Riding for the Feeling

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A couple pics from our weekend crabbing/boating excursion...

Emily reading Timothy Egan's op-ed to our friend Josh.

Bald Eagle guarding the Hat Island Marina.

Emily's traditional boat food, Chicken in a Biskit (sung to the tune of "This Is How We Do It").

First pull of the day... a couple keepers

We pulled this crab pot up to find a giant starfish hogging the bait. (We threw it back.)

Later on Emily and I motored a couple hours up to Coupeville.

We stayed overnight in the boat, docked up to the wharf.


Low tide the next morning

Delicious breakfast at the Knead & Feed, just down the street from the wharf.

"So... the blue parts must be land"

In short, one of the best weekends in recent memory and we can't wait to get out there again.

Yes the Tide

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Whidbey Island weekend

Mandatory stop at the Conway Pub on the way up for a late Saturday lunch

My mom and aunt Shan looking at my grandpa Don's agates Sunday morning

Beach glass with type, my favorite

One of the cooler natural structures, especially collectively

Rodarte x Penn Cove

My uncle Perry, aunt Shan, Emily, and my mom near one of our older family friends,
a gigantic stump

Sentries on the cliff

Harley the dog after checking out this washed-up tangle

Double-page spread version of the top photo

One of two small agates I found on the beach

Fornasetti x Whidbey Island

Kabuki fish (no South Park)

Primary colors

Wood box

7:02 AM

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The Sea & Cake "Up On Crutches"
from Everybody (Thrill Jockey, 2007). info

[ photo: Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, January 2010 ]

Family Slideshow Part 2

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Some pics from our rainy second day of mini-vacation a few weekends ago on Whidbey Island – hiking up beautiful Mount Eerie, on to Anacortes for lunch, and later to near-empty Fort Ebey State Park.

Click here to see pics from day one.

Family Slideshow Part 1

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Two weekends ago after Emily finished school for the quarter, we treated ourselves with a quick getaway to Whidbey Island.

It was our first weekend off since Emily's birthday in March and we started it right by swimming through some local hot spots on the way up.

Oyster shooters at the Conway Pub. Generally I shy away from food with names like poppers, shooters, or extreme poppers – but I will never be mad at a local oyster, artfully prepared in a shot glass.

More oysters in La Conner.

The La Conner Pub sits out over the Skagit River – you can watch fishermen come in and unload their haul across the way, and harbor seals follow the boats in looking for scraps.

When we got to Deception Pass we parked and walked across the bridge and down to the water.

This guy had the same idea.

Deception Pass is called Deception Pass because – well here, just read the sign:

I like the type.

I've been to Deception Pass hundreds of times but this time felt new. We've had a rough time of it this year with Emily in school and me working so much. I don't want to sit here and whine, but it's true – we haven't had a chance to do so many of the things we came back here to do. Still, I feel like things are looking up. Being up there was a breath of fresh air.

After that we went up to Toby's in Coupeville for some mussels and kind of stopped taking pictures, until we came back to the house and the sun was setting over the Olympics.

Some days are diamonds.