Discovery, Disappointment and Destruction

No, that's not what happened to the gopher.  Those are places we've visited on this trip.  The gophers are just fine, they are also just beyond my reach.  I remain ever hopeful that one will pop it's little head up just when I have my nose to the ground.  I'll have one last change  to get one tomorrow morning before we leave.

Kathe and Jim went out this morning for a short hike in Cape Disappointment State Park.  They hiked part of the Discovery Trail and visited the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center.  From the front of the building you can see the Cape Disappointment Lighthouse. There is no public access to that Lighthouse but they did hike to the North Head Lighthouse on the other side of the rocks.  They walked up the 69 steps of that Lighthouse to view the place where the Columbia River flows into the Pacific Ocean.  It has the distinction of being one of the most windy places in America.  There were so many ship wrecks in these waters that they had to build two Lighthouses to help ships navigate safely through the gap.  Both Lighthouses are still in use, because even today with the violent storms, winds and rough seas sometimes the GPS on the ships can fail.

If you are wondering about Destruction, remember we saw the Destruction Island Lighthouse from Ruby Beach in Olympic National Forest, and it's Fresnel lens is in the Newport Maritime Museum.

After all that hiking, they stopped for lunch and Kathe finally got her crab. Yes, she ate the whole thing!