Day 4

When we woke up very early for the third day in a row, we all began to wonder if we were going to get any rest on this vacation, but our diligence paid off as we secured our car a spot on the 6:30 AM ferry to Keystone.


The guys put the passenger seats to good use:



There wasn't much to see on the crossover:


After fulfilling the promise of a nice hot breakfast on Whidbey Island (which I had used to lure my three out of bed) we sought out Fort Casey which was built in the 1890s to defend Puget Sound from any would-be attackers.

Jeff compares his guns to the one behind him:


Tobias heads in for a closer look down the barrel:


Then it was on to raspberry picking at Mile Post 19 Farm near Coupeville.


Once we paid the berry lady for all the fruit we had picked, we stood in the parking lot and ate about half of our takings. We must have looked like total pigs, but they're probably used to seeing gluttons shove down handful after handful.

I hope.

Deception Pass was next on the agenda:


Don't you love signs for stupid people?


Next we drove to the home of our friends (who prefer to remain nameless). (You'll see a shot of the whole family on Day 6.) We haven't seen them in about 5 years so it was a wonderful reunion.

Within minutes of our arrival, we were on a beautiful nature walk. You can hop on this trail literally 25 feet from their front door:


See why I LOVE Washington???

Later that evening, we walked down by the shore and one of the girls caught the tiniest crab I've ever seen. So cute!


And we saw yet more roadside weeds:


Our friends' little dog liked Tobias.


In fact, one morning, Tobias (who was sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag) awoke to find the little guy curled up in his (Tobias's) armpit. Now that's a brave dog!

(If you aren't able to find Days 5-7 when you click on "older posts" below, go back to the top of this page and click on Day 5, Day 6 and Day 7 individually under "Blog Archive". I don't know why this stupid glitch exists. Maybe it's because I posted 8 posts all at the same time.)

Day 5

The next morning, our friends recommended a hike and a drive. By day's end, Jeff and I both agreed that we had just experienced the most visually beautiful day of our entire lives. The pictures don't do the places justice, but believe me, I was walking around with my mouth hanging open.

The hike was a nature walk along a river through the most lush terrain I've ever trod upon.



Huckleberries, anyone?


When we'd had our fill of that kind of beauty, we moved on to beauty of a different sort. We drove on a mountainous road for about an hour when it suddenly opened up to this:


At the very end of the road is a big parking lot with the best vistas ever:


The following pics are not photo-shopped. We really did go sledding in August. :)


That night, we went to one of the nearby lakes.




Jeff and Tobias played Chicken on the paddle board.

Day 6

You'll notice there are four little booklets in the above picture. Yes, Delaney's passport finally arrived TWO DAYS before we left.

You may be wondering, "Aimee, why would you spend so much money to get your kids passports if you were just going to the state of Washington?"

Well, geography students, if you examine your U.S. map closely, you'll see that just north of Washington is a place called Canada.



We took a day trip up into the city of Vancouver and went to the...


...where they had multiple species of Jeff's favorite animal...the jellyfish:


Next we went to Granville Island and ate pierogies which I've decided are the perfect comfort food. Yes, I could grow quite fat on those tender little dumplings.

We went to a rock store where I purchased this prehnite pendant.


The lady I bought it from looked very unusual and when she opened her mouth, things only got weirder.

Her: "This is a very important crystal. It's wonderful when people are attracted to it. It will really help strengthen your shakra and when you put it on you'll see that it will begin to glow."

Me: "Ummm...it's really...pretty."

Whatever...

Then we went for a walk in a park.

Is it just me or does it look like this guy is behind his dog with a frying pan and spatula, ready to cook up anything the canine drops?


Ewwww...

Then it was back to the U.S. of A. for some sailing on a catamaran.




Our Washingtonian friends: