Lander, Noah, Madeline, Josh, Jake, Audrey and Blake standing at the entrance to our yurt
After missing the entrance to what was later named the Columbia River, English explorer John Meares dubbed the massive headland jutting out into the Pacific Ocean "Cape Disappointment." That was in 1788. Almost 20 years later, Capt. William Clark and members of the Corps of Discovery explored the headland in their final push to the Pacific Ocean.
Our visit to Cape Disappointment wasn't exactly a disappointment, but it wasn't a raging success either. Torrential rains that the news called "epic, even by the Northwest's standards" started within hours of our arrival, and didn't stop for days.
Dan and Emily met up with us and we tried to make the most of it, hiking along the beach in the dark until we got trapped by incoming tide. Josh, Dan and several of the kids had to scramble up barnacle covered rock to avoid being swept out to sea. It was a massive wave and scared our boys enough that they were done with the beach. Josh learned that barnacles are very sharp.
We rented yurts, played games, watched mostly tame raccoons as they scoured the place, marveled at the hundreds of frogs jumping across the roads, counted at least 10 deer, and were nearly blown off the face of the cliff when we toured the lighthouse museum.
Jake, Madeline and Audrey run to the car in hurricane force winds
