The quest continues: To visit every Washington State park in our three-county region during the winter/spring of 2026. This is the goal for myself and my eight-year-old son Malachi. It means a total of 16 state parks across King, Pierce and Thurston counties in western Washington State. Today, we hit our THIRD park: Dash Point State Park in Federal Way, Washington (King County). Dash Point State Park is beautiful! It is located right on Puget Sound with ~3,300 feet of sa

It's normal for people to randomly break into conversation about their eventual demise -- right?! That's a normal thing? Or maybe it should be....? My husband finds it strange. He has never used the word "morbid," but certainly, he gives me that look: the weird stare, crinkled forehead, one eyebrow slightly raised, the slow head nod with the side-eye and gritted teeth. He doesn't like to talk about death. He doesn't even like to say the word "dead." He uses those other words