Dungeness Recreation Area and Port Gamble

Ever since we ate at the Oak Table Café in Sequim this past July, my husband has talked about how much he wants to go back there. They served the best breakfast he ever ate in his life, and he wanted to get one last taste before we leave.

So we headed to Sequim this morning. I figured we might as well make a day of it. We have less than two months to go, and this may very well be our last trip to the Olympic Peninsula.

First stop: Dungeness Recreation Area and National Wildlife Refuge



This was a nice little detour, and I’m glad we did it. The GPS actually took us to a different area than the one I was trying to get to. But that’s fine, because I was actually able to get a picture of the lighthouse from there. It was really far away, so the picture turned out fuzzy, but the lighthouse was much, much further away from the viewpoint we had a little later on.



Using the GPS for the car and the one on my phone, we found the main entrance to the Dungeness Recreation Area off of Kitchen-Dick Road (I guarantee you won’t forget this name, but it is, apparently, difficult to find on a GPS).

After driving through the entrance and stopping for a bit to walk on the scenic bluff trail, we drove back to the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge. From the parking lot, it’s about a 3/8 mile walk through a wooded area to get to an overlook where you can see Dungeness Spit (you can walk down from there to the spit, if you want, but we opted not to).

After admiring the view for a few minutes, we turned around and walked back. It was pretty chilly (and I left my gloves in the car…oops!) and we were both getting hungry.

Next stop: Oak Table Café!

Breakfast for lunch was perfect on a gray, chilly Saturday. I got Eggs Benedict with potato pancakes (applesauce and sour cream on the side) and some fresh-squeezed orange juice. Absolutely delicious. I believe these were the best Eggs Benny I ever had. Lance got the same thing he ordered last time – a puffy bacon and swiss omelet (oven-baked) with three buttermilk pancakes.

Seriously, if you’re in Sequim around breakfast or lunchtime, eat at Oak Table Café. I promise you can’t go wrong. The food is exceptional and the service is great. Lance mentioned that he wants to sneak one more trip back here before we go. I have my doubts, but we’ll see.

After our meal, we didn’t really have any plans. However, I missed a chance to go to Port Gamble back in August and it was only a slight detour, so I suggested that we stop on the way back. Good plan.

Last stop: Port Gamble



A bit about Port Gamble: it’s a mill town – founded in 1853 - that’s now a National Historic Landmark. Browse the shops, which are located in historic buildings. The General Store was my favorite. Even though I think it’s too early for Christmas, it was so festively decorated and they were playing a cheerful mix of holiday tunes. Plus, they offered us free cookies when we came in. What’s not to like? They have a café in the back, as well as a museum. If you go up the stairs, they have some sea life displays that are interesting to look at. Even though we weren’t in Port Gamble for very long, we spent most of our time here.

They were doing a wine tasting too, but I didn’t partake, sadly. It was a bit crowded there. Looking at their website now, I guess they had a holiday open house. That would explain the crowds.

We spent maybe a half hour there, but the weather was looking threatening, so we decided to head home. The skies opened shortly after we left.

All in all, a great day. I didn't take as many photos as I would've liked, but here's my Flickr set.

Links:

- Dungeness Recreation Area
- Oak Table Cafe
- Port Gamble

Boehm's Candies

We have less than 3 months to go until we move to Washington, D.C.

Of course, that means there is too much to do, and not enough time. And so I won't be posting here too much for the time being. We have very little time left for traveling, although Lance mentioned wanting to take a day trip somewhere soon to get the dogs used to traveling in our new Subaru. We'll see if we end up having time for that or not.

We did get out for a few hours today. Lance and I celebrate 8 years of marriage on Tuesday, and since that's a normal workday, we decided to celebrate a couple days early. But we only had a few hours.

So we started with brunch at one of my favorite restaurants - Red House Beer and Wine Shoppe & Tapas Bar. They started serving brunch this weekend, which means they added a few breakfast items (and mimosas!) to their regular lunch menu. As tempting as the brunch menu sounded, the allure of the salmon BLT on grilled focaccia was too great. So that's what I ordered, and it was just as good as I expected. Lance got macaroni and cheese (which I tried, and it was super delicious - creamy with just the right touch of sharpness). The ambience was great, as always. They were playing Dean Martin, which just seemed right on a damp, gray morning.

After our meal, we headed to Issaquah to visit Boehm's Candies.





A little bit of the Swiss Alps, right in the Issaquah Alps. Of course we bought some chocolate (chocolate-covered coffee beans, fudge, and some salted caramels), but we took a little time to walk around the cute little park. At the end of the park is a replica of a 12th century Swiss chapel - the original is in St. Moritz.




The chapel seemed to be closed, so we only got to see the outside.

During the week, you can take self-guided tours at Boehm's and actually watch the chocolates being made. They also offer chocolate-making classes. And there are guided tours as well. None of these things were going on today, but I still enjoyed our visit.

And naturally, I ate the salted caramels almost immediately after we returned to the car.

For our last stop, we went to Rattlesnake Lake Recreation Area. We had no intention of hiking up to the ledge, like I did back in August. It seemed kind of pointless, since it was foggy and I'm not sure we'd get much of a view from there today. But we walked out to the lake. It wasn't nearly as beautiful today as it was back in August.

We didn't stay long. It was drizzling and chilly.

I had hoped to see some fall color today, but we're having kind of a disappointing autumn. Bummer. There are a few stunning trees here and there, but most of them have changed very little. The most color we saw today was actually around Boehm's Candies.

If you want to visit Boehm's Candies, click here first.

Also, if you're near Renton and want a great place to eat and drink, I can't recommend Red House more highly.

Langley - Whidbey Island

An island getaway seemed like an obvious choice when we were planning Aunt Sue's visit, seeing as how this area has several to choose from. I hadn't been to Whidbey Island yet (other than a brief visit to Deception Pass last year), and Sue wanted to visit wineries. So I chose Langley. Last Sunday, we headed out there with the dogs.

To get to Langley, you catch the Mukilteo-Clinton ferry. The ferry terminal is next to Mukilteo Lighthouse.



It's a short ride - about 15 minutes. From Clinton, it's a short drive to Langley - about 6 miles.

Honestly, it was so easy to get there, I don't know why I never got around to doing it before now.

We arrived in Langley's beautiful city center. We got there a bit before the visitor center opened, so we went into the Langley Village Bakery (one at a time, so one of us could be outside with the pooches) for hot beverages and biscotti.

What can I say about Langley? It's charming and beautifully landscaped. A place to wander. To poke into shops and talk to the locals.



Langley is also dog friendly. Reece and Blitz were even invited into one of the shops! The owner of that shop talked very enthusiastically about the outdoor performance of "Romeo & Juliet" that was taking place that afternoon. I would've loved to have gone, but dogs weren't allowed there.

We had no particular agenda in mind. We just walked around the town center before heading out a few miles to Taste for Wines - a tasting room featuring wines from Blooms Winery and Spoiled Dog Winery. Reece and Blitz were allowed here, too, and they were treated every bit as well as the humans. Treats for them. Wine tastings for us. They got lots of attention from everyone there.

It was lunchtime when we finished up there, and we had heard rumors that The Star Store (the town grocery) was a good place to get sandwiches. They had outdoor tables, so I grabbed one while Sue ran in to get our lunch. As I waited, people stopped to say hi to Reece and Blitz and make conversation. Sue finally came out with 2 delicious turkey sandwiches from the deli, some pesto & parmesan kettle chips, and sparkling lemonade.

We wanted to take the dogs somewhere special where they could run around a bit, but before we did that, we stopped at Whidbey Island Winery, which we passed on the way into Langley.



After a tasting there, we headed out to Double Bluff Beach. They have an off-leash area there. It's one of the few sandy beaches I've seen in Washington. Needless to say, the dogs loved it.

We spent maybe an hour there before heading back. The line to the ferry was long, so we had to wait awhile, but the weather was nice, and we were in no hurry.

It was a great visit! I hope to get back and explore more of Whidbey Island soon. Maybe Coupeville, if I can make it back.

As always, I have some pictures up on Flickr.

Links:

- Taste For Wines

- Whidbey Island Winery

Tacoma and Seattle with BONUS! BLUE! ANGELS!

A week ago today, I took my aunt to Tacoma to see the Museum of Glass (MOG). We had other destinations planned too (Port Orchard, Poulsbo, and Port Gamble), so Tacoma was pretty much a brief stop on a rather ambitious itinerary. We got there a little early (by the way, Sue was amazed that the parking garage and Link Light Rail are both free, so score one for Tacoma!), so we stopped at the old Union Station, which is now a federal courthouse. We wanted to get some pictures of the Chihuly works inside.



After spending several minutes there, we made our way across the Bridge of Glass to the museum, stopping for pictures along the way. I think Sue enjoyed the hot shop the most. As a photographer, she enjoyed getting action shots of the glass artists at work.

We spent a couple of hours at the MOG, but around noon-ish, it was time to move on. I had a $40 gift certificate that I won from Amy’s on the Bay in Port Orchard – via their Facebook page – so this seemed like as good a time as any to spend it. So across the Tacoma Narrows Bridge we went, and further on to Kitsap County.



Mmmmm. Total decadence! This is my smoked salmon linguine alfredo. Sue had crab cakes (most delicious I have ever tasted, by the way) and salmon with roasted potatoes. We were stuffed, but it was totally worth it. I noticed at one point that there was a small plaque screwed to the table stating that it was the mayor’s table. HAHA. I love Amy’s on the Bay!

That was about all the time we had in Port Orchard – on to Poulsbo! We spent a little time browsing in shops (primarily antiques), did a wine tasting at Eleven Winery, and stopped at Sluy’s Bakery (ALWAYS! ALWAYS!) for some cookies.

We ran out of steam at that point. Didn’t make it to Port Gamble. Instead, we headed home for a light dinner and to do some chores around the house that needed doing. (Sue is an awesome houseguest…she offered to mow my lawn while I vacuumed the carpet.)

***

On Sue’s 4th full day, we finally made it to downtown Seattle. There was a method to my madness for waiting this long:

1> It’s easier to find parking at the light rail station on the weekend (as long as the Mariners or Sounders aren’t playing – which they weren’t).

2> Seafair weekend – which means we’d see the Blue Angels.

We started out at Pike Place Market, where Sue got some pictures of the fish-throwing guys (though they weren't throwing any at the time). Then we grabbed some breakfast at The Crumpet Shop. Being the Anglophile that I am, I’m ashamed to say that this was my first visit. After our crumpets, we walked a short distance to the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). That was also a first for me. I got in free with my military ID, and because the guy at the ticket counter was nice, he let Sue in for free as well.

So we spent a couple hours exploring the SAM. Europe kind of spoiled me for art museums, but I still enjoyed this. I especially liked their temporary exhibition, “Beauty & Bounty: American Art in an Age of Exploration,” which runs through September 11. Go check it out.

Sue also wanted to see Seattle Central Library. Again, I am ashamed to say that I hadn’t been there yet, despite being a bibliophile. I LOVED this place. The architecture. The light. Just the massiveness of it.


(Are you kidding me? Can I live here?)

We visited the 1st and 3rd floors, snapped a lot of pictures, and made our way out and back to Pike Place Market.

We needed sustenance. Nothing too heavy, though, because it was finally starting to warm up and it was past our usual lunchtime (we didn’t want to have dinner super late, so we didn’t want to be too full). We found ourselves at Copacabana Bolivian Restaurant, enticed by the rainbow-colored umbrellas on their balcony overlooking the market. Simple lunch: black bean soup with pork, warm crusty bread with butter. It suited us fine. From there, we had an unbelievable view of Pike Place Market and of the Blue Angels, when they occasionally swooped past us on their way back to the Seafair crowd.



I could’ve sat there all day. That was truly my favorite part of it. But we had other places to see. We walked through the market, then made our way down to the waterfront and the Olympic Sculpture Park. From there, we headed to the Space Needle. But Sue was far more interested in the Experience Music Project (EMP), since she’s a fan of Frank Gehry’s architecture. Coming from Cleveland (home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame), she wanted to see how the EMP compared. We went in briefly, and she was sufficiently impressed with both the inside and outside.

(That reminds me. I visited the EMP in June and took pictures, but never posted them. Perhaps I should do that.)

After that, we called it a day. Tired of walking, we hopped the monorail back to Westlake Center and took the light rail back.

Check out my Flickr page for more photos.

So...links:

- Seriously, go to Amy's on the Bay if you find yourself in Kitsap County. Soooooo good, especially if you like seafood. Try the crab cakes. Thank me later.

- Eleven Winery, whether you're in Poulsbo or on Bainbridge Island. Great tasting! I even liked the reds, which is saying a lot!

- You've got a month left to see the Beauty & Bounty exhibit at SAM. (If you're military or a military dependent, you get in free until Labor Day with your military ID.)

Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier

As I mentioned in my previous post, my aunt came to visit last week. On Wednesday, I took her to Mount St. Helens. On Thursday, we followed that up with a trip out to Rainier. It was important for me to do these day trips on consecutive days, because I think the contrast between the two areas is very striking. Mount St. Helens and the surrounding area still wear very deep scars caused by the 1980 eruption.

Look at this landscape:


This was taken from the Johnston Ridge Observatory. (You can't tell from this picture, but there is steam rising from the lava dome.)

Now this (somewhat cloudy) picture of Rainier, taken from the visitor center at Paradise:



Huge difference. St. Helens seems desolate. Rainier looks lush (if a bit snowy) and full of life.

Signs of life exist at St. Helens, of course. Wildflowers bloom, even amidst all the tree stumps left from the blast. A coyote passed in front of us on the road. As I was getting ready to leave, I spotted a butterfly, which is a known symbol of resurrection.



But Rainier, too, shows its signs of renewal. It was a harsh winter, and the deep snow is finally giving away to avalanche lilies.



The snow drifts are melting into rivulets in some places, waterfalls in others, creating a different landscape from what I've seen in previous visits.

After we left Mount Rainier National Park - since this is likely my last visit, at least to the Paradise side - we did something I've been wanting to do for awhile. We stopped at Copper Creek (a former client of mine) for a slice of their blackberry pie a la mode. It was so delicious. The perfect ending to our visit. We also stopped to browse at a couple of galleries in Ashford that sit along the road going in and out of the Nisqually entrance to the park. I recommend doing this. There are so many interesting things to see along that road.

As always, my entire photo album is on Flickr. Of all the things I'll miss about living in this area, these majestic mountains are what I'll miss the most.

POST #200!! A Hike to Rattlesnake Ledge

A week ago, my Aunt Sue came to visit. She arrived early enough in the day that we still had time to do something, but she wanted to be active so she wouldn't succumb to jet lag too early (3 hour time difference, as she came from Ohio).

In the interest of doing something I've never done before, getting some exercise, and bringing the dogs, I proposed a leisurely hike to Rattlesnake Ledge near North Bend.

If you're snickering at that statement, you're likely a local who knows better. There is nothing leisurely about this hike. Unless, of course, you hike or climb mountains on a regular basis, then it might be an easy hike. Rattlesnake Ledge has an elevation of 1,175 feet and it's about a 2 mile hike to get there. For novice hikers, it's pretty reasonable. I tend to prefer flatter land due to bad knees, but I felt no pain here.

(My eyes are almost closed, so this isn't the best picture of me, but the dogs are sure cute and happy!)

No problem for Blitz, he charged up the mountain as if he owned it. Since I had hold of his leash, he propelled me up that trail right with him. Sue and Reece weren't too far behind.

After an hour or so, we made it to the top. Aside from the exercise and all that fresh air, you get an additional reward.



Good grief. That view!

But you know what they say...what goes up, must come down.



Our reward at the end was a delicious picnic dinner at peaceful Rattlesnake Lake. We followed this with a quick visit to Snoqualmie so she could view the Falls and look at the old rail cars.

I was really sore the next day. Totally worth it.

Sequim and Hurricane Ridge

We’ve lived in the Seattle area for 3.5 years now, and are 5 months from moving. And only today, we visited Hurricane Ridge for the very first time. It’s one of those places that I’m kicking myself for not having discovered sooner.



First off, we started in Sequim. We got there around 10:30 or so – a bit early for lunch. So on a whim, we went to the Olympic Game Farm.



It was a cool and slightly terrifying experience, I must admit. We weren’t feeding the animals like the cars in front of us were, but they came right up to our windows anyway, begging for bread. It made me nervous, especially the smaller animals like the rabbits and peacocks. I was really hoping we wouldn’t injure any of them. But then a bison came up to the window and looked in the rear passenger-side window, directly at me. It was exhilarating but scary.

By the time we finished our driving tour, it was lunch time. So off to The Oak Table Café we went. Full disclosure: Oak Table Café is a former client of mine from when I worked as a payroll specialist. The owner sent me a certificate for 3 complimentary meals, which I had been unable to use until today. So yes, the free food was a definite draw, but Oak Table Café was also one of my very favorite clients. The Naglers ,who own and operate the restaurant, are just the nicest people and they truly love what they do.

This restaurant did not disappoint. I had a slice of ham and cheese quiche that was pretty much perfect (the crust seemed just slightly underdone, but there was so much eggy/cheesy goodness that it was barely even an issue). It came with a small side salad, a dinner roll, and a couple slices of melon for garnish (which I ate, of course). A fantastic meal. Everything was really fresh and made from scratch. Lance and his sister ordered omelets (they serve breakfast all day), which were baked in the oven, so they were light and fluffy. And they came with pancakes that were declared to be amazing. The service was top notch too. Lance and I will be going back.

Afterwards, we drove up to Hurricane Ridge. It was a nail-biter, especially on the drive down, but the views almost make you forget how easy it is to plummet to your death.

I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. You’ll notice a lot of Black-Tailed Deer photos. We saw probably a dozen of them, and they have no fear of people. This, I might add, is not a good thing.

We hit up Poulsbo on the way back. I was there back in December. It was quite a bit different tonight. More lively. But then again, it’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon in the summer, as opposed to a quiet Sunday morning in December. We stopped for a treat at Sluy’s Bakery (mandatory) before heading home.

Took a few pictures today. You can check them out on Flickr.

Clipper Vacations Friday Harbor/Whale Watching Tour

It's always nice to have visitors. When you're living somewhere and you start to take it for granted, it's nice to have a look at where you live through their eyes. My husband and I are relocating to the East Coast next year (D.C. area, to be more specific), so we're expecting a lot of visitors this summer. Or that could just be a coincidence. But since we got a larger number of visitors our last year in Germany, I'm thinking it's not.

First up - my cousins Lori and Lindsey, who flew in from Minnesota last Sunday. They left this morning (and are, in fact, winging their way back to MSP as I type this).

I may post about other bits of their visit later, but right now, I want to focus on the whale watching tour. Because that was new to me, and it was something I always wanted to do since I moved here.

We did, in fact, see orcas. And that made it all worthwhile (and fulfilled, at least for me, an item on my bucket list). But there were unpleasant parts. We had to get up super early to get to Seattle from Kent (weekday morning = rush hour = crush of humanity on public transportation). But Seattle was brilliant and beautiful that morning, and we enjoyed our walk from the rail station to Pier 69, where Clipper Vacations docks their Victoria Clipper boats.

Check-in and boarding were easy enough. We were advised to reserve seats on the lower decks if we wanted to sit on the top deck, because it gets cold and windy up there. Most people don't sit up there for the duration. But to "reserve" your seats, you have to leave your personal items on them to claim them. We didn't feel comfortable doing that. So in a girl power moment, we decided to suck it up and deal with whatever uncomfortable conditions we'd encounter on the top deck. The view was best from there, after all.

And yeah, it was cold. Very cold. And windy. Very windy (we all got windburn, actually). But we had heavy jackets with hoods and bundled up as best we could. It wasn't too bad. We could laugh about our misery while we were up there, but the views were spectacular. And getting some scalding hot chocolate from the concession stand helped warm us up some.

We also saw a Bald Eagle. And several Harbor Seals.



After about 3 hours and 45 minutes, we docked at Friday Harbor. Us whale watchers had to stay on the boat. We had a 15 minute stop there before the whale watching tour began.

And there were whales. Probably at least 6 of them. We came upon several tour and research boats circling a pod (which, I'm sure, was not by accident). We watched them for half an hour or so. They breached the water several times, which was spectacular. We had to stay at least a couple hundred meters away though, so it's not a close encounter. Binoculars are handy. And a camera with a mega zoom lens (and super fast shutter speed) is also handy. Needless to say, I didn't get pictures of the whales. The pictures were mostly of ripples on water, and I ended up missing a few breaches because I was fiddling with my camera. So I stopped. Not everything has to be viewed through a lens.

The whale watching was over with too soon, and we went back to Friday Harbor for a couple of hours. Which, in my opinion, was not nearly long enough. After we had lunch (at a place called Downriggers Restaurant, right next to the Clipper pier), we only had about half an hour before we had to board for our return trip. No time to look in the shops, but at least we had time for a quick wine tasting (there is always time for free tastings) at Island Wine, where I bought a couple bottles of blush on sale.

That is probably my major complaint about the tour - not enough time at Friday Harbor. And I did mention that on the survey I filled out during the return trip.

On the way back to Seattle, we opted to sit in the lower deck. We couldn't stand to be exposed to the elements anymore. We were all exhausted and I caught a few winks on the return trip. Other than some people being obnoxious (not unlike being crammed on a full flight), it was an excellent trip. It makes for a very long day, though. In total, we were on the tour for nearly 12 hours, and I'm not including the commute time between Kent and Seattle.

As always, you can see more photos on Flickr.

Gig Harbor & Destiny Harbor Tour

Today is my birthday, and my husband and I planned to go to Portland, until I discovered that they were having the Grand Floral Parade as part of their annual Rose Festival. I figured this might limit parking and impede our ability to get around, especially since the parade route was right in the area where I planned to do most of my exploring. I checked into Amtrak, but the fares were too high just for a day trip.

So I came up with an alternate plan. Gig Harbor.



Lance and I were there briefly last year. We met a friend for dinner and ate at Anthony’s. We said we wanted to go back and see more of the town because we liked what little of it we saw.

Today seemed as good a day as any.

We got there around noon. Mostly we just meandered around the historic downtown area. We stopped for some ice cream at Kelly’s. There was nothing particular we had in mind to do other than a Destiny Harbor Tour. And that was scheduled to leave at 3:30. Gig Harbor isn’t a bad place to kill time, believe me. It was overcast today, so we didn’t get the amazing view of the mountains that we had last time we were there, but it’s still a picturesque town and a great place to wander. We even saw a bride and groom getting their pictures taken at Skansie Brothers Park. It’s a nice place for people watching, if you like that sort of thing.

At 3:00, we went to the dock where the Destiny Harbor Tour departs (right at Anthony’s Restaurant). We got there a tad too early, but better too early than too late, right? Captain Tom showed up a short while later, and once he got the boat ready, we boarded along with some of the other passengers. The Destiny is an old Coast Guard utility boat.

This 2-hour tour was definitely the highlight of my day. It took us out underneath the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. We got close up looks at Salmon Beach, Point Defiance, and the beautiful homes at Point Fosdick and Gig Harbor’s waterfront. I was especially fascinated by Salmon Beach, where people live in fishing shacks at the water’s edge. Perhaps a bit isolated, but stunning. Access to this Tacoma neighborhood is either by boat or by foot down a very steep cliff, if this tells you anything about why I found it fascinating.

We learned a little about history, geology, architecture and wildlife. We saw two Bald Eagles (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to zoom in close enough for good photos), a couple seals, and several Pigeon Guillemots. We also heard a fascinating story about the Tacoma Narrows Bridge (and how it got the nickname "Galloping Gertie"), but I'll leave that to Captain Tom to tell you.

It was a fantastic time! I highly recommend this tour if you’re in Gig Harbor, but the company also runs tours out of Tacoma.

Link: http://www.destinymarine.com/

And as always, a link to my Flickr album with today's photos.

Olympic Peninsula Weekend

How have we lived in Washington for over 3 years and not yet been to the Olympic Peninsula? Well, we rectified that this weekend. I got a Groupon deal for Lake Quinault Lodge, so we set out yesterday morning. This is one of those weekends where few of our plans came together, but we still had a great time.

Let me just say that the Olympic Peninsula is a great destination if you're looking to find peace in your soul. I mentioned in a recent post that my grandmother recently died, and I'm still reeling from that. My husband's been traveling a lot. We needed a quiet, restful place to regroup and reconnect. Lake Quinault was great for that.



Our drive took about 2.5 hours from Tukwila (we had to drop the dogs off at Petsmart for boarding first). Parts of the drive were quite nice. I especially liked going through Grays Harbor County, and Hoquiam in particular.

After driving through a seemingly endless stretch of evergreen forest, we saw signs for Lake Quinault. I think we arrived there sometime between 10-10:30. As it turns out, it was too early. Our room wasn't ready. So we walked down to the lake, just in time to see this:



We were the only two outside, so it was almost like the rainbow was there just for us. I felt it was a omen that we would have a good weekend.

But with a rainbow comes the rain, of course. Despite that, we hiked the Quinault Loop Trail through the rainforest. We came out of the trailhead soaked, but happy. The sun came out as we finished our hike, and we saw another rainbow form over Lake Quinault.

At that point, it was time to think about lunch. The Roosevelt Room at the lodge was a bit too rich for our blood, so we wanted to go somewhere a little more within our price range. I had read that the Quinault Mercantile right across the street had a cafe, but it was closed when we walked over there. And there was a sign pointing to the general store at Rain Forest Resort Village about a mile away. So we drove there, thinking we could get food. But that was just a convenience store. They sold food there, of course, but it was your standard pre-made sandwiches and bags of chips.

We ended up driving into nearby Amanda Park, where we had lunch at the Internet Cafe (otherwise known as I.C.). There was really no ambience to speak of, but the staff was nice and the food was simple and good. I had fish and chips and it exceeded my expectations. We noted that they served breakfast and headed back to the lodge to check in.

I had anticipated that we would take the rainforest tour that is available via the lodge. Part of the Groupon was for buy one, get one free admission. And their website says they offer the tour from 9:30 AM-1 PM daily and from 2-5 on Saturdays. So I wanted to take the Saturday afternoon tour. But I was told that they only offered the tour at 9:30 AM. So it seems the Saturday afternoon tour is no longer available.

We got our room key and headed up to the second floor to check it out. We had a lake view room, which I knew ahead of time. I loved the view. And the room was charming, with vintage details. There was no TV, but I didn't feel that was a problem. The only caveats: the walls were paper thin. We could hear EVERYTHING. We had a shower stall (I was hoping for a tub), and the water pressure was weak. But otherwise, it was very nice.

We rested for a bit, and then decided to go down the road a bit to see the world's largest Sitka Spruce. That was one of those situations where you end up being less than impressed once you get there. It was a huge tree, don't get me wrong. But it just didn't have the awe factor that I assumed it would have. That short hike to the tree and back resulted in sodden socks and shoes (lots of flooding on that trail), so back to the room to dry our shoes by the radiator. I am a former Girl Scout, so I should've been more prepared and had 2 pairs of shoes. I did bring extra socks, at least.

We had nothing else to do while waiting for our shoes to dry, so I ended up dozing off and Lance was playing around with his cellphone. Soon, dinnertime was upon us, so we put on our newly dry shoes and trudged back out into the rain. We walked a mile down the road to The Salmon House at Rain Forest Resort Village. We loved, loved, LOVED this restaurant. To say that they specialize in salmon is obvious, but neither of us ordered that. Lance ordered the chicken cordon bleu, which he thought was fantastic. I got the garden vegetable fettuccine, which was pretty much the best fettuccine alfredo I ever tasted. And we were seated at a big picture window overlooking the lake. What could be better? Especially since it stopped raining while we were eating and the sun came out.

It was dry as we walked back. And the rest of the evening was gorgeous, as is evident from the first picture I posted. That was our sunset last night. Glorious.

But between the end of dinner and the sunset, we spent some time in the game room at the lodge, where we laughed a lot over a couple games of pool and some very crazy games of ping pong. We were both exhausted - not just from the day's events - but from the past 2 months in general. Shortly after 9 PM, we were both asleep.

I was up before the sun this morning - not that I wanted to be. I had hoped to sleep in. But my insomnia didn't take the weekend off. Lance woke up shortly after I did, and we decided that instead of hanging around the lodge (where we had considered doing the rainforest tour this morning), we would instead drive up to Ruby Beach on the Pacific coast. Once we showered and dressed, we checked out and were off! Back to Amanda Park for breakfast at the I.C.

Afterwards, it was about a 40 mile drive to Ruby Beach. It was worth it. This was, for me, one of the highlights of our trip. The waves were tempestuous, crashing against the sea stacks, and the skies were foggy and gray. The beach was exactly how I like it. Simply stunning.



From there, we headed south to Ocean Shores. No special reason, except we had time to kill, and we hadn't been there before. We had homemade ice cream at Murphy's and visited the interpretive center. We were probably in Ocean Shores for a little over an hour, and then we decided to head back toward home.

By the time we got to Hoquiam, we were ready for lunch. So we shared a pizza at Sasquatch Pizza, and then we were on the road again.

Two days wasn't long enough. I long to go back. But we're planning on seeing the northern part of the Olympic Peninsula before we move on to our next assignment (which is coming up soon).

My full set of photos is up at Flickr.

A Brief Visit to Kitsap County

It's been one of those rare late autumn weekends with mild and dry weather and the occasional appearance of the sun. We planned to go to Kitsap County yesterday, particularly to explore "Little Norway" - Poulsbo - of all places, because my Minnesota-born husband grew up on lefse and figured that would be a good place to get some. So that was as good an excuse as any!

But it wasn't meant to be. He was asked to work yesterday, so we postponed our trip for today.

Originally, we were going to take the ferry from Seattle to Bainbridge Island, but at the last minute, we decided to just drive there instead. It's only about an hour and 15 minute drive. By the time we drove to downtown Seattle, waited in line at the ferry terminal, and took the 35 minute ferry to Bainbridge Island and then drove to Poulsbo from there, it wouldn't really be any faster anyway. I liked the drive, especially as it took us past Bremerton and the sight of all the Navy ships lined up in the bay.

We arrived in Poulsbo around 9:45 this morning. Evidently, we came on the wrong day. Poulsbo was sleepy, and even after 10 AM, it didn't wake up too much. We were able to check out a few shops that were open, but the majority of shops were closed.

The highlight for us was Sluys' Bakery. I've never seen a bakery with such a huge selection. They are known for their Poulsbo bread, which I didn't try. But I did try one of their cinnamon rolls with cream cheese frosting, which was probably the most delicious cinnamon roll I've ever consumed in my life. More importantly, they had homemade lefse - as big as dinner plates - and Lance purchased 2 packages to bring home.

Another highlight for us was the Marina Market - a small market in historic downtown that has a startling selection of European groceries. We saw a lot of German stuff. They had stroopwafels. They had lutefisk TV dinners (I wish I could've taken photographic evidence of this, but sadly, I didn't). I was remarking to Lance that if I saw some Norwegian milk chocolate (yes, Switzerland and Belgium are known for their chocolate, but Norwegian milk chocolate...I can't tell you how creamy and wonderfully decadent it is), I would get it. As soon as this utterance escaped my mouth, I saw the familiar bright yellow wrapper that said "Freia Melkesjokolade" - YES! YES! YES! Despite the price ($9 for a large bar), we had to get some. When would we stumble on such a treasure again? It was rare enough when we lived in Germany - Lance would bring me this chocolate whenever he had to go to Norway, but those trips were few and far between.

Around 11:30 or so, we said goodbye to Poulsbo. I would like to go back when there's a festival going on or something, so we have an excuse to stay longer.

I wasn't ready to just go home, so I told Lance to set Port Orchard as the destination on our GPS. We were going to have lunch there. The nice thing about Port Orchard is that it's across the bay from the Naval base, so we had a nice view of the ships. I was interested in seeing the Kitty Hawk especially, because my brother served on the Kitty Hawk early in his Navy career, and the ship was decommissioned in Bremerton. But there were a few aircraft carriers and we were unable to identify which one was the Kitty Hawk, at least from that far away.

After admiring the view, Lance picked Amy's On The Bay as our lunch spot, which was a nice choice. I ordered clam chowder in a toasted sourdough bowl with a side salad. It was exactly what I needed, even if I didn't know it at the time. It hit the spot. Lance enjoyed his burger. And they offer a 10% military discount, so bonus! I liked the ambience - it was casually elegant and the staff was attentive to our every need.

We encountered the same issue with Port Orchard that we did with Poulsbo - very little was open. So after strolling down the main downtown street, we said goodbye to Port Orchard and headed home. As it turns out, our timing was good. It started raining shortly after we left, and I was getting a bad headache anyway and ended up napping all the way home once we crossed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.

Even though it was only for a few hours, it was nice to get out and enjoy the weather and see something new.

I took a few pictures today. Also, here's the link to Amy's On The Bay - highly recommended.

Kubota Garden

More photos than text today. My husband and I took an excursion to Kubota Garden - a place I've been curious about ever since I wrote an article about Washington gardens for USAToday.com a few months back.

It's simply stunning. That's really all I have to say.

You can see for yourself.

Deception Pass

Today did not go as planned.

This isn't the first or the last time things haven't gone as planned. This is a normal part of traveling, and I'm flexible enough to roll with the punches.

I had anticipated this day for weeks. My husband ended up with a 4-day weekend, and we were kind of unsure what his schedule was going to be like until the last moment (he thought he was going to go out of town, but that was cancelled), so a weekend trip was out of the question. But since we knew for sure he would have today off, I told him that we needed to drive up to Deception Pass.

Well, we started out a bit later than I had hoped. No big deal, though. It's not like we had a particular agenda.

Then one of the dogs got sick in the backseat of the car while we were stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic in downtown Seattle. Again, not a big deal. I keep a towel in the car for just such a reason (if you're a dog owner, you pretty much have to), and I have leather seats. I managed to scoop up most of it. When we got north of Seattle, we stopped at a gas station, where I completed the clean up.

We hit the road again, and got stuck in traffic again because of a bad accident. So all in all, it took about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get to Deception Pass - probably about 45 minutes longer than it should have.

But it wasn't all bad. We drove through downtown Mount Vernon, which I found very cute. We were in Mount Vernon last year but saw a completely different part of it, which we didn't find so impressive.

Anyway, we arrived at Deception Pass around 1:30. We crossed the bridge over to the Whidbey Island side of the park. We scouted out a picnic spot, which were difficult to find since the park was so crowded. I think we got lucky.



Nice view, eh?

Anyway, we ended up not staying too long. Between the crowds and trying to keep the dogs calm (easy with our older one, not so much with our younger one), we realized that perhaps hanging out and hiking wasn't really going to work. We didn't know our way around the park and only saw one trail while we were there, and it was one that led to the bridge. We decided not to take the dogs on that trail because that seemed to be the one that everyone was hiking.

We ended up crossing the bridge back over to the Fidalgo Bay side and walking a trail at Pass Lake. Nobody was there. Once we felt like the dogs had sufficiently stretched their legs, we headed home. I think we just ran out of steam.

It happens. But Lance thought it was beautiful up there and suggested that perhaps we go camping next time so we can stay longer.

Not many pictures, but you can see some here, if you feel so inclined.

Girls' Day Out in Tacoma

As a military spouse, I have the advantage this summer of getting into a number of museums for free with my military ID, including the Museum of Glass and the Tacoma Art Museum. So my friend Erin tagged along with me today and we had a great time.

To make things easy, I parked at the Tacoma Dome Station, which is free. From there, you can take the Tacoma Link Light Rail (also free) to Union Station - a ride of approximately 5 minutes (which puts you just a stone's throw from the Museum of Glass).

But we didn't hop on the rail immediately. Historic Freighthouse Square is right across the street from the Tacoma Dome Station. It's filled with shops and restaurants. So we poked around in there, got coffee (made for us by a very chatty and hilarious barista), visited an art gallery, and then hopped on the rail.

Five minutes later, we were at Union Station, and making our way toward the Museum of Glass (MOG). We headed to the hot shop first, where artist Ed Archie Noisecat was working with his crew. We hung out in there for awhile and watched before exploring the galleries. The highlight for me was the "Kids Design Glass" exhibit, where the MOG hot shop team created glass sculptures based on drawings that were submitted by kids from ages 5-12. They were adorable, weird, remarkable, and hilarious (I'm jealous of the imagination of children).

After browsing the museum shop, we decided it was time for lunch. Sitting out on the patio at Woody's on the Water sounded like a good option (it's right next door to the MOG and you have a stunning view of the reflecting pool, MOG, and the Thea Foss Waterway). We had a nice lunch. I ordered a crab melt with coleslaw. Tasty.

Once we finished lunch, we leisurely made our way to the Tacoma Art Museum, stopping to check out anything that was of interest on the way. Overall, I liked the Tacoma Art Museum quite a bit. They have a pretty small collection and it only took us about half an hour to get through the exhibitions that were open (they are currently preparing for another one), but they have a nice Impressionism collection. I liked their Dale Chihuly collection and the current landscape exhibit. The highlight for me was Leroy. I love Leroy.




And judging by the fact that Leroy's image appeared on half the stuff in the gift shop, I would say that I'm not the only one who loves Leroy.

After the art museum, we just walked around and explored shops. We went into Hello, Cupcake because well...HELLO! CUPCAKES! I had a raspberry lemonade cupcake - lemon cupcake with raspberry buttercream frosting. Delicious. I'm honestly not much of a cake person, but the frosting was fluffy, light and not too sweet.

After a stop at the UW-Tacoma bookstore (where I got Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential for the bargain price of $4 + tax), we headed back toward the Tacoma Dome Station.

I had one stop to make before leaving...the Tacoma Book Center, right across the street from the Tacoma Dome. This unassuming building hides the fact that an enormous book mecca lies within. You are spoiled for choice here. You could easily spend an entire day in this store and probably wouldn't cover all of it. I sold some books and stayed near the door because I was trying to resist temptation. After all, I have enough books here at home already that I haven't even had the chance to read yet.

Today was a fun day. Erin and I had a great time and the more I see of Tacoma, the more I like it. It's sad how many tourists overlook this city because it didn't always have the best reputation. But if you get the chance, visit. You won't be sorry.

And I have the photos to prove it.

Links:
- Tacoma Dome Station (better than on-street parking, I promise)
- Tacoma Link Light Rail map and schedule
- Freighthouse Square
- Museum of Glass
- Woody's on the Water
- Tacoma Art Museum
- Hello, Cupcake
- Tacoma Book Center

Island Escape

Vashon Island is so near, and yet so far. A 20-minute ferry ride from West Seattle, it seems like a world away. The pace of life is slower. "Civilization" is the town of Vashon with its quaint, old-timey downtown. Outside of Vashon, you see farmland, wildflowers, and a lot of nature areas.

Lisa and I took the ferry today so that we could visit some of the lavender farms. The town of Sequim in the Olympic Peninsula usually gets all the glory - with its lavender festival being a large summer attraction. But Vashon offers lavender too, and it's just right for a day trip from Seattle or Tacoma or anywhere in-between.

Our first stop on the island was at Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie. Housed in a century-old building, this is a popular local spot. Not only do they have excellent coffee (I also rather enjoyed one of their huge, chewy molasses cookies), but they have a coffee museum and coffee-related antiques throughout the interior. This isn't one of your stale, identical-looking coffee shops that sit on every corner in Seattle. This place is special.

Fortified with caffeine and sugar, we started driving around Vashon Island with a horrible map and the GPS from our cellphones to guide us along. We kind of got lost. But that's actually ok. Vashon Island is good-sized, but it's not huge. You can only go so far, and eventually, you'll find your way back to where you were before.

We stopped at two of the island's three lavender farms - Fox Farm Lavender and Lavender Sisters - before heading back into the main drag in Vashon, where we ate lunch at The Hardware Store (which, as you can probably guess, isn't actually a hardware store). Fish and chips for me and a cheeseburger for Lisa, and we browsed some of the shops before heading back toward the ferry terminal.

Just a mile or two from the ferry terminal is Palouse Winery, where we stopped for some tastings before heading back. We were greeted by the owners' dogs, and as we were kicking back with some wine, Lisa happened to mention that her turn signals were no longer working on her VW Bug. So the owner actually came out to look at her car and check the fuse to see if that was the problem. So darned nice! And excellent wine too! I definitely want to stop back there if I'm on Vashon Island again.

A short while later, we were back on the ferry heading toward West Seattle, where we stopped to walk around Lincoln Park before heading back to our respective homes.

Want pictures? I have them.

How about some links?

- Vashon Island Coffee Roasterie
- Fox Farm Lavender
- The Hardware Store
- Palouse Winery

Summer Garden Tours in Washington State

Hot off the press (errr...Internet) - my latest travel tips on USAToday.com!

Summer Garden Tours of Washington State

Hess Bakery & Deli - Lakewold Gardens

Once upon a time, two women lived in Germany and then moved to the Seattle area, where they met. They often discuss what they miss most about Germany, including the food. So they decided to drive down to Lakewood - just south of Tacoma - to eat at Hess Bakery & Deli. And lo, it was good...err...wunderbar!

Yes, so Lisa and I decided to make a day of it and go to Lakewold Gardens as well, since it was near Hess Bakery & Deli. But I'll get to that later. First...food!

This is the real deal, folks. If you have lived in Germany, visited Germany, or even dreamt of Germany, go here and have a sandwich. I went in there kind of not caring what exactly I had, as long as it involved brötchen. I miss brötchen. It truly is one of the most wonderful breads in the world.

Ultimately, I ordered German salami, butterkäse (butter cheese) and German mustard on brötchen. Every single bite sent me back to Deutschland. It was delicious. And I had hungered for good German bread, meat, and cheese for so long. I had a side of German potato salad with it. True happiness. Lisa was happy too.

We went to the bakery side across the hall and got dessert, but it wasn't nearly as satisfying. I may have mentioned before that European desserts aren't generally sweet enough for the American palate. There are some exceptions. But this was true of the desserts at Hess. The desserts were completely authentic, but just not for us. We're all about the deli. But if you love German cakes in general, by all means, knock yourself out. You'll love it.

After lunch, we drove a couple of miles to Lakewold Gardens. I love gardens, which may seem rather obvious if you've been reading my blog for awhile. Lakewold Gardens is stunning. We saw everything in about an hour or so, but the drive down Gravelly Lake Drive was nice (beautiful homes with well-manicured lawns) and Gravelly Lake itself looked so inviting. It was a nice, restful place to enjoy some scenery.

The centerpiece of Lakewold Gardens is The Wagner House. I won't get into its history here. You can visit the Lakewold Gardens website (linked below) if you want more information. You can go inside to see the house, but you don't get access to more than about 3 rooms or so, and the upstairs is completely off-limits. I particularly loved the library.

But the gardens were far more interesting to me anyway. And the garden shop there has some nice merchandise. Definitely worth a stop.

So, enough babbling...you want to see pictures, don't you? Of course you do! (link opens slideshow)

Links:
Hess Bakery & Deli
Lakewold Gardens

A Taste of Bavaria in Washington

...but only a little taste.

Since we moved here from Germany, practically everyone has told us that we MUST visit Leavenworth. If you've never heard of Leavenworth, it's a small town in the Cascade mountains that is made to look like a Bavarian village. Their website and visitor brochures show pictures of smiling, dancing locals in lederhosen and dirndls, which seems to only be really accurate during festival times (we saw only one person in lederhosen today who was not working in the touristy part of town - and considering he was an elderly man with a walker, I'm guessing he just dressed like that normally).

Since it's now warm enough not to worry too much about the weather on the mountain passes, we decided to go today. I was told by friends who have also lived in Germany to not get my hopes up too much - since Leavenworth is an obvious tourist trap - so I went there only with the expectation that I could get a satisfactory German meal.

That mission was accomplished.

We had a beautiful drive. The GPS had us traveling on I-90 through Snoqualmie Pass. And it snowed some, but none of it was sticking. The views were jaw-droppingly beautiful. We were in the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest and the Wenatchee National Forest for part of the way. I took a few pictures from the car. There really weren't many places to stop for photo ops.

As we neared Leavenworth - in the neighboring town of Peshastin - we saw a huge expanse of apple orchards. And indeed, there were fruit stands everywhere. Of course, the trees are all bare this time of year, so there was little open.

After a 2.5 hour drive, we arrived in sleepy Leavenworth. And when I say sleepy, I mean it. Few people were there. The town looked practically dead. I think most of the locals were probably in church. We parked just down the street from the town center, so when we walked the short distance to get to the main part of town, I had to stop and look. That's it? Really? It was comprised mainly of a few blocks of Bavarian-style buildings - mostly restaurants, wineries and shops. There were a few things on some side streets, hotels and a few shops or restaurants here and there, but the majority of it was concentrated on one street.

Between the main street through town and the main tourist street was a small park with a gazebo that blasted cheesy Bavarian music from loudspeakers. There were a couple of horses with carriages, waiting to take people on rides.

Lance and I just started poking through the shops. Not much else to do, really. We first stopped at Kris Kringl (yes, that's how it's spelled), which is a Christmas shop. It reminded us a lot of the Käthe Wohlfahrt stores we loved in Germany. So far, so good. As we continued through the various shops, we could see that they sold either souvenirs or goods that were pretty easy to get elsewhere. There was; however, a fun hat shop where we tried on goofy hats and sunglasses. So that was fun for awhile.

And we had to eat while we were there. The drive made us tired and hungry. I planned ahead in this, at least. I knew I wanted to eat at Bären House, because they had a good selection of stuff: German food, pasta, sandwiches, pizza. Something for everyone. We weren't disappointed. The menu on their website is slightly different from the one we were given, and sadly, what I wanted to order wasn't on their menu (they had a similar platter, but it was way too much food, so I didn't order it). I ordered a schnitzel sandwich (with sauerkraut and melted swiss cheese on their homemade sandwich roll) that came with a side of German potato salad (which wasn't really German potato salad, but still good) and a dill pickle spear. The schnitzel knocked my socks off. I can honestly say that it was better than any schnitzel I had in Germany. It was a huge sandwich though, and I could only manage half of it. (Our server offered to box up my leftovers, but considering the long drive, I didn't want to chance it...I sure would like the rest of that sandwich right now, though. So good!) Lance ordered spaghetti (he's done with schnitzel for life, probably). We were both happy.

We explored a bit of Leavenworth's river promenade, which was nice, but we didn't actually do any promenading, since we weren't sure how long the trails were or where they went. We briefly stopped in the local bookstore (since I pretty much have to check out the bookstores in every town I visit). Neither of us bought anything at any of the shops we explored, but it was fun to look. We took note of the huge number of chocolate/candy stores, but in the end, we went to Cold Stone Creamery.

We were there maybe 2.5 hours at the most. I think our drive there took slightly longer than the amount of time we spent there.

Lance decided we should take a different route back (route 2 through Steven's Pass), so we enjoyed different scenery on the way back. That drive took about the same amount of time and we didn't encounter any snowfall. In fact, it turned out to be a really warm and beautiful day. A bit colder at the higher altitudes, but sunny and nice.

I wish I could've gotten pictures from Steven's Pass. We were often driving alongside river rapids, and the views there were also breathtaking. We were laughing about the random latte stands that dotted the sides of the highway, even in the middle of nowhere. But this is Washington after all. And we must have our coffee.

Of course, there was snow at the higher altitudes and we saw lots of people at the ski areas that we passed. This was the first time driving in these areas for both of us, and I wouldn't mind driving through the passes again. The scenery is truly unbelievable.

I'll sum up Leavenworth by saying this - we likely would've stayed a little longer if we hadn't both been really tired. And I had a headache. There were several wine shops offering tastings, and I always enjoy wine tastings. Once it warmed up a bit, the beer gardens were beckoning. I suppose if you want to spend all day, you could happily do so just kicking back with a few beers or going from wine tasting to wine tasting. I would go back if given the opportunity (that is, if a friend was going and invited me along). But now that we've seen Leavenworth, we don't feel the need to go back again on our own.

Anyway, I didn't take many pictures, but what I did take can be seen here in slideshow form.

A few links of places worth visiting:

Kris Kringl
Bären Haus
A Book for All Seasons
Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest
Wenatchee National Forest

Skagit Valley Revisited

Last year in mid-April, my husband and I made our first trip up to Skagit Valley for their annual tulip festival. Alas, our late winter meant that there were few tulips to be seen.

Things are different this year. We didn't really have a winter at all. And though the tulip festival doesn't start for another few days yet, the tulips are already blooming. My friend Lisa and I decided to go up today to try and beat the bulk of the crowds. We could not have had a better day.

On the road towards La Conner, we stopped at Snow Goose Produce. I had seen this place last year, but we didn't stop. Today, we did. And I'm so glad. This place is a paradise for foodies and flower lovers. You can get wine, produce, seafood, jams, pickled veggies, condiments, cheeses...all sorts of gourmet treats from around the area. But perhaps Snow Goose is more famous for their self-proclaimed "immodest" ice cream cones, which are every bit as immodest they claim. Served in a freshly made waffle cone, the ice cream is a delicious treat even at 10:30 in the morning.

After spending a bit of time there, we moved on to La Conner. Lisa had only passed through there before and never took the time to explore. So I insisted that we had to. We got there early enough to find a prime parking spot and started our exploration. I love this town just as much now as I did a year ago, if not more. When Lance and I were there last year, there were a lot of empty businesses. Well, things are starting to pick up, and there were new businesses to explore.

So we poked around in shops, galleries and enchanting courtyards. We bought homemade toffee from a new toffee shop and fresh scratch-made lefse from The Norse Pantry. We watched a glass-blowing demonstration. We soaked up the charm.

Shortly before 1, even though we were still a bit full from the ice cream, we decided to have a bite. So we went to Hellams Vineyard - a wine shop on the riverfront. There, we ordered a plate of salami, olives, bread, cheese and crackers. Lisa got a glass of red wine. I got a glass of a delicious Riesling/Viognier blend. We sat out on a deck overlooking the Skagit River and enjoyed a wonderful lunch. It hit the spot.

After that, it was time for tulips! Instead of heading to Tulip Town or Roozen Gaarde, we went to the other fields. I cannot properly do the colors justice with words. You just have to see my pictures.

Once we spent an hour or so exploring the tulip fields (and what was left of the fading daffodils), we headed back toward Seattle, stopping at Snow Goose Produce once again for a few souvenirs before hitting the highway (the line for the ice cream at this point was ridiculously long).

The weather was really nice, and it was pretty much a perfect day.

See my pictures from today.

Links:
Snow Goose Produce
Hellams Vineyard

Spring Awakening - Lake Fenwick (Kent)