October-fest

 October has come in like the wind that carries it. The air has a chill as it pulls through the leaves of color falling to the ground. While we are nailing down the house in preparation of winter's delights, October also brings about celebrations for us. It is the month of our anniversary and this year made 22 years strong.

Hubby and I decided to take off for 4 wonderful days and head up north in exploring new countrysides. We  booked our resort in Birch Bay, Washington located just 7 miles from the USA / Canada border. Neither of us have a current passport, so crossing the border was never an option. But hiking trails and exploring the local culture always makes for a time of refreshing.

From the moment we checked in, we felt so very celebrated. When we said we were there to celebrate, we were given a gift bag with a bottle of sparkling cocktail, chocolate mints and these adorable little toy ducks. 

Speaking of being blessed, it seemed that everywhere we went we made friends.  One couple that lives up there takes great sport in crabbing for Dungeness all through the season. Then with their freezer stocked piled, they delight in giving it all away.  I had tasted real crab only once before and was not impressed. I didn't want to offend them so I took all the fixings with a big smile and thank you and figured if nothing else, we would have a grand adventure of trying something new. Oh my goodness! Dungeness Crab fresh from the bay is so amazing! Hubby and I smacked our lips as we ate 4 crabs with salad, bread and our bottle of celebration cocktail until out tummies were round as beach balls.

As I said before, we hiked a lot during our stay. We pulled out our letterboxing kit and blew the dust off. It was good to explore the area while gaining insights to the area from our clue maps. The thrill of finding our treasure was quick to infect us with that old fever of treasure hunting delight and we began discussing other areas to explore or plant treasure boxes even before we were finished with the task finding at hand.

Here we are in Semiahmoo Marine Park.  Thought it is hard to see in this picture, right behind us and across the bay is the border crossing and Peace Arch Park. It was beautiful to sit here and watch the wildlife. The locals have taken great care in preserving the area for nature and it seems all live together with pride of harmony.

Peace Arch Park is a beautiful area where both counties work together to create an environment of unity in honor of peace. Visitors can picnic and take pictures in this small boundary land while having the thrill of saying they literally crossed the boundary line of countries without the pains of passports and such. Everywhere I looked there were people like us with their cameras clicking away. There were also border crossing guards everywhere just to make sure everyone was indeed safe. We noticed one gentleman sitting alone on a park bench and then another gentleman walked over and sat on the opposite end for a time and then left. It was like an espionage movie. I didn't think much about it but the border patrol sure did. They were on those two quick with all sorts of questions. Needless to say, we didn't stick around to see the outcome.

 My camera was faithful seemed permanently attached to my hands as shots were everywhere to be taken. This is a picture of Mt. Baker as seen from the marina at Semiahmoo Resort. I am told that it rains up there as much as it does down here in Portland. But we were blessed with these blue sunny skies all weekend for our delight. 

Papa God how grateful I am for the beautiful colors You created.

 

 

Here are a couple of sunset shots I took in the evenings while hiking. 

I loved the wisp of the clouds in the picture above.

Below, I was laying on the shore taking shots as the sun set. 

Hubby was having fun casting rocks and we happened to time everything just right to get this shot.

 

We loved our trip and are already discussing when to go back. 

Once we drove back into our city, the schedules we waiting at the door for us. There is work, office, the hub-bub of teen/young adult energy in the house, play practices, wedding plans, job interviews and the last of our babies about to be 18 and driving. Phew! It makes my head threaten to go light headed as I take in and savor each moment with the pride and joy of being a mom to my own as well as all of my heart adopted children.

But that is not all of the updates.
Our son called the morning after we got back. I was unpacking and sorting when he begged the question, "Hey Mom, what are your plans today?" He tried to sound casual but I know him too well. He and his wife had gotten up that morning and decided a drive would be fun and spontaneous. They had put the baby girls in the car and were on the 6 hour drive to surprise us.

Oh my goodness how quickly they grow!  And even though we had not seen them in 5 months, they were both so quick to allow us to love on them and share special moments.

This is my little Miss Izabell. She is now 8 months old. 

Those big blue eyes get me every time.

This is my little Miss Abbigail. She will be 2 years old in a couple of weeks. 

She also has those piercing blue eyes.

 It was a quick over night visit but we were so grateful for the time. They say they will be back over the summer with all 5 of the grand children. That will be a blast. We will have to make plans for great fun.

Thank You God for treasures of all shapes and sizes. 

Thank You for the celebration of time and the provisions of fun places to do it in.

 

Day 3

"Dad, there are 4 votes for the beach today. So, yours and Mom's votes don't matter", proclaimed Rosie with an air of authority and satisfaction as my husband walked into the living room after a well rested night.
Pip spoke up in correction, like big sisters are prone to do, "Rosie that's not necessarily true. Mom and Dad are the drivers here. So we get to go to the beach only if they TAKE us to the beach."

Of course, we want the children happy, so away to the beach we went. We spent an hour playing around just north of Bodega Bay. It was such a wonderful area to explore and chase waves.

Once we had our fill of playing in the frigid waters, we found this very interesting sign. Let me just state here that this sign...... containing valuable and life saving information......was not by the parking lot where people could easily read it and be informed. Nor was it posted by the pathway leading to the inviting beach area. Instead, it was posted far off to the side facing the bathroom doors in the gully area. What did the sign say?.......
WARNING! This is one of the most DANGEROUS beaches in California. Beware of sleeper waves." It was illustrated by a picture of stick figured people being pulled into the water against their will and swirling about below the wave surface to their deaths.

No really.... I am not joking.

Aside from sunburns (because of the excitement of jumping out of the car and forgetting the ever important sunscreen), we all escaped unscathed. So, I guess the old saying IS true....God protects the ignorant.
I figure after our friends hear of this...I will never be able to keep charge of their precious ones again.

We then headed into town for lunch. We had hot dogs and burgers at the local "all the french fries you can eat" shack and then ice cream from the shop next door. Incidentally, if you are looking for a new business, the icea cream shop in Bodega Bay is for sale at only $49,000. It brags of having continual clients and of being the only ice cream/coffee shop in town.

To round off the day, we introduced Kish to the fun past time of letterboxing as we found 3 treasures during our day trip.

Day 5

I had no idea that there was a museum soley dedicated to the works of Charles M. Schulz, the creator of Peanuts. We had so much fun touring the museum and learning the history of Snoopy and Charlie Brown.

After our scoop of cultural history, we ventured out to find 2 more letterboxes. The original directions actually named 5 boxes on this hike but we were worn out after hiking 3 miles. Though it was a beautiful hike and made my home spot pale in comparison, all of the mosquitoes made us quite grumpy. It was nothing a good dip in the pool couldn't fix.
While swimming around, our girls made friends with a japanese family that actually live not too far from us in our home metro area! If you know my girls, then you know what joy and conversation that all brought on poolside. Their daughter even came over for our 10pm invitation for movies and popcorn after the pool closed.

Day 6

I never knew how beautiful a redwood forest could be. I mean, I've seen pictures of it all but a picture just can't relay the complete magnitude of standing at the base of a tree that towers 310' tall. I would have loved to have spent a few a few days hiking around Armstrong Redwood Forest, but I'm grateful for the time we had.

We even found a letterbox while we were there.