Fox Island, Washington

This week will be remembered as one of our favorite of the trip.  We spent the week at the Fox Island house that was introduced in the last blog.  We were there long enough to get into the rhythm of the island and the rising and falling of the tides.  During the week the smoke from fires in Canada would sometimes turn the sky red or when mixed with fog, the smog can obscure the houses on the other side of Hales passage. 

This is Barbara's playground.  Growing up a few miles away in Tacoma, she spent her youth playing in these islands and on these waters.

Before we went out to Fox Island, Sam and Kat took us out for our 26th anniversary.  The bar at the junction has an open mike night on Thursday which packs the place out.  Ironically, Kat told us that the rest of the week the place is really quite.  That night we had a hard time finding parking. After a short time there we went in search of a quieter place to talk.

The Next Door Gastropub is a new addition to Port Angeles since we lived here.  Apparently two excellent chefs from New Jersey came out and created quite the delicious Bistro right in the middle of town.  The prices reflect the quality of the food and skill of the chef, but there seems to be no problem filling the seats with locals.  Thank you Sam and Kat for taking us there. 

The weather was ideal on Saturday when we headed to the cabin with Sam and Kat.  We had to make a stop at an old fashioned diner in Purdy so Sam could get a pound of fries.  That's a big bag of fries.  The burgers and sandwiches were excellent.

There was a beer festival going on while we were on the island.  We went to check it out but with two non-beer drinkers the $30 cover charge seemed a bit steep.  We took our beer to the dock and had our own festival.

Chuy and Wurstchen thought this place with all the new interesting smells was great. The sunshine was a big bonus.

It felt pretty good to us too.

It's not about fashion, it's about being one with nature.  That requires the comfort of happy pants and a cup of nice fresh coffee with O'Mara's creamer.  O'Mara's will also be forever linked to this summer for us.

We had many opportunities for walks on the beach at low tide.  It's so relaxing.  In the picture below you can barely see Scott's sister's house across Hales passage. The cousins enjoyed the sunshine on the deck together and everything else about hanging out here.

Friday night we went to the Tides Tavern.  It was a favorite mooring spot for us back in the days of Irish Mist.  It hasn't changed one bit from the 90's when we used to come here and probably not much since the 70's when it opened.

Yum yum, dim sum.  Sunday morning Sam made us some ono dim sum.  Great day to start the day.

and a great way to spend the day.

We were reading some old letters written by Dad.  He said he can spend two hours staring out the window drinking coffee, which he considered a mild form of exercise.  If that's the case, we  had quite a workout last weekend.

We love being around the Madronna trees again.

Eagle Island without the smokey mist.  This is an island that used to be called Tanglewood.  Barbara and her boyfriend were sunbathing on the island and didn't notice their boat had been taken by the tide.

Family fun!  There is a small harbor on the left of the house.  This guy was taking his kids around very slowly.

Wurstchen's lair in the couch.  He says this place is alright by him.

Even time for some projects and no running around at all.

But mostly relaxing as difficult as that may be.