A large flock of tiny Sanderlings darted around, swooping and turning in tandem. We wondered how they all knew just when to turn.
 
A few miles further down the road we stopped for lunch beside one of the many seastacks in the area.
 
This was the view from the lunch perch. The waves gently crashed against the shore as the tide came in.
 
Since we were in the area, we decided to take a side trip up to Hurricane Ridge, where there's a wonderful lookout over the peaks of the Olympic Mountains. My gosh, where's the beautiful green meadow?
 
The usually green, green grass of the sub-Alpine meadows was parched and scorched by the long drought. The dark shadow in the distance is Canada, and the faint white blur towards the right is Victoria, BC..
 

Here's a closeup of Mount Olympus. Most of the mountains were bare, but Mount O still had snow remaining.
 

Drat it, I chose to go for a walk while Tim set his equipment up, and look who walked right past him! I was busy loping across a huge field, trying to photograph one of their pals, leaping across the path right in front of me..

  
 

Later I caught up with one of them and she patiently waited for me to snap the picture before she vanished behind the tree.
 
Tim watched a raven having great fun jumping up and down trying to catch grasshoppers. And with that, we decided to head towards home, after a stop at the Mariner Cafe in Sequim, which has become a tradition.
 

On the way back to the ferry, we took a picture of the sign which had caused us so much mirth and merriment during the day. I googled it when I got home, and yes, pluots have existed since 1989. Where HAVE we been? How did we miss an awesome word like that?

Final Score of the Day
Orcas and Bald Eagles: Two thumbs down
Beachcombing and Deerstalking: Two thumbs up
Pluots: Priceless!

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