Getting Away is Good
painite and I took the excuse of his concert in Bellingham today to take a spontaneous trip up the Chuckanut road between Burlington and Bellingham, WA.
- Flora - A Japanese garden just past Burlington that was a wonderful surprise and very inspirational as we start to think beyond the wedding to actually executing our garden plans. A hike around Western Washington University that ended up leading to the arboretum, which they took seriously - it was a big hill of trees and more walking than either of us planned on, but good for us. Overall I have discovered that I am the point of craving spring with its color and warmth. I tried to take pictures of anything that wasn't just green.
- Fauna - Herds of Llamas, alpaca & bison. A couple hawks hanging out on the power lines above the fields waiting for dusk to bring them alive with "fast food".
- Food - We stumbled on a cheese shop as we pulled into Bellingham and indulged in pouring over everything in the shelves before devouring our snack in the parking lot. For dinner last night we had to go to the Boundry Bay Brewery - a great very bitter Imperial IPA for
painite and a nutty, smoky Scotch (beer) for me to go with our yummy food. Risotto seafood cakes, anyone? Tonight Wolf's instincts led us to a wonderful dinner at a Zagat rated restaurant perched above Oyster Creek at the bend in the road on Chuckanut. (Look for the double hairpin, it's right there over the waterfall.) Soups for him - a flavorful clam chowder with lots of vegetables and ciopino - and fish for me, which had the delicious surprise of pairing a sauce I've enjoyed making but don't because I thought it only worked with pork (apple, onion, mustard cream) with firm halibut. It was easy to get into in the off-season, but in season it looks like it would be packed and the vanilla bean creme brulee could be one reason.
- Fun - A good amount of relaxing and laughing was had by all. On the WWU campus we saw this poster which should be good news for
ropesandpulleys. He has a strong wall of defense to his south should the zombies rise in the Western Students Against Zombies, and they are well informed in the ways of their enemy with $0.50 movie nights! Down on the waterfront railroad tracks we found a rusty spike lying around for Wolf and a tiny chip of blue porcelain for me. I shall pretend it is a fragment of a 14th century treasure wreck, but it is probably just from Pier 1 along with the beer bottles it was slumming with.
The concert was very good today too. It was a real treat to here the band in a hall with good acoustics! Next week, I'll get to hear it again when they perform in their regular concert space at North Seattle Community College, and share it with Mom & Dad who proved once again that they are in the running for the coolest parents ever. When between the two of us we left Wolf's music on the kitchen table, they jumped to help and made sure the music made the band bus this afternoon!
Now sleep, and work in the morning. There are things a foot. We'll see if our group can plan more effectively when we have the goal/timeline decided for us!
I've posted a few pIctures here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/88437965@N00/sets/72157604087263595/.