Whidbey Island

Spring time on Whidbey Island is always a treat.

We spent a few hours sipping coffee outside Useless Bay Coffee Co. Townsend loved the attention from the visitors, as well as laying in the sun rays.


Our big "lap dog."


Enjoying the weather.


Townsend loved playing ball and running the beaches of Double Bluff Park.
We enjoyed the beautiful walk along the sandy shores.


It was a nice relaxing weekend we spent together


Townsend following this little water path up the bluffs! It was pretty steep, but very silty/sandy.


Waiting patiently for the ball.


Our crazy puppy dog.


Sunset on the sound


Walking at Deceptions Pass State Park the next morning, after a nice cool night camping.


Among the driftwood, Olympics in the background.


We checked out the Coupeville Farmer's Market on Saturday and stumbled upon this BBQ stand. WOW! We voted it the best BBQ this side of the Mississippi. Good stuff.

Eagle's Landing 2011

a dog's day!

Whidbey Island 2011, Andrea's BDay - Double Bluff Dog Park

Flash.

Cold Day; finding shelter in a drift wood structure.

This is what Townsend and Judge would have looked like!

Loving it, or hating it?

The birthday girl!

Andrea and Towno way down the beach!

Kite boarder.

Ozette Triangle - Backpacking WA Coast, pt ii

making our  way down 3 miles of the beach to sand point.

at times, hiking was slow because of trees that had washed up.

nothing beats walking along tidal pools on a brisk
washington-coastal morning!

andrea looking for starfish and other aquatic creatures in a tide pool.

at times we had to crawl over, or under, huge trees!

we were surprised by how much plastic had washed up on the beaches.
some folks created art-like scuptures next to their camps, we just
realized, and felt guilty, of how much plastic we "consume" at home.

at wedding rocks there are legended to be over 50 petraglyphs.
we only found a few, but what we saw was impressive.

this was our favorite 500 year old petraglyph!

on the coast, you always have to be aware of the tides.
at some points, the tide is so high that there are no beaches.
the above marker is a 'hedland marker.' it marks an area that
a hiker must leave the beach.

deer shouldn't be on the beach; there's nothing for them!
but we saw two! they hiked with us for a mile or so.

a typical coastal rock/island/outcropping.

at sand point and ready to leave the beach for a 3 mile hike through the
woods to our car.

andrea thought she'd be sly and sneak a kiss; i noticed it. :)
notice the hedland marker in the back ground.

we highly recommend this short hike for everyone. next time we make
 the trip we'll let folks know!

Ozette Triangle - Backpacking WA Coast

out to the olympic penisula to backpack the ozette triangle.

there was a great boardwalk that lead us over the boggy marsh.

keeping a close eye on the decaying boards.

across the meadows where lars alhstrom was, at one point, the furthest west settler.

gazing out, trying to to imagine the homestead that once stood here.

through more rain forest and marshes.

arriving at the coast, we had to cross a small stream and find a campsite.

we 'dropped-pack' at our campsite and saw what the coast is about.

not a bad location for a night's sleep.

taking it all in.

after camp was setup, we went exploring.

rocks in near-perfect spherical goodness.

not even out here can we get away from home repairs!

happy!

a little tidal pool with a little crab.

brooke found a large tree to climb.

it's amazing what washes up, and how it washes up.

andrea, pondering the existence of the tree roots. :)

back to dinner. we're sure glad we decided to pack in some pinot gris!

 enjoying the post-italian dinner beach fire. rough life.

waiting for the sun to go down, enjoying the sounds of barking sea lions on a distant island.

.perfect end to a perfect day. we dosed off in our tent listening to the waves crash against the shore.