ToadMama.com – Page 77 – RV Living, General Travel, and a Weird Mix of Other Stuff

February 24, 2014February 27, 2014

Pacific Northwest – Installment 15

After a very long, fabulous vacation, our final day together was upon us. We all had mixed feelings, of course. By that time, we were all ready to get back to our homes and pets. We were also excited about seeing our family at the end of the day. But we were sad that we’d be parting ways. It’s hard having such good friends on a different continent.

It was essentially a relaxed travel day. We’d planned things so that our last night was relatively close to our final destination, Amy’s house in the Seattle suburbs, but also near some sights. Annelies had identified Coupeville as a place to visit and I’d zeroed-in on at Ebey’s Landing National Historical Reserve (ELNHR). Have I told you that she and I make a great planning team?

We started out with breakfast at McDonald’s, a first for Annelies and Yves, which made for some giggles.

Americans know hot cakes = pancakes, but that confused our friends. Also confusing was the speed at which orders are taken, the staffs’ assumption that you have eaten at McDonald’s previously and understand their menu, know how to tell them how many cream and/or sugars you want in your coffee, etc. Compounding the problem, Annelies and Yves, who both understand and speak English very well, had a hard time understanding the African-American lady from Georgia that took our order.

It was truly an entertaining way to start the day.

Knowing we wanted to lunch in Coupeville, we headed for ELNHR, a rural historic district established to preserves and protect a historical record of Puget Sound exploration and settlement from the 19th century to the present. ELNHR uniquely encompasses a mix of federal, state, county, and private property. There are historic farms still under cultivation, the Victorian seaport community of Coupeville (where Seattle’s Best Coffee was started!), Fort Casey and Fort Ebey State Parks, and even a section of the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail.

ELNHR is actually pretty big. We drove around a bit, surprised no note that the landscape looked a lot like the rolling hills of Central Pennsylvania, if you could ignore the snow-capped mountains in the background. Our first stop was Fort Casey State Park, which features an old gun battery, lighthouse, and lots of beach.

3_IMG_7707 — The fog was starting to roll in.

The next two shots are kind of funny. To me, anyway. They’re both examples of how the camera can skew perspective a bit. Look at the size of the lighthouse in relation to the people.

Hubby decided to wait in the car while Annelies, Yves, and I explored a bit of beach. I HAD to see the water up close one last time.

Annelies was not pleased that we had to descend this semi-treacherous cliff to reach the water’s edge.

8_IMG_7737 — Annelies was not digging the sandy, unstable cliff.

9_IMG_7738 — Love those beach rocks! (Yes, a select few jumped into my pocket.)

10_IMG_7740 — Small Dungeness Crab Shell

12_IMG_7747 — Building our last rock cairns.

14_IMG_7763 — Notice mine is the biggest.

18_IMG_7778 — We could barely see the lighthouse.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the island in Coupeville…

19_IMG_7783 — Blue sky over the Coupeville harbor.

20_IMG_7787 — Coupeville pier (you can see the fog encroaching in the background).

21_IMG_7795 — Sadly, we had no time to shop (or luggage space for purchases).

22_IMG_7802 — Knead & Feed Bakery and Restaurant (great lunch spot!)

The clock was ticking, and we had places to be, so we hit the road, driving south to catch the Clinton-Mukilteo ferry to the mainland, and then back to civilization, skirting Seattle to get to Amy’s house in the suburbs.

For some reason, I didn’t take pics of Annelies and Yves greeting Shannon again and, finally, meeting Amy, TJ, and the grand kids. AND, worse, I seem to have misplaced the pics of Annelies and Yves driving off. Which, really, is okay because it would be yet another picture of me crying at our vacation’s end.

My next and final post will touch on family time!

TRIP Re-cap

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 3: Exploring the City of Portland (morning of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 4: Beyond Portland (afternoon of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 5: Olympic Peninsula, Here We Come!

Installment 6: First Rain Forest Hike & Another Gorgeous Beach

Installment 7: Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park

Installment 8: Madison Creek Falls & Lake Crescent

Installment 9: Hoh Rain Forest

Installment 10: Rialto Beach

Installment 11: Getting to San Juan Island

Installment 12: Enjoying San Juan Island

Installment 13: Whales!

Installment 14: Deception Pass

February 23, 2014February 27, 2014

Pacific Northwest – Installment 14

September 11 dawned bright. We were up and at it early so we had time to clean the house and prepare for our day’s journey, which would take us from San Juan Island, through Anacortes, WA on Fidalgo Island, to Deception Pass State Park and then Coupeville before over-nighting in Oak Harbor.

The map on the left shows our route. The first leg, from Friday Harbor to Anacortes, was on a very large Washington State Ferry. I thought for sure that the M/V Elwha was one of the biggest boats in the system. But according to the WSDOT website, there are five that are larger. It’s hard to imagine bigger ferries. The Elwha is 382 feet long and 73 feet across!

Unless you’ve seen tractor-trailers, school buses, RVs, etc. boarding easily and walked around its multiple levels and decks, I think it is hard to imagine the size of the vessel. You’ll just have to trust me when I say it is really darn BIG.

We got to Friday Harbor early enough that Annelies and I had time to shop while the boys waited in the car, which we’d parked in the ferry queue. We had time for some pictures, too.

Those flowers were outside the public restroom, inside of which occurred one of the most-amusing moments of the trip.

Let me just say, it’s a little disconcerting when your friend, who has already told you she really needs to use the bathroom, is in a neighboring bathroom stall when she laugh/squeals then exclaims, “Oh my GOD, I have got to take a picture of this.”

My first thought, of course, was an interesting piece of stool, which even I would NEVER photograph. I was very relieved when this was the image I saw…

That IS pretty funny.

Some other pics we captured in Friday Harbor…

1b_IMG_7562 — Signage at the most-interesting Ace Hardware Store ever.

We bought some souvenirs and picnic provisions and then headed back to the car as boarding time was imminent.

2_IMG_7565 — Friday Harbor as seen through the ferry window.

4_IMG_7574 — View during the passage to Anacortes.

I will never tire of riding ferries, or any other boat, among the San Juan Islands.

After disembarking, which happens surprisingly quickly, we headed to Deception Pass State Park. Part of the park is on the southern tip of Fidalgo Island and the other part is on the northern tip of Whidbey Island. A famous bridge connects the two islands at Deception Pass.

The Deception Pass bridge is actually two bridges, there’s a small island in between the two spans, that connects Fidalgo and Whidbey Islands. In total, it’s 1,487 feet long (Canoe Pass span: 511 feet, Deception Pass Span: 976 feet), with a road width of 22 feet and 3-foot sidewalks on each side. The cantilever bridge is approximately 180 feet from the water (depending on tides).

Currents through the Deception Pass strait are quite impressive. The tidal flow beneath the twin bridges is very strong and the current reaches a speed of about 8 knots (9.2 mph) during ebb and flood tide.

We stopped on the Fidalgo Island side first.

6_IMG_7607 — Beautiful stones. (Yes, some came home with me.)

7_IMG_7628 — Annelies and Yves doing a happy dance.

11_IMG_7648 — Hubby gazing down from the bridge deck.

12_IMG_7664 — Look at the rocks below the bridge to see the current.

After admiring the bridge up-close, we continued on into the Whidbey Island side of the park.

15_IMG_7690 — Hubby was content to watch the fishermen as we explored the beautiful shoreline.

13_IMG_7680 — Deception Pass bridge as seen from Whidbey Island.

14_IMG_7671 — My favorite rock cairn photo of the trip.

We spent a lot more time at the park than we’d anticipated, so we had to boogie to reach our hotel before nightfall. Plus, we were all getting hungry.

After quickly checking into our hotel and off-loading some stuff in our rooms, we continued on to Coupeville.

We chose Toby’s Tavern based on Yelp reviews which summed the place up as quirky a local favorite with good seafood. That’s where another favorite vacation moment occurred. Yves had ordered mussels. When he grabbed the plate being passed across the table by the waitress, the bowl slid a bit and brushed his hand.

“Ooh,” he said, “it’s hot.”

“Well, yeah,” said the waitress without hesitation, “if it was cold, you’d bitch.”

Hysterical. We all cracked up, then assured the slightly concerned waitress that she hadn’t offended us. We all laugh a lot when we’re together, which is one of the reasons we all love each other so much.

It was the perfect ending to a perfect, but long, day. Sadly, it was our last full day together of the trip.

17_IMG_7694 — Night sky across the Coupeville harbor.

Up next, we continue south and meet up with some family.

TRIP Re-cap

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 3: Exploring the City of Portland (morning of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 4: Beyond Portland (afternoon of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 5: Olympic Peninsula, Here We Come!

Installment 6: First Rain Forest Hike & Another Gorgeous Beach

Installment 7: Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park

Installment 8: Madison Creek Falls & Lake Crescent

Installment 9: Hoh Rain Forest

Installment 10: Rialto Beach

Installment 11: Getting to San Juan Island

Installment 12: Enjoying San Juan Island

Installment 13: Whales!

February 22, 2014February 27, 2014

Pacific Northwest – Installment 13

After getting a bit of grief recently for never finishing the re-cap of our vacation in the Pacific Northwest in September 2013, I figured it was about time I did that.

My previous vacation post, Installment 12, described a very relaxing day and our wonderful rental home. If you scroll to the very bottom of this post, you’ll find links to Installments 1 through 12.

The day I’m about to describe was the highlight of our visit to the San Juan Islands, an archipelago in the northwest corner of the contiguous United States between the US mainland and Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. The San Juan Islands are part of the state of Washington.

While planning the trip, I told Annelies how much I LOVED going whale watching. In fact, I probably said it so much, she got tired of hearing it. She eould easily have agreed to plan a whale watch excursion, but it’s kind of expensive ($85/person). And flying to the US from Europe for a multi-week vacation is already expensive enough. So we didn’t book in advance. But as soon as she agreed that we should try to take one of the tours, I started searching on-line.

Happily, I found Captain Carli’s Whale Watching. I was delighted to discover that his boat, Soulmate, was small (six passengers is its maximum), but had a head (potty). It was docked in Friday Harbor, which was only a short drive from where we were staying.

When I told the others about this small boat, they asked “how small?” They were hesitant upon hearing that it was only 25 feet long, but I told them I’d seen pictures and thought it would be perfect for us.

It was.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. Our tour wasn’t scheduled until about 3:00 PM, so we decided to visit the San Juan Island National Historical Park’s American Camp, which looked like it would be a good place for a picnic. It’s located at the southern tip of the island.

We really enjoy picnicking while traveling, and have enjoyed some pretty cool spots.

2_american_camp_picnic — American Camp Picnic

2a_american_camp_picnic — Picnic Rock at American Camp

3_american_camp_picnic — View from the other side of the hill.

After a lovely, relaxed meal, we headed back to Friday Harbor to meet up with Captain Carli.

1a_soulmate_competitor — Crowded competitor’s boat.

8_whale_watching — Crowded competitor’s boat.

The boat may look small, but it was the perfect size. And Captain Carli was fabulous. He pointed out other wildlife and chatted with us as we headed toward the spot where the whales had last been observed.

It wasn’t long at all before we started seeing Orcas. And more Orcas. At one point, you could see whales in practically every direction. Here are some of the images we managed to capture.

4_whale_watching — Annelies was very excited, especially after learning that lots of whales had been spotted that morning.

6_whale_watching — Yves enjoying the ride.

5_whale_watching — Mike opted to ride in the cabin, out of the sun and wind.

10_whale_watching — Orcas, with a snow-capped mountain in the background.

Do I look happy? I was thrilled. There’s something magical about whale watching. I will never, ever get tired of doing that.

On the way back to the harbor, the captain detoured to show us an Eagle’s nest. He also showed us some Sea Lions.

It was a magical day in a fabulous place. The San Juan Islands may not be in a tropical location, but they are magnificent islands to visit.

We left San Juan Island the next morning, headed to Whidbey Island. I’ll tell you all about that in my next post.

TRIP Re-cap

Installment 1: In the Beginning (Friday, August 30 – Monday, Sept 2)

Installment 2: Portland Morning (Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 3: Exploring the City of Portland (morning of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 4: Beyond Portland (afternoon of Tuesday, Sept 3)

Installment 5: Olympic Peninsula, Here We Come!

Installment 6: First Rain Forest Hike & Another Gorgeous Beach

Installment 7: Hurricane Ridge at Olympic National Park

Installment 8: Madison Creek Falls & Lake Crescent

Installment 9: Hoh Rain Forest

Installment 10: Rialto Beach

Installment 11: Getting to San Juan Island

Installment 12: Enjoying San Juan Island

February 20, 2014February 20, 2014

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Several years ago, over a period of months, I participated in a weekly photo challenge, You Capture. It was a fun way to force myself to do something I enjoy, but don’t always have time for.

You Capture was very successful, but it became too difficult for Beth, the host blogger, to manage. Nothing against Beth. She’s a lovely lady, but she also happens to be an entrepreneur AND mother of four. So she has absolutely no spare time.

I met some really cool people during my You Capture days, one of whom is Beth’s Mom, Mary.

Mary reached out to me recently by e-mail, saying…

Long time no speak right? I visit your site sometimes but I just haven’t been a good commenter. I have however missed checking in with you regularly. I go back to the days of You Capture when we all shared pictures and comments and stories and I really miss it.

Know what? I miss it, too. Which means I was really tickled when Mary went on in her e-mail to say…

Although Beth hasn’t started You Capture in the same way where it’s open to everybody, one of the participants is trying to get a photo challenge going. This is only her second week, but so far I’m the only one who’s joined. Others have posted pictures on Facebook, but it’s not the same. Anyway, when I think of the people I miss the most from the You Capture days, you’re right at the top. You’re such an interesting writer and gifted photographer! So I thought I’d send you the link to Nancy’s photo challenge in the hopes that you might join in.

I was touched that she remembered me. AND, her e-mail just happened to coincide with the arrival of a brand-new camera lens. So I decided to join. Here’s my entry for the week.

My Favorite Shot

Folks who know me, know I have a story for everything. That image hangs in a group on Caroline Street in Olde Town Fredericksburg, Virginia. It appears there is or has been an art movement in Fredericksburg — MOREart!. I don’t know if the smallish mural pictured is part of that or not. I will have to investigate further.

Other Images I Want to Share

Photography is art. It’s taken me a while to realize that good photography doesn’t have to mean perfect images. My images don’t always have to be completely in focus. They don’t have to be technically brilliant, i.e., perfect lighting, strong composition, sharp, etc., they just have to please me. I’m not trying to make a living here, I’m just trying to capture images I enjoy.

I like Immortalizing little moments that mean something to me. Here are some of my other favorite captures.

The first two images were also captured in Fredericksburg with my old lens.

All of the images that follow were captured with my new lens, a Canon EF-S 55-250mm f/4.0-5.6 IS II Telephoto Zoom Lens.

snowmelt — Snowmelt (it was 60 degrees here yesterday!)

That’s it for me this week. I hope you enjoyed my captures.

Visit Nancy’s blog to see the other entries.

Thanks for hosting this, Bacardi Mama.

February 17, 2014February 17, 2014

Best Birthday Weekend Ever – Pt. 2

This is a continuation of my previous post. So, if you missed that, you may want to CLICK HERE…

I mentioned in that post that Seattle doesn’t see much snow. Well, this is how Friday morning greeted us.

It rarely snows in Seattle... — It rarely snows in Seattle…

Lucky for us, schools were still open. About 1/4″ more and they probably would’ve been closed. They’re not used to snow there. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Amy and TJ live on top of a mountain. It’s a mountain covered with homes, roads, etc., but it’s still a mountain. There are only two roads up/down. File that away, okay?

Saturday, started off quiet. By that I mean, with not much activity. The two oldest grand kids had sports tryouts. Joey stayed at home and entertained us with some WII football adventures.

Amy and I finally had time for the painting lesson I’d been promising her. As we were gathering supplies the previous afternoon, I’d asked her if she had a tarp or something we could lay down under our workspace. She said she did. I cracked up when she brought that “something” out.

It seems TJ found this old packet of info-sheets/workplace notices at his office. It’s nice, heavy paper, but the content is what amused me.

Amy has several items she’s been wanting to paint, but our time was limited. So I recommended that she pick one with detail. Since we didn’t have a lot of time, I wanted to explain as many tips/techniques as possible.

BBWE_2_3 — End table scored at Goodwill for $5.

She chose this oak end table. Structurally, the table was fine. Oak is just dated-looking. She said she wanted to use red on the base and black on top with some red showing through. We were using Annie Sloan Chalk Paint (ASCP), of course, which requires no prep work beyond blowing/brushing off any existing dust. So we jumped right in.

She was having fun, honest. She’s just concentrating.

I’ve always said that ASCP projects evolve as you go. What you might think you want to do at the beginning will often change as you see how the paint transforms your piece.

Our initial plan was to do a solid layer of Primer Red topped with a solid layer of Graphite then distress the edges. Once the red had dried, however, I decided we should apply the Graphite (black) slowly using the dry brush technique.

We both loved the way the dry brushing grabbed the grain in the table legs. There were a couple spots with a little too much paint, but, as I explained to Amy, leaving those spots there would add character.

If she decided later that she didn’t like it, she could just paint right over the wax.

We still had some paint left in our bowls, so she painted a shelf, too. You’ll get to see that later.

After the paint had dried (about 20 minutes per coat), we moved into the dining room for waxing. TJ needed the kitchen to make dinner.

The original plan had us using Dark Wax only. But after seeing the cool detail on the legs, I recommended a coat of Clear Wax first followed by a thin skim of Dark Wax. We wanted the grain/detail on the legs to emerge.

Because we felt the top would look good slightly darker, we didn’t put Clear Wax on the table top.

BBWE_2_8 — The wax gives the paint visual depth.

Notice that the side panels on the table were still just red? We thought that might be a cool look. So they got Clear Wax only.

Then we decided those panels looked too pink. Remember what I said about a piece evolving?

BBWE_2_10 — Amy applying a little Dark Wax to the panels.

Soon enough, we were finished.

Two pieces painted and waxed in one short afternoon. Not bad, eh?

Amy did a great job on her first ASCP project.

Then it was time for dinner, more visiting, and a special treat.

At some point during the afternoon, it had started snowing. Again. With our flight due to depart at 7:00 AM the next day, we were a little concerned. But a look at the weather told us the flurries should taper off soon.

After dinner, Shannon, Amy, and I headed out for a quickie girls night. That’s the special treat. We all miss our monthly Thirsty Third Thursdays, which ended when Shannon moved to San Diego a few years back.

BBWE_2_14 — Shannon’s first snow in years!

It was still snowing when we left the house, so we decided to stay on top of the mountain. Even though we were pretty sure it was going to stop.

BBWE_2_13 — Me, Shannon, and Amy enjoying a mini girls’ night out.

It was so much fun hanging out, even if it was only for a couple of hours. Lord, how I miss having those girls close by…

BBWE_2_15 — Shannon, now accustomed to the mild, San Diego climate, was “F-F-F-FUH-Freezing.”

A couple of inches had fallen by the time we left the bar. We drew a snow family on the windows of an SUV, which, as it turned out, belonged to a woman from Baltimore. Small world…

BBWE_2_16 — It doesn’t really snow in Seattle? Yeah, right.

A guy headed into the bar as we were leaving said, “You’re not going off the mountain are you? The roads are TERRIBLE. And I’m from Maine. We barely made it up. These people do NOT know how to drive.”

As we were headed back to the house, we saw that one of the roads off the mountain was indeed closed. GULP.

We were supposed to leave the house at 5:00 AM!

BBWE_2_17 — The drive back to the house.

It’s a good thing we didn’t have far to go!

Lucky for us, the snow did stop. But only after about five inches had fallen. We did manage to get off the mountain, thank goodness. And made it to the airport with very little time to spare.

BBWE_2_18 — Snow-covered airplane window. See the heart?

We sat on the tarmac for an hour waiting for the snow and ice to be removed from the plane. A first for me, by the way. Seattle doesn’t have nearly as many de-icing machines as airports that are accustomed to snow.

After a very quick stop-over in Minneapolis, we made it back to BWI. And this is what we saw…

BBWE_2_19 — We were greeted by a snowstorm.

Ugh. Enough with the snow already!

Once we dropped my MIL off and headed south, the snow turned into rain.

After a very long day, we were home.

TJ and Amy, thanks again for the Best Birthday Weekend Ever! We love and miss you guys!

February 16, 2014February 16, 2014

Best Birthday Weekend Ever

This post, which is [finally!] being published a week after returning from our fabulous trip, is dedicated to my favorite son-in-law, TJ, who has undoubtedly been thinking, “Damn, she ignored us AGAIN!” Or something to that effect, but probably a bit more colorful… (I still haven’t shared the pics and report from our visit in September 2013.)

February is a melancholy month for my mother-in-law. So this year, to give her something to look forward to and create some fun February memories, we decided to take her out to Washington to visit with Amy and family.

Since my birthday happens to be in February, I planned the trip to coincide with that date. That was a fabulous idea, if I do say so myself, because it ended up being the best birthday weekend ever.

While winter can be an iffy time of year to travel to or from the East Coast, winters in the Seattle area are typically pretty mild. February temps in Seattle average between lows in the mid-30s and highs around 50. Snow is pretty rare. They might get a trace of snow a few times a year. Every four years or so, they might get a big three-inch snowfall. And it doesn’t usually stay around very long.

When we were there, the low was 21 and the high was 31. It was windy, too, which meant it was COLD. As you’ll see soon enough. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Back to my birthday (February 6)…

We flew to Seattle on Wednesday. The grand kids all had dentist appointments on Thursday morning. TJ, who ferried the kids to the dentist, stopped at Legendary Doughnuts on the way home to grab my birthday breakfast.

The place is aptly named. Those things were OMG delicious.

After sampling pieces of several of them — they were HUGE — we all loaded into Amy’s friend’s Expedition, which seated all eight of us, for a drive into the city.

I’d been to Seattle twice previously, but had never made it to the world famous Pike Place Market. That’s the only touristy thing I really wanted to do. So my birthday seemed like a logical day to do it. I didn’t realize it’s an indoor/outdoor kind of place. With temperatures in the mid-20s, it made for a chilly excursion.

Chocolate-covered Washington Cherries (yes, we brought some home)

From the restaurant... a Washington State Ferry — From the restaurant… a Washington State Ferry

Sadly, it was too cold for the Ferris Wheel. But I was tickled to get such a lovely peek at the Olympic Range, the mountains on the Olympic Peninsula we’d visited back in September.

After a delicious lunch,we paused for a photo op…

…and then headed to another Seattle landmark.

Actually going up into the Space Needle is TERRIBLY over-priced — $19 per adult! — but we figured the kids and my mother-in-law would enjoy it, so up we went.

They took this cool group photo for us.

The view from the top was nice. There’s an outdoor viewing platform as well as a fully enclosed space, which is good, because it was REALLY cold up there.

When we left the Space Needle, Amy asked if there was anything else I’d like to do. She did a good job of not acting too disappointed when I said, “No. We’re here to visit with you guys. And since it’s so cold, let’s just go back and hang out at the house.”

Little did I know what surprise waited for me there.

Our oldest daughter, Shannon, had flown in from San Diego to spend the weekend with us, too. Hubby, MIL, and I were all completely surprised. And even more delighted.

But wait, there’s more. Shannon promptly got to work preparing one of my favorite dinners.

I love hot dogs and I love soft pretzels. So you can probably imagine how much I love pretzel dogs.

But wait, there’s still more. It was my birthday, right? So there was cake and ice cream, too!

Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream icing.

Man oh man. It really was the best birthday ever. And we still had a couple days of visiting ahead of us.

I was hoping to get down to Portland on Friday, but that city was frozen, literally, by an epic snowstorm. Instead, after the kids went off to school, the adults headed to the Sun Break Cafe for a light breakfast.

Half-order size of a chicken fajita omelet.

After breakfast, we went back to the house to relax. That afternoon, Amy and I drove to Sumner, Washington to visit Kristi’s Country Store, Amy’s closest Annie Sloan Chalk Paint retailer.

The mountain (Mount Rainier) was “out” (visible). Amy found a spot on the way back to her place where I could snag a picture.

BBWE_24a — Me taking pictures of Mount Rainier (as captured by Amy)

It’s a really big mountain. We weren’t close to it at all, despite what you may think from the pictures.

We drove past Sunset Park on the way back to the house. So later, near sunset, Gaige and I walked to the park. I told him I’d be REALLY disappointed if I didn’t see a cool sunset from the park.

I wasn’t disappointed.

That shot of Gaige is one of my all-time favorite captures.

Later that evening, it was more chillaxin…

There’s more, but it’ll have to wait until the next post.

Amy, I promise not to make you wait too long!