Week 49: From Fair to Forks and More!

Full and fulfilling week. Delightful Week. We were given some tickets to the Washington State Fair, so off we went Wednesday night to the fairgrounds in Puyallup.  There were lots of interesting things to see ... and lots of food choices. 

Twisted Tators

We shared a corn on the cob, a corn dog and a hamburger. I was especially excited when we found a vendor selling "twisted tators" -- kind of like homemade potato chips. It was a gigantic portion though; probably the equivalent of 2+ bags of chips. We ended up giving half of them away to a cute family. Then to counter the salty chips, we ended the evening with a funnel cake! We definitely got our fried food "fix" and made ourselves sick. Made for unpleasant dreams as well.

 This is a photo of Sister Hardy & Sister Combs while they were out "street contacting" just prior to meeting me for dinner. They are an inspiration to me. Even at Jersey Mike's Subs they shared a spiritual message with me -- a lesson about putting "new wine into old bottles

Elder Hadlock with Elders Burt & Fuller in Port Angeles

With Sister Jenkins & Sister Brady

Best part of the week was getting to take a little road trip. We were able to leave the office a little early on Friday so we could make a trip around the Olympic Peninsula.  Dropped things off to three sets of missionaries while we were at it. And .. we made time for lunch on Bainbridge Island with Sister Jenkins and her companion Sister Brady. Beautiful place. Stopped in Port Angeles to deliver a box of Book of Mormons to the Zone Leaders.  Rode up to Hurricane Ridge in the Olympic National Park. Offered some stunning views of the Olympic Mountains as well as the coast line along the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

At Hurricane Ridge

Then it was on to Forks, Washington. Along the way we drove around Lake Crescent -- absolutely breathtaking.

 Forks, Washington -- made famous by the Twilight books is a small town of about 4,000 people. We have a set of missionaries there, but they also cover most of the western side of the Olympic Mountain range. These missionaries live the farthest away from the mission office. Only the most trustworthy missionaries are sent there; they're really on their own. I took a panoramic photo of their apartment complex. It was pretty interesting.

Our Forks missionaries: Elder Hughes & Elder Brandow

 We stayed at the Forks Motel and Saturday morning visited the LaPush area -- a cool place called Rialto Beach. The beach was made up of lots of smooth flat rocks -- perfect for skipping, but the ocean waves were way to big to allow that.

Missionaries live here!

Lots of huge driftwood logs near the beach as well.

Made several more stops as we made the loop back to Tacoma. We went into the Olympic Rain Forest on the Hoh Indian Reservation. We hiked to the the Hall of Mosses, and saw some huge, huge Sitka Spruce trees, a huge Cedar tree. Because of the rain fall, these trees get big fast. The rain forest was very interesting. We went to another gorgeous beach -- Ruby Beach before having to head inland. Our last stop was at another beautiful lake called Lake Quinalt. We'd like to go back there and spend a night at the lakeside lodge their some time. It was so peaceful.

 We are grateful that the weather was so pleasant for our trip. No rain, which is unusual. , it was a great adventure for sure. We are so grateful that we are able to take time to see this part of the country while we serve our mission here in Tacoma.

It's simply been a wonderful weekend. Now back to work! Tomorrow we'll be busy with a fireside and then the next few weeks will be a bit hectic. No more long trips on the horizon. But we enjoy our missionary adventures just as much as the sight-seeing adventures.

 Life is good.

At base of Cedar Tree

At Lake Quinalt