Saturday, June 24, 2017

chuckanut getaway

There's a special little spot about an hour north of home where the road swings out to the sea and hugs the coastal cliffs. The views to the west are epic --- islands everywhere, deep blue waters braiding around them, oceanic nooks and crannies aplently. Given enough time, Adrienne and I probably would have discovered Chuckanut Drive --- the I-5 freeway bypasses it, so its easy to miss --- but Uncle Mark told us about this slice of heaven years ago, so we've been driving it ever since. But we've never stayed there.

As you know, our old kittycat keeps us close to home these days because of daily insulin injections and a pill regimen that requires deep training. So we packed kitty up, loaded her and the kayaks into the car, and set out for a little cabin on the sea. It had also been years since AJ and I have taken more than a day or two together because of said kitty --- so to spend a week together on vacation was great. Kitty was less thrilled, but eventually warmed up to the situation. Especially when the weather got good enough to send rays of sunshine streaming through her nearby window.

We didn't do much, but that was the plan. We did a short hike, paddled a bunch, went in to town for lunch and a beer, but mostly just lounged around reading and watching the water. Below are a few pics from our week.

Our cabin and its stellar view.

Actually, the weather when we arrived was less than spectacular. But the clouds broke up on time for a gorgeous sunset. 

But the weather did break, which led to epic paddles and sunshine time. We also used our setting as inspiration to thank our congresswoman and senators for being big supporters of ocean protection - because June is National Oceans Month! Our 9 year old friend Sam made these postcards and asked friends to send them to their members of Congress on Capitol Hill.

Ok, off for a paddle!

We went to this cove in particular because rumor has it that there are fossilized palm tree trunks in the sandstone...

Found one --- there are four specimens here! 55 million years old.

Kayak selfie!

Cruising by the seal rocks...

They sent out a few emissaries...

Some oyster catchers and their new baby.

Great blue heron hunting in the shallows.

Kayaking along these sandstone walls yield salty and squishy sea treasures...

like this leather star...

...and this gorgeous purple ochre star...

...and then sometimes you happen upon a Bald Eagle!

And then I found another in a tree, who flew away upon approach.

A few ocean ducks...

The tide was extremely low, revealing all the eel grass beds....

...like this big red rock crab.

Back home after epic paddling for a warm and sunny sunset.

A and J at sunset.

 That's all folks!