November is here and all the summer blooms are gone. We still have some dahlias and mums hanging on but rain and winter have arrived.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Wedding Anniversary, San Juan Islands
We spend the weekend at Rosario's Resort on Orcas Island in the San Juan's for our 38th anniversary. The weather was good, the scenery was gorgeous, and we had a very nice room with a view of the water from our balcony. Their restaurant featured oysters on the half shell with 8 different types of oysters to choose from each with a different "topping" to enhance the taste and priced at $1 each. Needless to say we sampled them every night we were there. The food was very good and reasonable. I don't know if they raise the restaurant prices during the summer season, but I know they raise the room prices dramatically during that season. We drove the entire island before we left and it is beautiful. If I had a boat I would spend a lot of time in the San Juans. It is a boaters paradise. The resort is "old world" in style and we particularly like the lounge with the fireplace and couches. It's very clean and nice but not glossy and flashy ala the resort hotel chains. It's very quiet and a nice getaway.
South Beach, Olympic National Park
We "found" this park while wandering the coast. Kalaloch Campground proper is a hard place to get into. Booked months in advance and for bigger RV's there are only a few spots that you can fit into. We saw this area, just a little south of the main campground, and will spend some time there next year. The plus side is that you are overlooking the water, have a fire ring at the site, it's only $15 a night, and its first come, first served. The latter makes it good for us since we are retired and can arrive whenever. I also like the head to tail parking as it gives more privacy than side by side. The park closes October 1st so we didn't have a chance to try it out this year.
Camping At Cannon Beach, OR
In mid July we went on our annual camping trip to one of our favorite RVing sites, Cannon Beach. You have to book months ahead to secure a site and yet you are never sure about the weather on the coast, even in mid July. We booked the site for ten days and after two days of rain the weather cleared and it was beautiful. We have a big awning and two large carpet type mats to put out so the rain was not a problem. It was warm during day so we sat outside under the awning and had a nice fire in the firering at the campsite going during the two days of rain. We got a lot of reading done.
Since we had the CRV we tow behind the rig, we wandered up and down the Oregon coast on day trips. Seaside had motorcyle week the first weekend we were there and over a thousand bikes showed up. The town was packed all weekend with Harley's and black leather. We also drove midway down the coast in the sun one day enjoying all the beach towns as we past thru them. We had lunch at Yachats, OR on the deck in the shade of an umbrella table and with a view of the ocean and beach. We headed back to Cannon Beach from there arriving back about 5pm.
One of the classic places to eat at Cannon Beach is Mo's on the Beach. We had a great lunch there of clam chowder and fish and chips. If you're in the area don't miss it. They also have a patio with umbrella tables overlooking the local landmark Haystack Rock.
It was a great ten days!
Susan's Birthday
We celebrated Susan's birthday with dinner at Shenanigan's, a waterfront restaurant on Ruston Way in Tacoma. Since her birthday is St. Patrick's Day and Shenanigan's is an Irish place a lot of Irish singing and dancing was the order of the night. As you can see from the picture we started with martinis and oysters on the half shell. It was a great night.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
February Snow Storm
It's the 24th of February and we got hit by another snow storm. It started yesterday afternoon and went all night and into the morning....off and on. The low tonight is forecast at 18 degrees so this snow will be with us for a day or two at least. Only three weeks until Daylight Saving Time!
Christmas Eve Dinner
We tried to pack all things Christmas into this Christmas season as we were home in the Northwest, and not in the Southwest, for the first time in over three years. In addition to having a nice big, fresh Xmas tree, decorating the outside of the house with lights, and furnishing inside of the house with a large amount of Christmas decor (all of which we had not been able to do while traveling) we were able to get in the spirit of the holidays by doing other things. We spend a full day Christmas shopping in downtown Seattle, having a French brunch of "Oeufs En Meurette" (Poached eggs over a large crouton topped with a red wine/foie gras sauce) at Cafe Campagne by the Pike Street Market. We also watched the Tacoma Yacht Club Xmas Boat Parade along Ruston Way, had our five closest neighbors over for a wine and appetizer party, visted Zoo Lights at Point Defiance, had an early Xmas celebration at Mark and Desi's with the family, and had Paul, Linda, Patty, and Ed over for a Prime Rib dinner on Christmas Eve. Whew!
It really kept us busy.
Although we had a great Christmas up here we miss the beautiful weather of California, at the beaches and in the desert. Next year we will be traveling again if all goes well. The dark and cold of the NW is getting us down. One plus of the weather is that we have gotten our share of snow this winter. We hadn't seen any up close and personal in a while. Well, we got some this winter and are glad that we don't have to go to work in it. Nice to be able to side by the fireplaces and watch it come down.
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