Our last day in WA

Today was our last day here, we get up at 4 a.m. to head to the airport by 5 a.m. for our morning flight back to Tucson.
Today we enjoyed what I'm thinking was my most favorite activity during our trip. We went on a bike ride on the Orting trail. My parents have three electric bikes (Austin used a regular ten speed) so our ride was nice and easy. The bike trail in Orting follows the Carbon River and is surrounded by the most gorgeous trees. It was the most beautiful setting I have seen in a long time. We saw many people fishing, walking, biking, riding horses, just enjoying the sunny weather. Being there makes one want to take up painting or drawing or fishing so they can stop and be still and enjoy the beauty of the surroundings. We stopped along the trip to enjoy the wild blackberries and my dad picked some apples from a wild apple tree. I took many (too many!) photographs, I can't wait until I can come again!
Following our bike ride we headed out to Tacoma's Museum of Glass only to discover once there that it is closed on Monday. How disappointing! The museum features many works of Dale Chihuly. We did however get to see many beautiful glass creations that were featured in display cases along the outside of the museum.
We instead enjoyed a drive through Pt. Defiance 5-mile drive, stopped to take some pictures of a raccoon family, drove down by the beach and had lunch at a delicious local greasy spoon called Frisco Freeze.
This evening we enjoyed a small fire outside on the patio in the fire bowl and made s'mores, took a last trip to Wal-Mart for gifts to bring home to the kids, and currently have all the suitcases packed for the early morning trip home.
This vacation has been so wonderful! I have missed being here so much and know that I will need to come back again sooner next time. No more waiting two years to visit!