America 2015 - part 4

Still early in our trip we went hiking in Factoria at Coal Creek. We were with my sister and her friend, and all their kids, a total of 8.1 kids. I thought it would be 8 times louder than 1 kid, but these kids were introspective and a little mumbly.

We were in Devil's Club land. This is an amazing plant that gets up to 15 feet tall, with massive leaves (15 inches) and wicked thorns. They are only found in the PNW, and I guess, Lake Superior's islands.




America loves funny signs.




More Devil's Club, showing some red berries. We are looking down on it from a bridge.




Tiny waterfall, perhaps not so tiny out of the drought.




Devil's Club growing horizontally next to Coal Creek.




The kids found lots of coal, most impressive was this large piece, my nephew's prize. The dog says, "Throw it, throw something!"




Close up of the coal, which the kids soon dashed to pieces.




Cedar growing out of cedar, showing the slots where the loggers stood on planks to make it easier to cut the trees down (it's easier to cut above the thick skirt at the bottom of a tree).




I'm still in awe of the Devil's Club.




Afterwards we went to Crossroads mall to eat wonderful sushi and my husband had the world's largest portion of lasagne. I ordered Katsu and I just remembered one of the things on my list I forgot to bring back to Germany - Golden Japanese Curry boxes: ( Anyone wanna care package swap?

Oh, we found a little German restaurant in the mall that actually offered Currywurst (Germany's favorite fast food) but the price, oh my that's a lot for Currywurst.




Finally, Costco! This was interesting - vodka bottles that light up with LED messages. If only I could program the message myself, that would be better.




Taking a break at Costco on the couches for sale.




Over our heads at Costco were these massive fans - probably 30 feet across each. I was mesmerized.




Back home at my parents' house, J connects his Garmin to his laptop to upload caches.




My step dad doing the crossword.




I need a car to wash - anyone? I was given the truck to wash to satisfy my craving. It had been at least a week since I'd washed a car!




My mom and J playing badminton.




Popoki, their cat, is 15 this year, and was particularly loving toward us. He even slept with us on our final night, lying right on my chest looking into my eyes, meowing if you tried to move him away. I probably won't see him again, so I appreciated the attention.



 
One of their Dalias.

Next:  Carnation's Tolt river and a new species for me