Sunset in Seattle

A spectacular sunset in Seattle on July 13 and the best view was from CenturyLink Field during a Sounders game.

 It just kept getting better.

Even some rainfall mixed in.

And my favorite shot of all.

Cannon Beach July 4th Weekend

A three-day weekend and perfect weather was a great time to explore the Oregon coast with Cannon Beach as our base.

It's one of our very favorite places.  It would have to be with this view from our room and deck.

At low tide, we wandered out to Haystack Rock to get an up close view.

The mist from the ocean made for some nice scenes.

There is a disease called "sea star wasting syndrome" that is killing starfish all along the West Coast. As diver Laura James explained "Affected sea stars typically first contort and twist, and white lesions appear on their bodies. Their usually firm, meaty bodies deflate and waste away. Arms fall off and walk off on their own. The animal loses its ability to hold on to rocks or pilings. Its body falls apart in pieces, and finally dissolves. Within weeks, only a ghostly white print will remain, and then nothing at all".
We saw evidence of that all along our walk, with a noticeable absence of starfish from our last visit.

But there were all kinds of other interesting marine life.

And birds.

Some people just can't stay off their phones.....

...but other people know just what to do.

Before heading down the coast, we hit our favorite breakfast spot and found this on the lunch menu.

 OMG, it's so authentic!  Somehow, we managed to resist.

We headed down the coast to see what we could see.
It was spectacular!

This is from Cape Meares.

And the Cape Meares Lighthouse.

We returned to Cannon Beach for a bonfire on the beach.
We were not alone.

And I got a pretty girl to share a glass of wine with me.

The other pictures didn't turn out but we greatly enjoyed the release of dozens of Chinese lanterns from  three different sources.

And the moon rose over Haystack Rock.

Sunday was beautiful with some low level clouds creating an interesting view from the deck.

Boy was it hard to leave.

Anniversary on an island

We celebrated our 42nd anniversary with a three-day, two-night trip to Lummi Island.
It's a short 15 minute ferry ride from the Gooseberry Point terminal just west of Bellingham.  The boat only holds twenty cars and I like to be up front.

You get a great view.

As you can tell, the weather was just ideal.

And the island is not crowded.

We stayed at The Willows Inn, a beautiful place in an absolutely perfect spot.

They have accommodations in the main inn, some cottages on-site and several off-site houses that they own.
We stayed at the Reefnetter, a beautiful house on Legoe Bay.

 There was a beautiful deck off the bedroom and one off the front door.

The view from the front deck.

We had a friendly great blue heron right out front to greet us every day.

The back of the property was a magnificent wetlands with two families of ducks, birds and a boardwalk to navigate around.

Directly across from the main inn is a beach.

We hiked down and just sat in the sun for a while.

We explored the rest of the island as well.

Wait.
There MUST be eagles photos, you say.

Hmmmm.....

There are others.  You can bet there are. 

But the best was the one that soared in the blue sky over the back deck.

The absolute, undeniable highlight of the trip was dinner at the world renowned restaurant the The Willows Inn. 

If you follow the link above, you can read all about Chef Blaine Wetzel and his recent James Beard Award.   The menu is seasonal and local — fished, foraged, and farmed daily.

Located just up the road from the Willows Inn on Lummi Island, Loganita’s culinary gardens are impeccably maintained and grow vegetables, berries, edible flowers and herbs for Chef Blaine Wetzel and his kitchen staff. Loganita relies on bio-intensive farming practices that foster healthy soils, conserve space, and require low energy input while maximizing yields. Maintaining the overall health of the Loganita farming ecosystem is gentle on the environment and is the secret to growing top quality produce.

  

Chef Wetzel served 22 small courses and we chose the wine pairing that goes with them.  It was amazing, surprising, gorgeous and unforgettable.  I spent my time enjoying the meal and not taking pictures or notes.  But I have some.

This blog post  does a remarkable job of describing the meal that is very similar to what we enjoyed.

It was an anniversary that we will always remember.
Now, it's off to Cannon Beach, OR for the Fourth of July!