Staycation Daze 3: Now that's more like it

So, balancing out the Mt. Baker misadventure on Monday, Coco and I had a nice excursion to Orcas Island in the San Juans on Tuesday. It was a bit of a sampler tour, as we took in Eastsound, Moran State Park, and Doe Bay in our little day trip. The weather cooperated, so the ferry rides to and from were as pleasant a part of the adventure as any thing else.

The highlight of the day was climbing the lookout tower on Mt. Constitution - at 2400 feet, we weren't half as high as Artist Point on Baker, but man what a view!

We could see our house from here! Well, almost - there were trees in the way. But using borrowed binoculars, I did clearly identify the senior housing a block or two away from our place.

Here's a bit closer look:

Coco was kind of a tour guide, as she had visited the island most recently - like, 15 years ago. Surprisingly, not much had changed. Besides looking out into the wild blue yonder, we had a good meal at a little hippie restaurant she remembered and which was still there, and walked through Doe Day Resort, where she had once vacationed in a yurt and which we bookmarked for a future weekend getaway. Coco bought some nice-smelling lavender stuff and I got a new pair of clip-on, flip-up sunglasses, and we both ate ice cream cones in the sunshine.
 
All in all, a great trip, marred only by some nagging work details that I couldn't quite shake out of my consciousness. I'm trying to get my head into full vacation mode, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Blah, blah, boo-hoo, poor me. Still a heckuva great day with my sweetie.

Staycation daze 2: The Long and Winding Road

So, Coco had a burst of spontaneity this afternoon and suggested that we make sandwiches, drive to Artist Point on Mount Baker, and eat dinner while taking in the vista. Mt. Baker is right in our backyard, so to speak, so I readily agreed. After her acupuncture appointment, we threw together some hoagies, jumped in the Scion, and headed out.

At first, it was exactly as we imagined: the glory of the natural world, bursting with beauty.

Pacific Northwest forests really are beautiful.

We neglected to consider two factors: (a) it is still very early in the season, mountain-wise, and (b) Artist Point is at about 5100 feet. Our sunny vacation day afternoon drive soon turned into... something else.

Yes, the road to Artist Point was clear, but there were still yards of snow on either side - toward the top, it was more like traversing a tunnel than enjoying a ride in country. What's more, we actually climbed up into the cloud layer, so visibility was about ten feet. The vista, when we finally reached the top, was, shall we say, limited.

On the other hand, parking was easy to find.

It was also about 40 degrees, and although the composting toilets were open, those and the trash cans were the extent of the accessible features.

Yes, there is a door to a restroom in there.

We changed our plans, turned around, and drove back down the mountain. Once we got below the cloud layer, it started to rain on us, a perfect cap to the expedition. We sped down the mountain to a brewery/pizzeria right on the edges of the civilized world: it gets great reviews and we have been meaning to try it, so this seemed like the time. I wish I could tell you that the pizza and the beer were great and made the whole misadventure worth it, but both were just okay.

What did make the whole trip worth it was getting to spend a few uninterrupted hours with my sweetie, listening to music, chatting, and laughing at our own damn crazy selves. That's what I call good times.

Staycation daze

So, after six solid months of Interim VP duty and a transition to "permanent" VP, all of which involved a considerable number of twelve-hour days and of instances of working on weekends, graduation has come and gone and I am finally in a position to take vacation.

Or I guess it's what's now called a staycation - some familial responsibilities are keeping Coco in town, and a rare visit from an east-cost pal happens to coincide with my time off, so we're not leaving ton. (Coco is off on summer break, no teaching, so she's on a long staycation.)

Friday was technically my first day off, but it was more like a recovery day. We cleaned out the garage a bit, read a little, napped a lot, and we watched Justice League.

Saturday was supposed to be nice, so we grabbed the Nexus passes and headed up to B.C., intending to traverse the rope bridge at Capilano. The cloudy skies just a relatively few kilometers north weren't burning off, however, so we had to settle for a little shopping and some lunch at Chau Veggie Express, our new go-to for vegetarian pan-Asian food. While at IKEA, we saw a sign that coincidentally mirrored our quest:

 

Our cleaning spree had inspired Coco to address the growing disorder in her art-studio corner of the garage, so this seemed awfully timely. And while we didn't find anything to do the trick at IKEA, or even in Canada, we did score some shelving at the local Lowe's - more below.

That night, we watched Hello, My Name is Doris - no review forthcoming, but it was a sweet, quirky little movie that a well worth catching.

This morning, Sunday, we assembled the shelving we had picked up on Saturday that was meant to tame Coco's creative chaos; like a dam holding back a mighty river, only time will tell whether it is up to the task:

But this is supposed to be a staycation, not a workation, so after lunch Coco and I urban-hiked to the View Tower in the Sehome Hill Arboretum on the Western Washington University campus:

The whole trip comprised only a little over three miles, but you can see the elevation change.  The trip through the adjoining neighborhoods was uneventful, but as we entered the arboretum proper, we encountered something right out of a horror movie:

This message did not appear to be referencing the trail itself... but nothing creepy appeared.
 
In the end, the view was well worth it:

That's Canada way off on the horizon.

We thought our exertions merited some dinner, so we made our way down to a local brew pub. Along the way, we encountered this D&D-centric school:

I wondered if they have separate schools for halflings, dwarves, half-orcs, and so on. We made it to dinner without encountering any elves, whether Wood, Sun, or Deep. The food was good, and a brew pub wouldn't be a brew pub without brew, so:

Which of course led to this:

Not a bad start, I'd say.