While Quince is no stranger to car rides longer than a couple hours, I’m sure in his eyes each one seems like a journey comparable with those written by Tolkien.
Our recent weekend jaunt to the ranch is a perfect example. Between our two routes it still takes 4 to 5 hours one way. One can chose to drive along the Hood Canal, a winding two-lane road with many speed zones. Or the coastal route with faster speeds but also more miles. For this trip we took the Canal down and the coast for the return. Friday night we arrived about 2 am.
Quince had a blast at the ranch chasing the dogs, mostly Lucy. He sees her maybe once a year but she still seems to hold a place in his heart. His first real laughter happened as he watched her play.
We practiced our swimming in the pool, once with me and another time with his cousins. Richard and Kevin took him into the river where they did more swimming. Quince returned and talked about more the horse poop he saw than anything else. It really left an impression, not necessarily in a good way. It was excepted he would be more freaked out by sinking into the river mud, however it turned out that the poo was more scary.
Also unexpected was the epic meltdown Saturday afternoon over a toy. Quince doesn’t typically have that type of meltdown. Once calmed down he napped for close to 3 hours, another unusual day event. We suspect there is some kind of growth happening. Overall I would say he had fun. However if you ask him, the reply will probably be no.
The return trip was Sunday afternoon and we had more fun with the drive. Our first stop was inside Quinault National Forest. In all honestly, I had to use the bathroom and Kalaloch or Ruby Beach was just too far away to wait. We were glad we stopped! While there we decided to go farther down the road and check out the world record holder Sitka spruce tree. Yep, it’s one big tree. Made for some fun video and photos. Plus we got a little bit of walking in.
Next we stopped at Kalaloch. We got out and took the path leading to the beach. Quince insisted all three of us take off our shoes. They were left by the path while we ran around the sand. Running, jumping, chasing seagulls and pointing at sea wildlife all happened. The one thing that Quince really wanted to do, build a sand castle, did not. We were completely unequipped to build a castle. After hearing our reply he decided that Steve, Nikki and baby Olivia were going to join us and build one as well. Ask and you shall receive! Well, maybe we are going to try and achieve that before the end of Sept.
Upon returning to the car we realized how hungry the three of us were getting so it was a power drive to Forks, no more stops allowed! We first tried to go to the pizza place with a full parking lot however they had just closed. It was after 9 pm. So we backtracked slightly to the grocery store. While I was checking out Quince and Richard met Officer Alan, a WA State Patrol officer. Quince was so excited, he could hardly get out his words. It was sweet. We walked out of the store at the same time, said goodbye and then started to get into Wirbelwind and organize our snacks. Officer Alan pulled up in his patrol car next to us as Richard was snapping Quince in. He gave him a sticker, and Quince asked him so politely if he could turn on the lights. Hardly took asking, next thing he knew every light on that car was going. Completely made Quince’s night!! In fact, he spent a good portion of this morning(Monday) telling me all about it and acting it out through play with his toys. The rest of the drive home was full of chatter about how awesome the police car was. At least until he fell asleep again.