March Coast Trip

Our friends Chuck and Wendy invited us for a weekend trip to the west side to enjoy the coast and attend a concert. I drove out with them on a Friday morning, and we arrived just after noon. Snoqualmie pass was nice and snowy.



It was one of those PERFECT days at the coast in the winter - the kind that make you think spring is just around the corner! The sun was shining and it was gorgeous. We stopped and got some food in Olympia and then headed out to Shelton to find the house that we had rented for the weekend. The house was at the end of a long lane, and faced an inlet of the sound. The map in the house didn't have a name for this particular intlet, but the point of land was called Cannery Point. This old structure was located next to the house, and we wondered what it may have
been in its earlier life.



Matt drove up at the end of his work day, and met us in time for the concert. The concert featured three artists that played guitar blues and sang and they were FABULOUS. Being the nerd I am, I have already forgotten their names, but the main attraction was the gentleman who was in the bands Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna. The lady, Ruthie Foster, was my fav. I will be on i-tunes to get some of her music! I will add the correct names of the others later....

After the concert we crashed at this great house! It had three bedrooms and two baths. We took the one downstairs, and our window looked out into the beautiful trees.



I didn't manage to take any pictures of the house, but it was relatively new, and very nicely taken care of. It had a wood stove, and the main living room had a wall of windows that faced the water, and resulted in the panorama I included at the beginning of the post. There was a deck off of the back of the house right behind it, but it didn't block the view. We set up the spotting scope and managed to see all kinds of fun things! There were hundreds of mergansers - both common and red breasted, all the time. They hung out in a cove across the way, and also came flying down the inlet in the evening. The house rental had mentioned that "Sammy the seal" liked to hang out there, and indeed he did make an appearance - with Sally the seal! They frolicked and jumped out of the water almost completely right before our eyes! There were also buffleheads, cormorants, and a persistent little kingfisher.

The next morning (Saturday) we decided to go on a hike on a beach on the west side of the Peninsula. We had all brought our rain gear, hats, scarves, and gloves, but it appeared initially we may have prepared in vain. However, the clouds began to gather and when we got to the beach there was some serious wind, and the sun was covered. We stopped at the first beach we came to, only to find cars driving all over it! There were signs indicating this was legal, so we moved on the the second beach. At the second beach, we found the same problem!!! The third beach was the charm and included lots of dunes, somewhat reminiscent of Bay Ocean on the Oregon Coast. We got all dressed up and then headed out. We probably hiked about a mile out and back, and during that time it rained, sleeted, almost snowed, was brilliantly sunny, at different times. The wind was consistent though - it could hold you up when you leaned into it!

I was only able to take out the camera during the sunny times, so the pictures are a little misleading as far as the weather we experienced, but we really enjoyed all of the sights.







This beach had hundreds of WHOLE bleached sand dollars! I convinced Matt to put about 16 of them in his pockets (we were unprepared with baggies....you would think I had never been to the beach....) even though they were slightly wet and sandy!





Saturday night we played a bunch of Pictionary as we watched the sun go down over the water (and munched Jordan almonds...I love those things!).



Sunday morning we woke to snow!!



Matt and I decided to head to Olympia to do some window shopping, and Chuck and Wendy took on walk. On their walk they encountered these critters...and there is still some debate as to whether they are sheep or goats!!



When we got back it was close to noon and time for us to head west, and Matt to head home. We stopped and took a look at the goats (sheep?) on our way out...