Migrating my adventure blog here to this website. Originally posted on April 23, 2019

This past Sunday we visited a place where we had previously only scoped out very quickly. Tolmie State Park is in a small cove in the Olympia/Lacey area, pretty close to home. On our scouting trip we didn’t have our parking pass yet, but one look at the parking area alone meant we had to come back and walk around. And since it’s so close to home, we plan on making this a frequent place to visit and relax.

The park is nestled in between private land, but heavily forested, so you’d never know there were water-front homes all around the park. Once you get out to the beach, then you can see all the homes with their great views of the Puget Sound.

There were a handful of people digging for clams out in the muddy water since the tide was out. Others were just enjoying the sunny day and relaxing in chairs or sitting on big washed up logs on the beach. My wife and I really enjoy this style of beach over the pure sandy sun-tan and volleyball beaches where we grew up.

This cove’s rocks and washed up logs were covered in all types of barnacle looking sea life. It’s funny to see what rocks and wood types they will attach to and what they won’t, I guess there’s a preference? I guess I should have paid more attention in science class, haha!

At some point the water calling to my wife was too strong, so I went and sat on a washed up log while she went out to walk in the water and explore the area further out. So relaxing, until a drone pilot decided to bring his thousand dollar toy out and muck up a peaceful afternoon.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I enjoy watching video footage and seeing photography from drones. But, this dude was flying it around like it was a child’s RC car in a dirt lot. He wasn’t creating anything visual, instead just being “that guy” with a “cool thing”. Drones aren’t a big deal when they’re 300 feet in the air and you can’t hear or see them any longer, but when you’re buzzing it around near ground level all over the place, it’s like an annoying fly!

After my wife came back from exploring out by the water line, we headed in to the forest to walk a trail. The amounts of moss and fern growth is so crazy here in Washington. Very little ground soil can ever be seen, everything is covered in some kind of plant life. And the critters are everywhere, you can hear them more than see them usually though.

The end of trail pops you out at the end of the park boundary where someone’s private residence beach begins. Luckily mister drone must’ve drained his battery, now it was quiet and peaceful again, yay! We enjoyed that end of the beach all to ourselves for a few minutes before lazily walking back along the trail to the parking area.

I think we all want to go back to the park on a nice overcast, foggy or rainy day for a completely different vibe. Can’t wait.

Here’s a link to my wife’s Tolmie State Park post, check it out for more photos and her take on our closest State Park. Thanks for reading!

iPhone 5s photos edited with the Hipstamatic app (Jane lens, Irom 2000 film)