Category Archives: Travel

A Great Escape…

… just 17 miles from home. I’d recommend a leisurely morning or day in Snohomish, Washington.

 

Strolling along 1st street you can see the Snohomish river. There are a good variety of shops to stroll through and eateries to choose from. Antique shops are in abundance but there are some fun country stores and clothing shops, too.

 

We started our morning at the Cabbage Patch Restaurant and had a very nice breakfast.

 

This post is going ruby on me so I’ll have to link up with Ruby Tuesday with Mary at Work of the Poet!

 

After breakfast we strolled through some shops and along 1st street.

 

 

 

 

We didn’t make it out of town without a major purchase. We found a hutch for our kitchen that was delivered on Sunday. I’ll show it later in the week. Hope Spring is showing up wherever you are and I suppose if you are in the other half of the hemisphere you’ll be welcoming Autumn! Enjoy.

Click on over to Work of the Poet to see more Ruby Tuesday!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

20 down, 40 to Go!

 

Tick, tick, tick. It’s time to get my list completed. 60 things I want to do to celebrate turning 60 this March. I’ll be taking this whole year to do the things on my list. So far I’ve come up with 20…

1. Finally make it to the top of the Space Needle. Completed on Wednesday January 26th!

2. Dinner with the Mennonite Girls and their husbands. Met for dinner at the Chuckanut Manor on March 13th!

3. East Coast Trip. Things are shaping up for a trip to Washington D.C. and maybe the Carolinas in May of this year. (Any suggestions about what to see and where to eat would be highly appreciated)

4. Apply for my enhanced license so my trips to Canada will be easier. Completed in January!

5. Birthday getaway with my 3 sisters. Plans are afoot.

6. Try one new restaurant every month of this year. Looks like this one is really going to be easy especially with trips planned.  Eastlake Bar and Grill~ Lake Union. The Hitching Post~ Monroe. Racha Thai ~Seattle.  Bishops Alehouse ~ Juanita. Chuckanut Manor-Bow. Barolo ~ Seattle.

7. Send my parents a bouquet of flowers on my 60th birthday thanking them for loving me all these years. Sent on March 14th and my parents were thrilled.

8. Visiting a a new garden.

9. Plant something new in my yard.

10. Have my flagpole installed. Installed on my birthday March 14th.

 

11. Lose 10 pounds.

12. Enjoy a book by an author I haven’t read before.

13. Explore 6 cities/towns in Washington. Lake Union.  Monroe.  4 to go.

14. Try 2 new recipes every month.

15. Go on a easy day hike.

16. Walk more.

17. Go to a new Tea Room.

18. Purge 60 books off my bookshelves.

19. Begin going through old boxes in the garage loft.

20. Go on an adventure with my daughter Katie.

I’m going to link up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Have a great week everyone!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Grub and Goodies from the Island ~

 

We ate dinner at the Front Street Grill on Penn Cove in Coupeville. We had Penn Cove mussels and Coconut prawns with very yummy sauces to start off our meal. Dinner was really good and we had a nice chat with the Chef since we ate early and there weren’t a lot of customers.

 

The next morning we had our breakfast at the B & B and enjoyed the company of a younger couple who were staying at the Inn.

 

We found a few fun treasures to bring home. The hanging candle holder is from a thrift store on the main highway. It was $1.75 and I saw it at a nice gift shop for $16.95. I found the Christmas dinner plates at a shop in Langley. I paid $25.00 for 10 of them. The 4 red heavy glasses were $12.00 at an antique mall in Freeland.

So after a trip to good ole Fred Meyer today I’m pretty sure I am all done with my Christmas shopping. I was happy to find out that Fred Meyer is giving a 10% discount to 55 and older customers on Tuesdays up through December!

Hope you are all doing well while counting down the days to Christmas…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Island Life…

Some people love it, some people thought they’d love it. We love to visit and stay awhile.

 

The town of Langley is one of our favorite towns on the island and the Star Store is always a fun stop. We were happy it was open because all the other shops in Langley didn’t open till 11:00 a.m.

 

We stopped for photos before the rains came down and kept coming down for the rest of the weekend.

 

 

Greenbank was our next stop going North up the island.

 

Our destination was Coupeville. We stayed at the Blue Goose Inn. Is anyone wondering why it’s painted salmon?

 

Our lovely room.

 

We drove along a lot of back roads and saw some nice sights. We want to visit again in dry weather so we can get out and about more.

 

Thomas Coupe, a sea captain, took up a claim in 1852 in Penn’s Cove and from there the town of Coupeville grew.Coupeville is one of the oldest towns in the State.  Coupe has a distinction of being the only man ever to sail a fully rigged ship through Deception Pass. Penn Cove Mussels were a must for us to try while staying here.

 

On our way home the wind had really picked up and there were white caps on the Puget Sound. I’ve got a few more shots to share of our dinner and breakfast later this week.

 

Have a great day everyone!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Transported to Another Dimension…

by a short ride on a Ferry Boat.

 

From the ferry on our short trip from Mukilteo to Clinton on Whidbey Island.

 

I waved hello to my Mennonite Girlfriends in British Columbia on the other side of these mountains.

 

 

We were in for a rain filled weekend. We knew ahead of time so we had the proper gear on board.

 

It’s hard to stop for a photo op when exiting a ferry boat. You have to keep going with the flow. That is my excuse for this blurry photo.

Whidbey Island is the largest island in Washington’s Puget Sound, forming the Sound’s northern boundary. At 168.67 square miles, it’s the fifth-largest island in the continental United States.

The island was named for Joseph Whidbey, a member of the  Royal Navy who accompanied Peter Puget as one of the first explorers of the area in 1792. The first permanent European settler was Colonel Isaac N. Ebey, in 1850. In 1857 Ebey was killed and beheaded by Haida Indians.

I’ll be sharing more photos from our Northwest Island Adventure in the next couple of days. I don’t have a lot of photos because we were in the middle of a Pineapple express with lots of precipitation.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Heading out Early…

 

Good Saturday morning to you. After our early morning coffee Dear and I are hitting the road and will find a breakfast adventure on our way to Whidbey Island today.  We prefer drinking our coffee at home. I’ll be missing in action till Monday but hope to have photos to share next week if the rain holds off here and there. They are warning us about possible flooding on some major rivers here in Western Washington. Time will tell. Enjoy your weekend.

Everything’s Bigger in…

…TEXAS!

Dear and I are spending a long weekend with my brother, SIL and little Miss Hope. If you don’t see me in your comments you’ll know why.

We didn’t come to Texas empty handed but brought this little Princess Gown for Miss Hope. Hopefully she’ll want to model it for us so I can get a photo of her in it! It will be fun spending time with Miss Hope on her home turf. Time will tell what mischief we get into.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Southern Charm & Epic Celebrations…

I’ve been sharing this week about Katie and my travels to South Carolina to see her guy graduate from Boot Camp and officially become a Marine. Being at Parris Island and experiencing these celebrations was unforgettable. Here are more favorites to share with y’all during our trip. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in the fun.

 

The food! We ate at 4 great restaurants and we were not disappointed at any of them. Fried green tomatoes were on my list to try and they were delicious. The fish tacos on top of grits with smoked gouda were pretty memorable, too. I didn’t eat that vertical cobb salad but it was a feast for the eyes. The popovers were huge and the trio of desserts was yummy. We ate at Wren, Emily’s, The Beaufort Inn, and Pannini’s in Beaufort. I’d recommend any of these places to eat if you ever travel there.

 

I really enjoyed the architecture and the beautiful water scenes we got to see. This is “Low Country”. The Lowcountry is often thought of as a geographic and social identifier. While there is a general consensus on defining Lowcountry as it relates to culture, there is a considerable difference of opinion on its geographic extent. According to some historians, the Lowcountry extends from the Sandhills of South Carolina, just east of Columbia, to the coast. This area is mostly near or below sea level; thus the term “low country”.

 

 

 

Katie and I at Wren Restaurant. This was one of the hours that my hair didn’t look like Bozo the clown. The South and the humidity don’t do anything for my hair. As charming and beautiful as the South is I could never live in that heat and humidity.

 

On our way home form the South we had a layover at the Dallas Airport. We were so excited to spend time at the airport with my brother and Miss Hope. Because Andrew was military they gave my brother and Hope a pass to go through security and sit with us at our gate! Miss Hope kept us entertained. We also got to board with first class on all the legs of our flight. I was really impressed that the airlines gave our military special treatment!

Our biggest announcement this week is that Andrew asked Katie to marry him! Katie is thrilled and we are throwing a quick engagement open house on Sunday before Andrew flies to North Carolina for 9 weeks of Infantry School.

So our heads are spinning around here. Hope y’all had a good week and I’ll be by to see your favorites in between shopping and preparing for the Engagement party!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Rhett House ~ Part II

We really enjoyed the Spanish Moss hanging down from the trees.

That is the door to our room.

The porches were so inviting…if only the heat and humidity were less oppressive.

In the afternoons the Inn had Sweet Tea, lemonade and cookies for guests.

In the early evening they served cheese and crackers.

Later in the evening dessert was served in the kitchen.

Although breakfast was served in this room each morning our schedule prevented us from enjoying it.

Several times a day this horse drawn carriage came by the Inn on their Beaufort historic tour.

My next post will be about Family Day at Parris Island.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

The Rhett House Inn

Over the next few days I will chronicle our trip to South Carolina. We left Seattle at 7:00 am and flew through Dallas and on to Savannah. From Savannah we had a 45 minute drive to Beaufort, South Carolina where we would be staying. We stayed at the Historic Rhett House Inn. We arrived at the Inn at 6:30 in the evening.

 

We stayed in room #7 on the lower level of the beautiful old house.

 

 

This garden space was just outside our door.

 

Located in Beaufort, South Carolina, the 17 room Rhett House Inn is a classic restoration of 19th century Southern Antebellum architecture. Offering all of the amenities that seasoned travelers have come to expect from a fine bed and breakfast, this historic Beaufort Inn is among the finest accommodations on the southeast coast. The Rhett House Inn is situated in the historic district of Beaufort, SC, a small Southern town of only 11,000 and founded in 1712, and only steps away from the celebrated shops and restaurants.

We got settled and walked a couple blocks to Emily’s for dinner. We were tired from a full day of travel and it was nice to sit down to a good meal. We enjoyed our food and the waitstaff were efficient and helpful with questions we had about the area. On our way home from the restaurant at dusk Katie commented that it felt like she was on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland with the crickets chirping, the muggy air, and the Spanish Moss hanging from the trees.

Over the next week I’ll be posting more photos from the Inn and the Beaufort Area along with the main event, the Marine Graduation Ceremony at Parris Island. It was all amazing. We arrived home on Saturday and during our layover in Dallas we enjoyed an hour with my brother and my niece Miss Hope. I’m still recuperating and hope to get around to visit y’all soon.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.