Recipe for a visit with Julie and Jay

If you are interested in visiting us out here in Anacortes at any point in time, you might as well know what the visit will entail! I'm using a recent visit from dear friends, Katie and Chad, as my example....but really many of our visitors end up being dragged along to the same places because, well, they are awesome!

The main ingredient for a visit to Julie and Jay's is Deception Pass State Park. Everyone gets to sample this park and our BBQ skills, as long as no downpour is in sight. We tend to favor the flavor of Bowman Bay, which is on the Fidalgo Island side of this park, for the sunsets and views of the Olympic Mountains.

If you happen to time your visit to us during mushrooming season (spring or fall), you can potentially score on some foraged meals. Julie and Chad are protecting themselves from rain with their umbrellas of giant horse mushrooms. These ended up on our burgers at Deception Pass that evening and in an egg scramble in the morning. Bliss!

O.K. - so we always take visitors to Deception Pass and Orcas Island....but sometimes visitors introduce us to new sights too! Chad, skateboarder extraordinaire, wanted to check out an apparently famous skate park on Orcas Island. I didn't even know it existed! So Katie and I got to watch Chad rip up the surf. I don't speak skateboard talk, but I figure it is something akin to surf lingo? Which I also don't speak. Jeez.

June can be a funny month in Washington. Sometimes the oven is on high and we are roasting. Actually, that has only happened once since we moved here four years ago. Damn. Mostly we feel like we are still in the fridge with a bit of rain added to keep us from wilting. This June has been pretty damn nice so far - Katie and Chad certainly scored on the weather. And clear days on Orcas Island mean you are heading up Mt. Constitution for the view.

All visitors to Orcas Island must stop to pay homage to the BIG tree of the island. As you can see, we have taken many visitors to this tree. By no means is this a BIG Washington tree - they get soooo much bigger here, especially on the Olympic Coast. But, for the San Juans this is a pretty darn big Douglas Fir and we love it.  Katie and Chad got their time in with this nice huggable bark =)

All visits require a stop for locally brewed beer somewhere! This is a required ingredient for the visit - no substitutions allowed. In this particular visit Katie and Chad got to sample the brews at the newly opened Island Hoppin' Brewery on Orcas.

If we can pull it off, all visits get a home cooked meal by Julie and Jay. In this case we took a trip to Indonesia. We have also been known to take visitors to Malaysia, Thailand, India, Italy, and Japan. Name the country! We are up for the cooking challenge!

Soooo who is up next for a visit to this gorgeous state we live in? We have an open door and lots of ideas for good ingredients....

Photos from Katie and Chad's visit: https://picasaweb.google.com/111221596171793333099/June2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCL2Ql7aeluCu0wE&noredirect=1