Snowshoeing at Mt. Baker and playing in the rain at Orcas Island

We had such a treat for the first weekend in March! Our good friends Julie and Scott came out to visit from NY! Julie was in Seattle for a conference and Scott joined her for a long weekend in Anacortes with yours truly. We had a total blast playing as much as possible outside, despite the fact that we had very crappy weather the entire time. Julie and Scott get big stars for having a great attitude about the weather. It figures that only about 12 hrs. after they flew back east, the sun came out and Mt. Baker announced its presence over the entire Skagit Valley. Ugh!

From what we have heard, the east coast has had a very mild winter....so Julie and Scott wanted a bit of winter!  We decided to head up in elevation to Mt. Baker and snowshoe on some of the trails leading from the parking lot for the ski resort.  Jay and I have been on cross-country skis on these trails before, but it was so much fun to go snowshoeing too because we had access to trails you wouldn't go on with skis (see the photo of the two Julies above for an example). Shortly after the above photo was taken, Scott had the luck to discover what a "tree well" is.

 Scott and Jay play in a giant mound of snow right by our car!

 Julie, Scott, and Jay pretending to have conquered the mountain. Great views eh?

After snowshoeing and getting drenched in the soggy weather, we decided to give Julie and Scott a tour of the local microbrewies on the way home. We stopped at the North Fork Brewery, then on to Boundary Bay in Bellingham for brews and dinner, then to Anacortes and our favorite...the Rockfish Grill, and finally to  a new bar in town that serves lots of craft beers called H2O.  The goal of the band at H2O seemed to focus on destroying our hearing, so we didn't stick around there too long! 

The next day we actually set an alarm and headed off early on the ferry o Orcas Island. I bet regular blog readers know this tree by now. We take everyone to this great elder of the forest. Funny thing is that this tree isn't THAT big by tree standards in Washington. But it is still a show stopper. Julie, Scott, and Jay are showing their tree love here. There is a fast running river just behind this tree and we were treated to some great sightings of an American Dipper - a super cute little bird that does a funny dance when it isn't swimming around in the water.

 We also walked around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park. Scott likes to walk on trees. 

 And we drove to the top of Mt. Constitution to take in the fantastic views. See Julie Lockman's photos above and below) for the views! It was also really warm. 

 Come visit us too! We can show you great vistas, dry hiking trails, and sunny flowers year round!

We are off to Whistler, Canada, for a day of downhill skiing this weekend with our friend Katie (dating back to Gustavus, AK days). Can't wait to see her!