The Shadow Lady and I went back out to Kalaloch for Labor Day weekend, which is a family tradition.  Its a great place for camping, and an excellent opportunity to relax and enjoy the last "official" weekend of Summer.

We took the Ferry across the Sound, and went down to Kalaloch from the Northern route, rather than loop down through Olympia and back up.

It ends up being about the same distance either way, but we figured there'd be less traffic.

It definitely allowed for a more interesting drive than on the highway...  Not sure what these firemen were up to... but they said it was some sort of drill.

... AND, we got to drive past Crescent Lake... Which is one of the prettier drives in the state.

The roadway follows the lake for a considerable distance, and nearly the entire stretch is wonderfully scenic.

A bright sunny day turned into fog as we got close to the campground... here, the marine layer had overrun the high that was protecting the rest of the state.

The roadway along the beaches themselves was foggy and gray, with a decent mist going.

GREAT weather, as far as I'm concerned...  :-)

Most everyone was already there, of course... they had stayed the night before, too, something our schedule didn't allow for.

On the way to the campground, we had stopped by our Photographer's, and picked up the picture book from our wedding... it was a big hit!

The fire sure was nice... especially with the marine layer blowing over.

There's just something about a campfire that's relaxing.

Since we had some time, we headed out to the beach... the kids wanted to build another "Fancy sand castle", like I showed them last year...

We didn't have much time, so I didn't go that big or that fancy... but we had a lot of fun, anyway...

While I made the mound, and cut the castle, the kids build the protecting wall...

It was pretty fun watching the waves come closer...

The little castle came out pretty well, considering the time we had!

The wall was pretty awesome... they went all out building it.

We stayed behind with the kids for a while, to watch the waves come in a bit more while the 'real' adults went up and started dinner.

It was a lot of fun!

After we cleaned off the tools, and packed everything back to the campsite, we ate (AWESOME Swiss/Onion Burgers!), and had a birthday party for one of the cousins...

Some of the "older kids" piled up the fire, and went for "Depth"...

They really got a nice fire roaring...

Once it died down a bit so we could get closer to it... we sat around and visited and talked... good times.

After it had reduced itself to hot coals, the Shadow Lady and I retired to our tent, nicknamed the "Taj"

Morning came, and it was nice... The Shadow Lady and I had the breakfast duty... French Toast, and my standby "Camp Eggs" - Eggs, sausage, salsa, and cheese... yummy stuff!  There wasn't much left...

After that, we packed up the campsites, and headed for Ruby Beach.

A bit more logs out on the beach itself, and the sand had shifted a bit, but it was as beautiful as ever... what a FANTASTIC view!

Grandma was already there, waiting on us.  We quickly got the fire going, and started warming things up for the picnic.

Destruction Island looked a bit farther away this year... the weather was quite a bit different than the clear blue of last year...

Visiting with family on a Pacific Northwest Beach... not much can beat that.

Everyone set up for food, fun, food, games, fun, and visiting.

Roasting the Brats really wafted a nice smell around us... it was a good thing there was a lot of food!

While we were eating, things cleared up a bit, and we went for a walk down the beach, to wait for the tide to go out a bit...

It was a truly beautiful day, on a GREAT Northwest Beach... very nice!

The blue sky added to the scene...

When we got back from the walk, it wasn't too long before the kids and I started on the castle... this one was a bit more elaborate, and a lot of fun to build...

Digging all those tunnels took some time!

I'm not near as good at it as I used to be... but its as fun as it always was!

While I shaped the castle, the kids built the castle's wall.  It was tough digging, because we were higher up the beach, and the rocks really made digging difficult.

It came out pretty nice, I guess... It drew a mini-crowd as I was finishing it up...

One of the kids had mentioned that he wanted it to have lots of bridges... so the roadway up the hill wound and looped around quite a bit...

It was a bit rough, but it was fun... the sand on Ruby Beach is awesome for this sort of thing!

Way too soon, we had to leave, and head back for the city, to sadly get ready for work... too bad Labor Day wasn't Labor WEEK!

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