{04nov2011: Barclay Lake}

One thing I love about living in Seattle is going to the pumpkin patch in the fall. We tie it in with a hike to make it a full day activity with something for everyone.
I have yet to find a dog friendly pumpkin patch, so while Jason and I find perfect pumpkins, poor Darwin has to wait in the car. We've been going to Craven Farm the last two years because there's so much more there than just pumpkins. This year we were cold and trying to get to a hike further away so we just stuck to pumpkins.

After getting my pumpkins we got Darwin out of the car so she could stretch her legs (and have a potty break) before heading out to the hiking spot.

Jason had picked a hike so we could see some fall colors, but as we were leaving Craven Farm we realized it was a lot further east than we wanted to go (2 hour drive from where we were) so we got out the iphone and looked up a closer hike. Jason chose Barclay Lake.

It was a fairly easy hike (pretty flat) but beautiful, as most Washington hikes are.

We tried to move off the main path when other people were passing, but sometimes Darwin just wasn't having it. Thankfully most of the people we passed were happy to give Darwin attention.

Usually when we hike (or go to the park) Darwin won't walk away from us, she'll walk right in front of us (literally, right in front where we have to push her along) or a few steps away. This time though she gathered up some courage and would walk ahead of us by a dozen feet (3-4m) or so.

We found a tree with a tunnel through it's trunk. I had Jason go through it first.

And surprisingly Darwin followed!

Then we got to one of Darwin's favorite things... a wooden bridge. She quickly ran ahead and ran across, then ran back to get us, then led the way over again.

We soon made it to the lake... 

and the sun managed to come out. So we found a couple logs and hung out for a bit.

We followed the trail past the lake and as far as it went, then turned around and headed back.

We ended the day at Diamond Knot Brewery for a post hike meal and beveridges.

{25oct2011: Deception Pass}

Last month we had plans to check out Whidbey Island up north. We didn't plan very well and didn't get there. 
We did make it to Deception Pass and thought we'd hike through a couple trails. The weather was supposed to be cold and rainy, but it was surprisingly clear blue skies and a little warm. We took a trail that leads to Rosario Beach.

I ran ahead of Darwin and Jason and was hiding off the trail waiting for Darwin to find me, when she ran pass me and scared the bejeezus out of this couple walking down the trail. Oops. They laughed about it though. Whew.

It was a short "hike" to the beach.

And it was super windy.

After the beach loop we followed the trail back the way we came planning to go down another trail heading the opposite way.

In the short time it took us to get to the start of the trail and head towards the other one, dark clouds rolled in.

By the time we got to the start of the next trail it was raining cats and dogs. Such a heavy heavy downpour, and Miss Darwin hates the rain so we decided to skip the second trail and do it another time.
Instead we headed down into Oak Harbor and tried out some beers at Flyers. :)

*** On a completely unrelated note, HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY to my nephew Caden!!

{28june2011: weekend road trip part 1}

A few weekends ago we took a weekend trip up to Orcas Island for our friends wedding. (If you ever get a chance to visit Seattle, plan to give yourself a couple days to go up to the San Juan Islands, it's amazingly laid back and relaxing.)
To get to Orcas Island (or any of the San Juan islands) it's about an hour and a half drive north from Seattle to Anacortes where you get on an hour ferry ride to get to the island. The ferries to the islands can get really crowded, especially in the summer, so it's best to get there early.

View Larger Map
We took that advice and got up very early on a Friday (430am early - oi) so we could get to the ferry by 630am to get on the 730am ferry.
{is the ferry here yet?!}

We slept in the car as we waited for the ferry then slept the whole ferry ride over to Orcas island. Of course we got there so early (830am) that nothing was really open so we decided to head over to Moran State Park and do a little hiking. We were a little hesitant about a very serious hike (aka Jason's epic hike because a few days earlier I had fallen walking Darwin and sprained my ankle (no she didn't pull me, I just was walking and fell. ahahaha) and Jason was feeling a little under the weather so we thought we'd do something easy, so we opted for a mostly flat hike around Mountain Lake.

Of course as soon as Darwin saw the lake she had to bless it.

The hike around the lake was beautiful and so peaceful. We saw one other couple and their dog during the whole four mile loop.

After walking around the lake we made it back to the car and had a breakfast picnic on a bench next to the lake. Once we finished eating a bit (we didn't want to eat too much as we wanted to try Passionate for Pies in Eastsound) we started to pack up the car so we could drive to the top of Mount Constitution to check out the stone tower. Darwin was not ready to leave yet and would not come near us so we could leash her and stayed by the picnic table.

For a good 10 minutes she ran around keeping a good distance between us and her letting us know she did not want to go. I finally lured her back to me with a piece of salami (I was a bad dog mom and forgot to bring her treats) and we loaded her up and drove to the top of the mountain.
Of course we had to pop into the gift shop.

After picking up a few postcards we walked up a little hill to the stone tower.

Jason still wasn't feeling 100% so I went up the tower to check out the view while he hung out with Darwin on the bottom.

The tower isn't very tall, but from the top of it you can see almost all of Orcas Island and its surrounding islands and the surrounding mountains (they say on a clear day you can see down to Mount Rainer). It wasn't very clear while I was up there, but it was still an awesome view.
What I did see though were a couple of kids loving on Darwin, all while she kept her eyes on me.

By then I was hungry for pies so we headed to Eastsound (the main town on Orcas) and hunted down the pie shop. I love that they carry sweet and savory pies. We both tried a savory pie while Darwin watched us. hehehe

Of course since we were on vacation we had to let Darwin have a treat too and we found Lily, a little ice cream shop . Darwin, the spoiled girl she is got her own scoop of vanilla.

Since we were bad dog parents and didn't come totally prepared we stopped at the pet store, Pawki's to find some treats for Dar (always good to have treats on us for training).

Stay tuned for part 2 which will show the great little farm we stayed at!