Monday, May 27, 2013

Fun in Washington

So I decided that I needed to get back to Seattle sometime this summer, and since my freshman roommate was getting married in Washington over Memorial Day weekend, I decided that would be the perfect time. Mom planned a little trip to the San Juan Islands right when I got in, so that was pretty much the first thing I did when I got there (after eating a delicious lunch at Dick's Drive-in, of course). We drove up to Anacortes and took the ferry over to Friday Harbor, a delightful little town on San Juan Island. 








We found our little bed and breakfast, called the Argyle House, and then walked around the town a little bit. It was late in the afternoon and we had about an hour to kill before dinner, so we decided to get a little tour of the island by taking a round-trip ride on the bus to Roche Harbor and back. The island was so beautiful! We saw a Bald Eagle, which was cool and our bus driver was quite the character, so that was fun. Then we wanted to find a place to eat dinner and we heard word that this place called "The Backdoor Kitchen" was the best place in town. It was pretty much in the middle of nowhere, we would never have found it if this weird guy hadn't insisted that we go. And the food was AMAZING. It was a really small menu, but everything was incredibly delicious and gourmet. 
The next day was our whale watching day, and the weather was perfect. We spent the morning looking around in the shops and going to the whale museum, then took off on the boat to go hunt down a Humpback whale that had been sighted. I was super excited to see the whale, because I've lived in Seattle my whole life and never seen one! It was awesome. 








She did a cool little cartwheel for us.



After the whale watching tour we caught the 4:15 ferry and headed back to Bothell, narrowly missing the collapse of the bridge at Mount Vernon (by about 15 min! http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/24/us/washington-bridge-collapse

The next day I got up early to drive to Richland, WA for my old roommate's wedding. It was beautiful and so fun. Her reception was right by the Columbia River and the "send off" was out at the docks and they sailed away in a boat, while we lit lanterns and floated them out in the sky (just like Tangled). It was the most original and romantic send off I've ever seen. 

Columbia River Temple

At the reception, by the Columbia River



Lanterns!
All in all, it's been a good weekend. And happy Memorial Day! It looks like mom, dad, and I are planning on seeing a movie, shopping, and doing fun stuff. And then I'm back to Provo for the summer!