Monday, May 7, 2012

A weekend retreat...

A few months back...Rich and I decided that we need to plan for a 3-day weekend...no work, no phones, no internet...just US (Chukar too)!


So we headed out Saturday morning to Lake Quinault Lodge in Quinault, WA...both of us have always wanted to visit the Olympic National Forest and this was the first time we were able to go together.


Here is a picture of Rich and Chukar in Aberdeen...after lunch of Saturday!  The weather was beautiful all weekend and we were blessed witha great time!  A soul recharge! Much needed time together to collect ourselves after the past few months of craziness....



Saturday night...we arrived at the lodge and just relaxed and had a nice dinner.  So peaceful...no TV's, no cell phone reception, no internet...it was a small business owners dream come true!

On Sunday, we hiked up to see the World's Largest Spruce...on our way up, I had to hold up this tree so that Chukar and Rich could get through the trail ;)

Next up on the trail was this giant ROCK wall...the picture does not do it justice!

A cool like footpath along the way!

Bam, the TREE!  It was giantic...54 plus feet around!

This gives you a little more perspective of the size....

One final look before we headed out on our way!

Next stop on Sunday was the Pacific Ocean...and a beautiful Washington beach!  There was actually wonderful sand...amazing, for a Washington beach.

Our little poser...never one to miss a photo opportunity!

Ok, it's a little cliche...but come on, we were at the beach...and it was a MUST!

My BOYS! 

Just a cool shot of the beach...I can't believe how peaceful and serene it was!

On our way back, we took another little detour to visit the world's largest Sitka Spruce...

Holy smokes...it was large and in charge!

Monday morning, it was time to head home, but not before we enjoyed some more time on the deck at Lake Quinault Lodge!

Chukar was even able to get in a morning swim before we hit the road!

The awesome resort...definitely a great place to re-charge your batteries!


On our way home, we travelled the Lake Quinault Loop...a 2 hour detour around the lake...but well worth it!  Look at this awesome waterfall!

And, of course, my posing boys!

On the way our of the National Forest...we saw a herd of ELK...must have been about 30!

The weekend was coming to an end...but our batteries were recharged to 100%!  Now back to the real world and life as we know it...however, our positive outlooks have been regained and we know that great things await our family this year!