San Juan Island

Mike and I were able to get away for a weekend, thanks to Monte and Sandy who came and watched the girls. We ran out as fast as we could and made our way over to San Juan Island by car and by ferry. The very first thing we did was EAT! Eating was a main activity of the weekend. mmm.

Waiting for fish tacos and burger and fries.

That night we went to a Shakespeare in the park performance of Henry Vth which was, really, so good.

The next day we rented mopeds and toured around the island. The scenery was just so beautiful. It was exciting (the moped part) and relaxing (the scenery part) and fulfilling (the picnic part).

Taking a break. The Olympic Mtns are behind us here. And we could see Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker in the distance.

Mike at a face-flattening 25 MPH : )

Modeling safe and correct posture for a fun afternoon of moped riding. We stopped at all the national and county parks along the way. We're pretty sure we saw an Orca whale bobbing in and out of the water at Lime Kiln Park. We also saw a red fox hanging out on the road at American Camp, but I didn't get my camera out in time. At another place we stopped, "English Camp," there were some re-enacters out modeling blacksmithing and musket shooting.

Ah, the lavendar farm. Row upon rows of lavendar. It smelled so good (and made me kind of sleepy).

At Roche Harbor at the north end of the island. It was originally a lime processing plant that was turned into a residence and now is a vacation resort. It was very quaint and beautiful. A great place for a wedding (of which there was one that day).

That night we ate fantastic food and went to a community theatre play. But while the food was great, the show was only so so, and we left halfway through and found some live music. The band was really entertaining - they played a funked up version of classical music but the most entertaining part was the lead musician asking the restauranteurs to "quiet down" for the piano solos, which he played with great emotion.

Then up this morning for a heart-clogging, throughly enjoyable bed and breakfast meal and back on the ferry.

It's so nice to be able to get away. Thanks Monte and Sandy!

Walker Family Reunion in CO

For the 4th of July, we headed out to Colorado to celebrate the 90th birthday of Mike's maternal grandpa. We also visited The Gorge (or it may just be "a" gorge) theme park, where we took a steep ride down and up the canyon, visited a petting zoo and went on the carousel.

Avery and Jessi dancing to the live music.

The ride down the canyon. Elliot thought it would be a lot of fun to start screaming about halfway down. It wasn't, she was wrong.

Pony rides, so fun.

Big girl! No screaming on this one.

The next day we went to a handmade castle. It's literally been handmade, without the use of power tools by one man bent on proving the self sufficiency of the people (and, consequently, had a lot of anti govt signs all over the place!). I tried to walk up and around the railing but I started getting serious vertigo and had to come down to safer ground.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Starkey :) All the kids are wearing conductor hats because Ole worked on a railroad for most of his career.

Sparklers!!