The Oyster Dome and the Bat Caves

Last weekend, our family went with some friends on a hike just south of Bellingham. We went to the Oyster Dome (a really high overlook with a REALLY steep cliff drop-off) and the Bat Caves (a boulder field just below the Oyster Dome).

(I put this picture, on top of Oyster Dome, first, since it will appear in your Google Reader if you have one...and it's such a good picture of the fam. By the way, Guyan has a hair appointment next Wednesday so that we can see his eyes again).

The hike took about 5 1/2 hours, and was about 5-6 miles. Not sure if it was the kids growing up, having friends along, or the perfect weather, but NONE OF THEM COMPLAINED AT ALL...except when Owen got poked in the eye with a stick, but who could blame him? Seriously, though, Sean told the boys later that night that it was the best day of the summer...even though summer doesn't start for almost another month.

Here we are at the outset...all smiles.

Still, no complaints from anyone...

And when we reached the top of Oyster Dome (after about 3 hours or so, and a few wrong turns), we had to take some pictures, of course--us and the other twenty to thirty hikers up there (none under the age of ten 'cept the four troopers in our party!).

The boys all wanted to look over the side of the cliff. Standing back about twenty feet from the edge, I was dealing with my anxiety. My children are not dare devils and would not knowingly do anything even remotely dangerous, and Sean was keep track of them, but OHMIGOD WE'RE ALL GOING TO PLUMMET TO OUR DEATHS kept racing through my mind. Obviously, we didn't.

This was the view over the cliff. The picture does NOT do it justice. In real life, those trees down there are not Christmas tree sized--they were gigantic, and the boulders were mini-mountains (I might be embellishing this just a little bit, but "objects in the picture are larger than they appear" truly applies here). The boulder field below is the Bat Caves.

Here's my friend Michelle and I at the top of Oyster Dome, way back from the edge.

After conquering the Oyster Dome, it was off to the Bat Caves. Cool little bridge here...

At the Bat Caves, Henry and Guyan were convinced (Henry especially) that they saw bats. I am convinced we saw a squirrel or other similar rodent. Fauna or not, the boulder field was pretty impressive.

...especially when you looked back up at Oyster Dome.