Our visit to Cape Disappointment

“Ocian in view! O! The joy!” William Clark, December 1805

We visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center last Tuesday. My mother and the Captain have become big Lewis and Clark buffs, so this was a lot of fun for them. The kids were not really interested in the historical dimension of things, but they managed to behave and keep themselves occupied without too much trouble.

Cape Disappointment is right at the edge of the Pacific Ocean, along the Washington coastline. It was very windy. Tad and I posed for a quick picture with the wind in our hair.

Ane posed for a picture right outside the center’s entrance.

Once inside, we found there were several hands-on exhibits that were quite Ane-friendly. She actually enjoyed herself inside, while Tad was content enough (with some Teddy Graham bribery) to be pushed around in his stroller while everyone else looked at the exhibits – except Belle, who was fast asleep in her stroller.

The Cape Disappointment lighthouse was a .75 mile hike from the center. I decided to hike it (in nearly the worst possible shoes) with Ane (who was in good shoes, but has three-year-old legs). Ane really wanted to see the lighthouse up close, so off we went. After about 5 minutes on the trail (and making good time), I heard a sound behind us. I turned to see the Captain come racing up, but then he decided to growl loudly on approach. Ane didn’t see him – she just heard the sound. “AHHH!” she screamed. “BEAR!”

The Captain busted up laughing. I finally pried Ane off my leg and convinced her that it was just her uncle making bear noises. She finally looked up at the Captain, relieved. “Oh, Uncle Captain, I so sorry I got scared,” she said. The Captain apologized for scaring her, and then let her ride on his shoulders for part of the way up and back down the trail, which helped us keep going.

This is what the lighthouse looked like from the center:

This is what it looked like up close:

We couldn’t go in, because it is staffed by volunteers and during the off-season, it’s rarely open. But you can still get really good pictures, like this…

My parents came hiking up as we were snapping pictures at the lighthouse, and we all walked back to our cars together and met up with the rest of the family. Then we headed for Oregon for lunch and some more adventures, which I’ll show and tell about tomorrow.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2007 at 7:36 am and is filed under Children, Family, Vacation Tales.
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