Sunday, September 26, 2010

Puget Sound

Christina and I just finished a lovely week-long trip all to ourselves! (Thanks so much to grandma's, grandpa's, aunts and uncles for sharing the kids while we were away. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!)

On the way up to the San Juan Islands we stopped in Seattle for the Boats Afloat show on Lake Union. I wanted to get a look at some of the "bigger" sailboats. In the "it's only $100,000...used" range here is a beautiful 28' Alerion Express.



Christina making sure the galley of a 50' Beneteau fits her style.



We took the opportunity to hop on board a $1.5 Million yacht. Might as well, right? Designed only to sleep two couples and a crew - needless to say, it was beautifully crafted throughout.

Then on to Anacortes for a ferry ride over to Orcas Island. Just as the sun was setting we arrived at our home for the next week - a lovely cabin on the beach at West Beach Resort. Beautiful. Relaxing. Refreshing.








Our fire pit kept us warm late into the evenings, where we could watch the tide go out, ships pass between the islands and Canada, and the stars bright overhead. 



A few times we saw a family of otters playing on the dock at the resort.



We hopped over to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island for a day of seeing the sites, enjoying the restaurants, browsing the book stores, and showing Christina where my grandparents used to live when I was a kid.





It was hard to say goodbye to West Beach Resort, but we still had a few more "travel" days yet on our trip. Driving down the Olympic Peninsula (after waiting nearly five hours in ferry lines!) I surprised my Twilight fanatic of a wife with an overnight stop in Forks, staying at the official house of the Cullens.







No worries, the entire Twilight series is on the bedstand of the room... just in case you need to brush up on your twi-facts before bed.



Bella's truck... of course!



Before Twilight came along, Forks would impress visitors with their big tree. It is a big tree. But it doesn't sparkle like Edward.



Back to driving down 101, through strangely named towns like "Humptulips" (are you serious?) and "Cosmopolis" (The future mega-city that never made it past the village state?).



And a dinner stop in Astoria, where we have great memories of our previous vacation together a few years back.



This was a first for us - a full week to ourselves, just to relax and play. It was an amazing trip!