Exploring Washington

So we're on the West Coast, visiting with the Bridges and the Livingstons, and having a quite lovely time.  Every time we're here, it never ceases to amaze me how different the terrain, the sky, and the vegetation are.  It's like moving to another planet.  It's distinctly Endor-ish here (and yes, Brendan, I know Endor (the forested one) is a moon, not a planet).

Today we hiked around at Port Williams, where Lucy collected numerous specimens to bring home.

We were able to prevail upon her to not bring this home:

Yes, I also thought it was a bloody tissue.  But no, it turns out that it's a local kelp, and it's called a Turkish Towel.  Yup.  So those of you who have been paying big bucks for your fancy 100% cotton Turkish bath towels should be aware that you can just pick them up -- for free -- on the shores of the Olympic peninsula.

Here's another specimen that we did not bring home:

I should have something in there to give you a sense of scale, but these things are huge, and very, very long.  They're called Bull Kelp, or Bullwhip Kelp.  The bottom end attaches to a rock in the ocean, and the top -- the big bulbous end -- is filled with gas so that it can float.  I remember seeing them the first time I was out here and they really freaked me out.  They are creepy.  They still creep me out.  Today, which I mentioned this fact, John asked if I knew what they were filled with.  I suggested that they might be filled with evil, and John said, no, they're filled with toxic carbon monoxide, so that when some little creature bites into them....well, let's just say, they don't get a second bite.  So to be clear, this is a kelp that grows to over 100 feet long, has a bulbous head-like thing, and IS FILLED WITH POISON GAS.  Clearly, this kelp is Evil.  Also, I just read that this stuff is the fastest-growing seaweed in the world: it can grow up to 2 feet per day. Evil has enormous growth potential.  Beware.

We did see lots of lovely, non-evil things.  Lucy delightedly collected lots of shells, including some that once belonged to some crabs.  I rather liked this one:

 

and I liked this uprooted tree quite a lot:

 

 Also, the trees out here (when they're not uprooted and lying on the beach) are HUGE.  Here's one on the land where Nellie has her cottage:

Trees!  I tell you, they're amazing.

We hope to do some further exploring in the next few days and I'll try to post again.