a cool playground:

We would still be there, if Eli had his way.  He loved that swing!  Then we set out on the hike, and ended up on a bluff overlooking the sound, where we had a little snack. 

Then I broke the sad news to the kids: it was still almost a mile to the beach and there was no way we (i.e. Eli) were going to make it there and back.  They were not happy about it.  But it was a nice day for a hike anyway. 

We found a giant sand pit, which was cool.  It was nowhere near the beach.  It was actually much nicer than the beach. 

Eli is delirious at this point, but to his credit, he made the 1+ mile hike back on his own two little feet. 

Tuesday we came back, and much better prepared.  We drove right down to the beach, hauled out our beach toys, and played jeep, digger, and other construction-y things. 

After a while, a day camp came and it was getting crowded, so we packed our toys and headed off down the beach.  The boys, of course, had sticks. 

Eli found a crab claw:

And a bald eagle flew RIGHT OVER US!  I didn’t get a picture, though (believe it or not, I don’t have my camera out all the time).  The boys were flabbergasted that such a thing would be out in the wild, as opposed to in the zoo.  Yes, they really do live here!  We made our way around the lighthouse and looked into the tidepools briefly until our croc-clad feet were freezing. 

We also saw a tugboat pulling a house, which was pretty cool. 

And then we headed home. 

(Treasures in hand.)