We walked a long, frosty dirt trail that led from our neighborhood down to the water. Through the tall evergreens we walked, up and down, until we heard the sound of harbor seals. Matthew's eyes got wide. "Seals!!!" Seals mean water so we knew we were close.
At the bottom of a steep ravine were railroad tracks running right along the shore of Puget Sound. A sand bar stretched from the shore out to a ship, cracked in half, resting at the tip. The sand bar was covered by water and so most of the ship was submerged. We could still tell right away that it was the WWII Navy ship that we had hoped to find. We'll have to come back in the summer and see it when the water is low and we can walk out on the sand bar.
Matthew was angry that I wouldn't take him down to the water. Never mind that it was getting dark. He even made a special angry face for me.
Joshua was afraid to stand too close to the edge and hung around this tree instead. Oh, and it was cold.
From our perch above the water we could see the large group of seals resting on the shipwreck. We listened to their sounds to our right as we watched the sun setting to our left. It was spectacular.
As we stood there watching, the sun dipped below the mountains and the sky was filled with fabulous colors.
I am pretty sure that there is no better time to see God's handiwork than at sunrise or sunset when the sky becomes His canvas.
With darkness settling in, we rushed back along the trail. The frost made everything seem magical!
We passed several trees that were covered in this pale green growth. I think it's lichen. Does anyone know? We have it on a tree in our yard too.
Coming out of the forest, we saw this evergreen. It was taller than the other trees and naked, aside from a little puff of branches at the tip. The kids thought it was hilarious. Naked. Ahh, the things that entertain children... shipwrecks and naked trees.
