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erisiansaint Jun. 12th, 2023 02:30 pm)
erisiansaint Jun. 12th, 2023 02:30 pm)Whidbey? Whidby? I don't remember. Whatever.
Ok, so the oldest sib and his wife are in town and visiting and are doing two major trips while here, over two weekends, so my older sister and I can come along, it's sweet and I'm intensely grateful.
So. We left Friday, June 9. (Tadlet dropped me off and got the car over the weekend. He's old enough to do that without worry.) We drove north, stopped at the red barn about an hour north of Everett and bought a gallon of apple cider. (I was evil when I did that. It was worth it.) Anyway, we drove north to Fairhaven and...I don't know exactly where we went, I was in the backseat and not in charge of any kind of navigation. (We did find a Franz outlet store that had some of the best molasses cookies I've ever put in my face and these Breton Crackers that were sort of like wee whole wheat buttery crackers of love.) In Fairhaven, we went to one used bookstore and one store that I think might have been a magic shop to buy cursed items. Lots of...stuff. I'm not sure it's still there, it had the look of a store that disappears when you leave it. Outside of it was an old dentist's light that looked like a 50s prototype for GLaDOS from Portal. We went to several used bookstores including one called Henderson Books (It's in Bellingham, not Fairhaven) which, while not being as big as Powell's, still was possibly the best used bookstore I've ever seen. I got two books I wanted, neither of which have been around here so I'm happy!
We continued north to Anacortes and found this little thrift shop called the Thrifty Kitty, recommended via email by our Air B&B hostess. Abby got several glass plates, one was Federal glass and one was Depression glass, she was over the moon. (The shop is entirely for the benefit of a kitty shelter nearby.) The proprietress recommended a place called the Secret Cove where we went to eat dinner. Can highly recommend the crab cake appetizer. If you do as I did, do something smarter than I did and ask to order something on the side, that was NOT enough food. I coped.
Then we checked into this lovely AirB&B, hosted by Cheryl and Bill. The area we had was part of the house, but it was the old house. One big room with a pull-out couch, a window seat, a round table, and a well-equipped sideboard/fridge/coffee stand. Bathroom with a rain-shower head AND a hand-held showerhead. Bedroom that I didn't investigate because it wasn't where I was sleeping. TONS of charm plus a wonderful hostess. We used the tv and showed each other lots of videos and then slept which was good because I don't think any of us had gotten enough sleep.
Saturday, June 10. Ate the breakfast food we'd bought the day before, then headed for the ferry to San Juan Island. It was still cold and rainy and man, I fucking adore ferries. That was just a lovely hour, being too cold and unwilling to leave the outside deck because it was grey and misty and smelled of the sea and there was spray in my face and yeah. I don't want to be a sailor, I respect the fact that the sea doesn't give a damn about me. But I do understand the appeal. ANYWAY. Got to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island where Abby and I basically said "Ok, that's a coffee place, we need hot beverages in our too cold hands." It was Salty Fox Coffee, right across from the ferry dock. (I had a drip coffee with a shot of caramel and a ton of cinnamon and it was GORGEOUS. Some seriously mellow, fruity cup of love with milk.)
We drove to Roche Harbor, checked out the houses (let's face it, a lot of what Abby and I were doing was picking out houses to live in,) checked out the formal gardens and a few shops and more houses, and then went to the Sculpture Garden.
Y'all.
The regular part of the sculpture garden is meadows and fields with STUFF and there was maybe one or two I found actually disturbing. Then there was the Whimsy Wood, which was actual forest with the occasional surprise "artwork" that made me think a fucking serial killer was roaming it. Weird things hanging in trees made of doll's heads or painted saw blades. (One said "Cover your mouth.") A lot of it was just seriously random shit. (I liked the neon strings of records hanging between a few trees. I did NOT like the puppet's head in some kind of wind-chime cage.) We were completely lost when we got out but we did finally find our way back to the car, unmurdered. (One of the sculptures was this brass or copper looking...head on a swooshy thing. It looked like some kind of human/oni hybrid. Fucking terrifying. That was pre-Whimsy Wood. Post-Wood was a giant sculpture that was a giant spoon. That one was comforting.
Then we went to some...state park, I don't know which one, but we kind of turned around and left: it was raining and that walk through the wood was a hike and my SIL was the only one with energy for a long tramp at that point. So instead, we went to an alpaca farm. (I bought a bag of grain pellets and Abby and SIL and I fed these three darling alpaca until it was gone. They mlem'd the food right off our outstretched hands and declined petting but accepted more food.) Then off to another state park to see a lighthouse. (That state park had whale-watching sights but the orcas had gone north and were not to be seen. But there was a lot of discussion about whether that bump waaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the distance was a harbor seal. Nope. It was a big stick.) The lighthouse was lovely and we met an employee who was from Scotland who we chatted with and pointed us at a shortcut back to the car. (Good karma on her head, it was a LOT closer than the way we came out.) Eventually, we got to the Orca Inn and checked in. My SIL was worried because she thought it was a crappy little hotel. Kinda was, but it was the most interesting mix of luxury/austerity ever and it was clean and had beds. (The inn looked like former barracks and it turns out they were the pre-fab housing units used when the Exxon Valdez spilled it's oily cargo. The units were used for the 11,000 people who came out to clean up the wildlife. The room we were in used to be two rooms, so it was small and didn't have much BUT. It had two bathrooms and two showers. LUXURY. We then figured out where to eat (Haley's Sports Bar & Grill,) had a quite adequate dinner and Abby and I stayed in the hotel while Dan & Cindy walked around the downtown. Didn't take them long, it was wee.
Sunday, June 11. Everyone but me went back to the State Park we'd just driven through. Apparently, the views were gorgeous but I'm glad I skipped it, the hike was incredibly steep and my lower back and knees were SUPER unhappy. We checked out and started driving. Had a ferry ride back off San Juan Island, (seriously, y'all, these ferry rides were my happy place. This one was partly sunny, not nearly as cold, just as freaking lovely.) Went to the town of LaConner, walked the boardwalk, went in various shops including one called The Wood Merchant where all of us fell in love with about 90% of the merchandise. (Expensive. Skilled. LOVELY. Still drooling.) Later, I stopped to take a pic of a guitar in a window and the proprietor held the guitar up so I could take a better pic of it and played a bit of Blackbird by the Beatles for me. (The guitar was blue-green-stained wood with a soundboard inlaw of abalone dolphins. It was a Luna brand guitar which are apparently made in China and either pretty ok or really awful, depending on what you get.)
Then we drove out to Deception Pass, which is...a hell of a sight. SO freaking gorgeous. Go look up pics, I don't have words. After that, we drove around some more, took a short walk on the Coupeville pier (nice enough but watching the seagulls going to town on the mussels is most of what I took away from that, and it's a good memory.) Then on to the Mukilteo ferry (20 minutes and not long enough!) Just a note: when you start seeing signs on the road to the ferry about only getting over to the right lane if the ferry is backed up but there are people in that lane? Get in that lane. Because otherwise, someone is going to report you for cutting in line and really, those signs are TERRIBLE.)
From there, it was a trip to Costco to fill up the gas tank and then I was dropped off at home and that was lovely, too. My house may be cluttered and in desperate need of a good cleaning, but it's home and my son was home. And I ate dinner and showered and just introverted hard.
I had taken today off because this weekend was supposed to be Vancouver but honestly, I really needed it. I'm doing laundry and puttering around and just figuring shit out and Logan and I went to Kura Sushi. It's another revolving sushi bar, but it has a much better variety than our usual one and this robot waiter to bring you water and wasabi and I'm sort of in love with the robot. (Honestly, this sushi place is REALLY good, it's on 116th, in the same area as the Target and the PCC and the Dave & Buster's.) And now? This.
Ok, so the oldest sib and his wife are in town and visiting and are doing two major trips while here, over two weekends, so my older sister and I can come along, it's sweet and I'm intensely grateful.
So. We left Friday, June 9. (Tadlet dropped me off and got the car over the weekend. He's old enough to do that without worry.) We drove north, stopped at the red barn about an hour north of Everett and bought a gallon of apple cider. (I was evil when I did that. It was worth it.) Anyway, we drove north to Fairhaven and...I don't know exactly where we went, I was in the backseat and not in charge of any kind of navigation. (We did find a Franz outlet store that had some of the best molasses cookies I've ever put in my face and these Breton Crackers that were sort of like wee whole wheat buttery crackers of love.) In Fairhaven, we went to one used bookstore and one store that I think might have been a magic shop to buy cursed items. Lots of...stuff. I'm not sure it's still there, it had the look of a store that disappears when you leave it. Outside of it was an old dentist's light that looked like a 50s prototype for GLaDOS from Portal. We went to several used bookstores including one called Henderson Books (It's in Bellingham, not Fairhaven) which, while not being as big as Powell's, still was possibly the best used bookstore I've ever seen. I got two books I wanted, neither of which have been around here so I'm happy!
We continued north to Anacortes and found this little thrift shop called the Thrifty Kitty, recommended via email by our Air B&B hostess. Abby got several glass plates, one was Federal glass and one was Depression glass, she was over the moon. (The shop is entirely for the benefit of a kitty shelter nearby.) The proprietress recommended a place called the Secret Cove where we went to eat dinner. Can highly recommend the crab cake appetizer. If you do as I did, do something smarter than I did and ask to order something on the side, that was NOT enough food. I coped.
Then we checked into this lovely AirB&B, hosted by Cheryl and Bill. The area we had was part of the house, but it was the old house. One big room with a pull-out couch, a window seat, a round table, and a well-equipped sideboard/fridge/coffee stand. Bathroom with a rain-shower head AND a hand-held showerhead. Bedroom that I didn't investigate because it wasn't where I was sleeping. TONS of charm plus a wonderful hostess. We used the tv and showed each other lots of videos and then slept which was good because I don't think any of us had gotten enough sleep.
Saturday, June 10. Ate the breakfast food we'd bought the day before, then headed for the ferry to San Juan Island. It was still cold and rainy and man, I fucking adore ferries. That was just a lovely hour, being too cold and unwilling to leave the outside deck because it was grey and misty and smelled of the sea and there was spray in my face and yeah. I don't want to be a sailor, I respect the fact that the sea doesn't give a damn about me. But I do understand the appeal. ANYWAY. Got to Friday Harbor on San Juan Island where Abby and I basically said "Ok, that's a coffee place, we need hot beverages in our too cold hands." It was Salty Fox Coffee, right across from the ferry dock. (I had a drip coffee with a shot of caramel and a ton of cinnamon and it was GORGEOUS. Some seriously mellow, fruity cup of love with milk.)
We drove to Roche Harbor, checked out the houses (let's face it, a lot of what Abby and I were doing was picking out houses to live in,) checked out the formal gardens and a few shops and more houses, and then went to the Sculpture Garden.
Y'all.
The regular part of the sculpture garden is meadows and fields with STUFF and there was maybe one or two I found actually disturbing. Then there was the Whimsy Wood, which was actual forest with the occasional surprise "artwork" that made me think a fucking serial killer was roaming it. Weird things hanging in trees made of doll's heads or painted saw blades. (One said "Cover your mouth.") A lot of it was just seriously random shit. (I liked the neon strings of records hanging between a few trees. I did NOT like the puppet's head in some kind of wind-chime cage.) We were completely lost when we got out but we did finally find our way back to the car, unmurdered. (One of the sculptures was this brass or copper looking...head on a swooshy thing. It looked like some kind of human/oni hybrid. Fucking terrifying. That was pre-Whimsy Wood. Post-Wood was a giant sculpture that was a giant spoon. That one was comforting.
Then we went to some...state park, I don't know which one, but we kind of turned around and left: it was raining and that walk through the wood was a hike and my SIL was the only one with energy for a long tramp at that point. So instead, we went to an alpaca farm. (I bought a bag of grain pellets and Abby and SIL and I fed these three darling alpaca until it was gone. They mlem'd the food right off our outstretched hands and declined petting but accepted more food.) Then off to another state park to see a lighthouse. (That state park had whale-watching sights but the orcas had gone north and were not to be seen. But there was a lot of discussion about whether that bump waaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the distance was a harbor seal. Nope. It was a big stick.) The lighthouse was lovely and we met an employee who was from Scotland who we chatted with and pointed us at a shortcut back to the car. (Good karma on her head, it was a LOT closer than the way we came out.) Eventually, we got to the Orca Inn and checked in. My SIL was worried because she thought it was a crappy little hotel. Kinda was, but it was the most interesting mix of luxury/austerity ever and it was clean and had beds. (The inn looked like former barracks and it turns out they were the pre-fab housing units used when the Exxon Valdez spilled it's oily cargo. The units were used for the 11,000 people who came out to clean up the wildlife. The room we were in used to be two rooms, so it was small and didn't have much BUT. It had two bathrooms and two showers. LUXURY. We then figured out where to eat (Haley's Sports Bar & Grill,) had a quite adequate dinner and Abby and I stayed in the hotel while Dan & Cindy walked around the downtown. Didn't take them long, it was wee.
Sunday, June 11. Everyone but me went back to the State Park we'd just driven through. Apparently, the views were gorgeous but I'm glad I skipped it, the hike was incredibly steep and my lower back and knees were SUPER unhappy. We checked out and started driving. Had a ferry ride back off San Juan Island, (seriously, y'all, these ferry rides were my happy place. This one was partly sunny, not nearly as cold, just as freaking lovely.) Went to the town of LaConner, walked the boardwalk, went in various shops including one called The Wood Merchant where all of us fell in love with about 90% of the merchandise. (Expensive. Skilled. LOVELY. Still drooling.) Later, I stopped to take a pic of a guitar in a window and the proprietor held the guitar up so I could take a better pic of it and played a bit of Blackbird by the Beatles for me. (The guitar was blue-green-stained wood with a soundboard inlaw of abalone dolphins. It was a Luna brand guitar which are apparently made in China and either pretty ok or really awful, depending on what you get.)
Then we drove out to Deception Pass, which is...a hell of a sight. SO freaking gorgeous. Go look up pics, I don't have words. After that, we drove around some more, took a short walk on the Coupeville pier (nice enough but watching the seagulls going to town on the mussels is most of what I took away from that, and it's a good memory.) Then on to the Mukilteo ferry (20 minutes and not long enough!) Just a note: when you start seeing signs on the road to the ferry about only getting over to the right lane if the ferry is backed up but there are people in that lane? Get in that lane. Because otherwise, someone is going to report you for cutting in line and really, those signs are TERRIBLE.)
From there, it was a trip to Costco to fill up the gas tank and then I was dropped off at home and that was lovely, too. My house may be cluttered and in desperate need of a good cleaning, but it's home and my son was home. And I ate dinner and showered and just introverted hard.
I had taken today off because this weekend was supposed to be Vancouver but honestly, I really needed it. I'm doing laundry and puttering around and just figuring shit out and Logan and I went to Kura Sushi. It's another revolving sushi bar, but it has a much better variety than our usual one and this robot waiter to bring you water and wasabi and I'm sort of in love with the robot. (Honestly, this sushi place is REALLY good, it's on 116th, in the same area as the Target and the PCC and the Dave & Buster's.) And now? This.