Missing a train leads to great fun

Our friends Steve and Catie came to visit us in Anacortes on their way to a wedding in Vancouver. Steve and I worked together at MA Marine Fisheries and we always had a blast together - so Jay and I were pretty excited to have them at our house for two nights. We actually met them in Seattle at a Taj Mahal concert at the Woodland Park Zoo. That was great - but we missed half of the Taj concert because of a misunderstanding from the website. Boooo. All was well though - we still had fun and enjoyed a super sunny and warm evening in Seattle. After the concert, we hit up Hales Brewery and then headed back north to Anacortes.


Jay and I had to work on Thursday, but Steve and Catie took our kayaks out on what sounded like an epic adventure around the islands near the Swinomish Reservation. In the evening, we took them out to dinner at our favorite restaurant in Anacortes (Adrift) for a wedding celebration...they are getting hitched in September!

The next morning, we got up early and had a mellow breakfast before leaving to take them to Mt.Vernon to catch the train up to Vancouver. Despite the fact that we had given ourselves enough time to get to Mt.Vernon (not a ton of extra time, but we should have been fine) they missed their train! I was floored - but it didn't help that the train left early. What the heck is that all about - leaving early ain't cool. And we hit every light and got stuck behind super slow trucks the entire drive out there. But, no one freaked out and all was well! I don't usually work on Fridays (I do the 4 10 hr weeks usually) and I actually had the day off. Suddenly, I was going to Vancouver! Steve and Catie did not actually have any plans set for the day, so we got to play together in the big city. It worked out to be a damn fun day, despite crappy Vancouver traffic.


We decided to go for a hike somewhere near Vancouver. We looked at a few Provincial Parks, but picked Cypress because it looked like the most sunny. This was actually the area where some of the Olympic events were held, so that was kind of fun to see. We hit the trail as soon as we finished lunch at a lovely viewpoint. There was still a lot of snow and this ended up cutting us short on the idea of a longer hike (the fact that we were stuck in a downpour also helped cut the hike short). We still had fun anyway!

Steve and Catie with a "snow pole" that shows the height of the snow. There was still a fair amount of snow around - but it would be sweet to see this pole in January! Maybe Jay and I will go back - these trails would be great for cross country skiing.

After saying our goodbyes in Vancouver, I drove back to Anacortes. Jay and I had a mellow weekend filled with lovely hikes around our town. We even scored on more oyster mushrooms. If we only had a ladder, man, we would have really hit the jackpot. Those mushrooms escaped us though....

Here are some pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/julie.barber1/June2011

We head to AK on Friday for an awesome vacation in Gustavus.....we can't wait to see all our dear friends and to feel the wild air on our skin. I can almost smell the forest right now.... Ah.