A Lovely Bike Ride...

The arrow points to glorious Mount Rainier in the background...

On these summer days it is a little bit too hot for my liking to go running (or I have to leave the house at 6am which is waaaay too early) so today I decided to go on a bike ride instead. Mr. G. pumped up the tires and oiled the chains and off we went. It was luverly....  {smile}

Corn fields, lilies in the pond, the views and nobody out on the trail...

(click! on the pictures to enlarge)

Up Close...

Saturday, seven thirty in the morning. Soft sunlight, wet grass, close up pictures taking shape...

Miss M. left for the Cascade Locks (Oregon) early this morning. Her left arm in a sling (= 'mitella' in Dutch) because of an earlier fall this week that involved an air mattress and water... She will be camping there with a family and observe her friends in different sailing competitions.

The rest of us will be driving to Georgetown this afternoon (just south of Seattle) to go to a music festival celebrating Sub Pop's 25 year Jubilee. (Sub Pop is a famous record label from Seattle) The weather is fabulous so it should be a fun event.... Here is a funny ad to watch (just click on the word 'ad') and I am proud to say that I have actually met all these people!  <wink>

In the mean time I'm reading Henning Mankell's book 'Den Orolige Mannen'. (from the Kurt Wallander series) Yes people, in Swedish!!!  <wink> I must admit my brain has to work a little bit harder on this one (we left Sweden 20 years ago this summer so it has been a while), but boy do I love to read in Swedish!  {smile}

Oh Brother....

Look what I just picked up at the post office: a Brother 1034D Overlock / Serger machine!

This is a very thoughtful present from my mother (who is also a seamstress), but I am ter-ri fied!!!!  <wink>

As you can see I haven't plugged it in yet. First I need to do some reading in the manual (not my favorite thing) and then we'll see if we can figure some of it out. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!

Vacay Day 5...

As promised, here the last day of our vacation to The Olympic Peninsula...

Click! to enlarge...

We spent several relaxing hours on the shores of Lake Crescent. What stunning views, azure blue waters and just a wonderfully retro- feeling area...

The kids rented a kayak for an hour and had fun peddling around. To give you an idea of the scale of the mountains I've added an arrow to where the kayak is in the picture in the bottom left.  Mr. G. remained on land while the kids and myself (in my pink polka-dotted bikini!) even ventured out into the lake itself for some swimming! (very chilly I must admit)

And oh yes, there was a photo-shoot going on for TJ Max on the little pier in the lake. (lower right picture above) Looked like a boring time for the models I must say, but what gorgeous surroundings!

Click! to enlarge...

That evening the wind was blowing mighty hard and except for taking some pretty pictures of the waves, we didn't spent that much more time on 'our own' beech. Time to go home. 

Freshwater Bay (and surrounding area): we thank you kindly!  {smile}

Le Bag...

Ow, I am in love with it!  {smile}

Mid-Morning Macro...

A little break from our vacay pictures (only one more day to go anyway) to give you these fabulous macro shots I took just now in the back yard...

This morning we got up 7:35, I immediately jumped in the shower and ran a little over one mile to the closest raspberry fields. I met Mr. G. there (he came by car) and we picked over 7 pounds of summer ripened raspberries: yummmm! Then I ran back again, took another shower and then made the pictures above. Not a bad way to start the weekend at all!  {smile}

We have a Dutch friend and her Australian husband (whom I've never met) coming over for dinner tonight. Mr. G. has got a giant piece of pork butt (=shoulder) already on the smoker and everything smells so good! The sun is shining and we are ready for what ever else the day will bring! Hope everything is going the same way for you guys as well? {smile}

And oh yes, our friends the Goldfinches are back again:

Vacay Day 4...

I will only sing say one thing: "The Hills are Alive, with the Sound of Music!" 

(I'm never aloud to sing this out loud, since I can only belt it out...)  <wink>

So on Day 4 we drove up to Hurricane Ridge, situated just south of Port Angeles. It was about a 45 minute drive and around every bend the views just became more and more breathtaking. Behold the Puget Sound with the Sequim area in the foreground and Mount Baker all the way in the back ground:

And then all this we saw the rest of the way: we felt like we were on top of the world!

And some fun and impressive wildlife as well...

It was actually rather hot that day and the combination of this heat and the height level (one mile above sea-level I believe) made me feel a little ill to be honest.

Nice to spend yet another evening at our own private beach with yet another gorgeous sunset...

Vacay Day 3...

A long driving day on Day 3, all the way to Neah Bay, the most northwest corner of the continental U.S.  

To be honest, the drive was prettier than the destination. Neah Bay is part of the Makah reservation and most of the people are rather poor there. The town didn't have a lot to look at and after a quick sandwich lunch from the local grocery store we resumed our drive back to Freshwater Bay.

We stopped at some beautiful tide-pools to have a look at the marine life there...

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We also stopped by Lake Crescent but it being a Saturday it was rather busy and we decided to return there on our last day. (which we did)

That evening we flew our kite and enjoyed yet another beautiful sunset...  {smile}

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Our boy...

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Vacay Day 2...

Day two ended like the pictures above. Wasn't it just plain beautiful? 

Unfortunately my own eyes didn't see all this: I was vast asleep already when all this beauty happened. Thank goodness our trusty Miss M. managed to record these fabulous skies for all of us to enjoy!  {smile}

(these pictures were so beautiful, they just had to go to the top of this post!)

So, on Day Two we drove to the area of Sequim and we visited the Olympic Game Farm. Animals were trained there in the past for Disney movies etc. Now it is a rescue center.

Miss M. was beside herself in excitement. She got to sit in the front passenger seat and feed all the animals that came up to our car! Yes, it was a wildlife safari! She had to take pictures too of course and that's why we ended up with so many...  <wink> Anyway, here are (only some of) her impressions...

>> Click to enlarge!

And then there were the bears, quite a few of them too! Some of them were trained to wave at us. Miss. M. thought that was cute, I did not, but I must admit that we had a great time and we saw a lot of animals really close up and personal. (lots of drooling on the side windows)

After the Game Farm we drove to Dungeness Bay to have a look at the 'spit' (a land formation), but unfortunately the marine layer was super thick that morning and we couldn't really see anything. Beautiful and calm surroundings however!

We drove on to one of the famous Lavender farms in that region and found this beauty. The house is newly built, but has that old world charm. Gorgeous lavender fields with the mountains as a backdrop...

The lavender ice-cream was pretty tasty as well and whilst we were eating that and enjoying the scenery we discovered that we had missed a visit to a nearby dairy farm, so off we went again!

We just wanted to buy some farm fresh milk there, but we also found about 8 young calves outside that we could pet! Nothing better than petting young animals and Miss M. (and myself I must admit) were pretty darn happy!  <wink>

Yes, this was a wonderful day which ended with the purple skies in the first collage. Not bad at all and basically in our back yard. (well, at least in the same state)

Vacay Day 1...

The first day of our trip to Port Angeles, WA was rather cloudy, but by the time we arrived (about 4 1/2 hours later) at Freshwater Bay, the sun started to come out and our beach 'vacay' was about to start. 

We had rented a house one row of the beach, but we had direct beach access. This was actually a good thing, since the wind became pretty blustery by day 3 and it was nice to have a bit of protection from the weather and the marine layer that kept on blowing around. (a thin mist- like layer that would hang just on the coast)

Here some impressions of all the textures,  the beach, the views (to Canada!) and beyond!

>> Click on the pictures to enlarge them!

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End of Day 1...

The kids had a blast exploring:

I must say we all got pretty sleepy from all that salty air and we all had an early night. (no, Master C. did not spent the entire night in the hammock!)   <wink>

Day 2: the Sequim (pronounce as 'Skwim') area...

And We're Back!

We just returned from a 6 day vacation on Freshwater Bay, WA, just west of Port Angeles on the Straight of Juan de Fuca. It was fabulous!

Now I have 988 photos to go through...