Neah Bay

This past weekend BK, Kel, Kev & I headed out to the peninsula for a quick weekend getaway.  Kelli had found these super cute cabins near Neah Bay for her & Kevin to go surfing at, and since there was also a pull-out futon, me & BK were lucky enough to tag along.  You can check them out here:  http://www.hobuckbeachresort.com/cabins.html

We left work early and despite our best attempts to beat the traffic, it still took us a good 45 minutes to make the left turn onto the Hood Canal bridge.  But we made eventually and checked out the beach immediately upon arrival.  After the ridiculous heat for the past few days it was nice to cool down at the coast, although there was a distinct marine layer at Hobuck blocking out the sun and denying us a sunset.  K & K made us a spaghetti feast for dinner along with blueberry cobbler and then we began a marathon battle of some crazy domino game.

The next morning I made my world famous sour cream pancakes, and then the others suited up for some surfing.  While they hit the waves, I lounged on the beach with my book and music, and also wandered over to end of the beach stretch.  After a couple hours I went back to make everyone some lunch, and while feasting they decided they were done for the day.  Changed into fresh clothes we drove over to Cape Flattery, the most Western point in the lower 48 states.  It’s a short but picturesque hike out to the point.  From there we drove around the small village of Neah Bay, and then headed home for nap time and to finish our domino tourney (I won!).

The kitchen in our cabin just had two small burners so we had also brought my panini press, we served to be invaluable (thanks Mar!).  I had used it as a griddle in the morning, and now BK used it as a grill for dinner for a pork loin.  We also made some quinoa with carrot & zucchini, and then a yummy corn and sweet onion salad.  For dessert, i whipped up some Nanaimo bars.  mmm…  To cap off the night we watched Stepbrothers, which is dumb but hilarious.

In the morning, K & K griddled up some French Toast, and then they and BK hit the waves once again before check-out time.  Once the Jeep was all packed up again, we drove over to hike into Shi Shi Beach, supposedly rated one of the Top Ten “Wildest” beaches.  It’s a two mile hike to get in, and then down a short steep hill.  I was amazed by the number of folks hiking in to camp down there – it’s beautiful, but not much to do once you’re there. 

After hiking back out, we stopped in town for pizza since all the taco trucks were closed.  The pizza was good, but service was almost non-existent.  Once fed, we stopped the Makah Musueum for a quick  history lesson before beginning our long drive home.  With the reader boards touting a 2-hour wait at Kingston, we drove down to Bainbridge and hopped right on a ferry which was great, landing back at home around 9:00pm.  A fun, full weekend!

Bloomsday

2009 was finally the momentous year that Kelli had been waiting for: running Bloomsday on her actual birthday. So, on Saturday morning, Kel & Kevi Kev picked up me & BK in Kev’s new Jeep and we set off across the state to Spokane for the big day. We arrived into town just in time for lunch at the Milk Bottle. Despite talking a big game, BK went with a side of fries instead of Ice creams, so Lauren continues to reign as the Dairy Queen  

With some time to kill before family dinner and not many options for entertainment in Spokane, we stopped by the North Town Mall to see Wolverine (which was ok). Up in Colbert we took a quick nap in the Strawberry Shortcake room, then joined everyone upstairs for our traditional pre-Bloomsday dinner of lasagna, salad, garlic bread and layer cake. Yummy as always! Once the fam left, we watched How I met your Mother, a bit of the Sounders game, and then crashed, BK’s feet hanging off the end of his small twin bed…

It had been rainy the night before so we weren’t sure what to expect for race day. Luckily things turned out pretty well for us. As usual we parked near Spokane Arena, walked over the falls, and then went to find our designated areas. Kelli was in the highest group for our crowd, yellow, followed by Kevin in Green and me & BK in Orange. Since I hadn’t been running at all, I wasn’t expecting much which was fine. It s such a fun event I never care about my time. At 9:00am, the 51,000 participants slowly started taking off, I love seeing all the families and different groups participating, as well as all the bands and folks having parties along the route. It’s such a positive community event. After tackling Doomsday hill my hip was started to hurt so we didn’t run much after that. In the end we crossed the finish line around 1:45 – slower than usual but still fine. Picked up our light blue finisher t-shirts and found K & K at the coffee shop with Anne-Marie’s mom and Aunt. Unfortunately AME was sick and didn’t come down, despite all of our begging pleading.

We stumbled back towards the car, and back to Colbert for lunch and showers, we gorged on leftovers from the night before, then loaded up to head home. Since BK had b=never been to Zip’s though, we did pull off in Ritzville for milkshakes. Mmmm…

Anacortes

For the weekend, Mar, Sallie, Fede, BK & I headed up north for the Tour de Lopez bike ride once again.  Porkchop & Kevi Kev were supposed to join as well, but they instead jetted off to NYC. (You can read about the great New York Cupcake Quest here:  http://kelwarner.wordpress.com/2009/04/29/the-great-nyc-cupcake-quest/  ).  Since we had so many problems getting off of Lopez last year, we decided to try a new tactic this year by staying gin Anacortes and just walking on the ferry, which turned out pretty well.

Friday afternoon Mar, BK and I squeezed three people, three bikes and three sets of gear into the Jeep and headed north in hopes of making it to Bow-Edison before 7:00pm, when Breadfarm (http://www.breadfarm.com/) closes.  We made pretty good time as traffic through Everett wasn’t too bad.  As we speed along Chuckanut drive, it was going to be close.  We pulled up to the front door at 7:02pm!  Mar jumped out of the car to see if they’d still let us in an they said yes, so we quickly parked and ran.  They were totally mopping the floor so we just had to point and grab, but we got a loaf of potato bread and a couple bags of chocolate cookies (The Cocoa Nib ones are delicious.  The chocolate ginger ones were too gingery for me but the others liked them. 

From Breadfarm we headed back up the road to the Rhododendron Café (http://rhodycafe.com/) for dinner which was really good.  They had a three-course for $25 deal going on, so I got that with seafood chowder, salmon and ice creams.  BK did the same with Paella instead, and Mar got some veggies cakes and mussels.

Since we had the Jeep, we used the GPS system after dinner to take the backroads into Anacortes and found our super cute house.  Sallie had found it on Craigslist and we were the first guests so we weren’t sure what to expect, but it turned out pretty perfect for us.  It was about 10 blocks from Commercial Drive, with three bedrooms, bath, kitchen and living room.  The woman renting it to us actually lives there, but she had started fixing it up to rent too as she had recently lost her job and wanted to make some extra cash.  It had a southwestern décor theme, lots of bright colors, and a funky fun front yard.

 

Saturday was the bike ride.  Sallie & Fede biked to the Terminal, while we drove and met them there.  We stopped along the way for coffee where I spotted a sign for the monthly Iron Cupcake competition – awesome idea!  (Info:  http://www.alteredrecipes.com/ica_2.htm)

 

At the dock we joined the masses in line waiting to walk on with our bikes.  Arriving on Lopez I walked up the first part of the hill before hopping on to get over to the park for registration.  And then we were off.  All but Fede had planned to do the 31-mile route but as we got going, that prospect seemed bleaker and bleaker to me.  It was kind of cold and I didn’t remember their being as many hills at the beginning of the ride.  I was definitely struggling in some parts and quickly realizing that three rides on the Burke were not the same as having done this ride last year right after the Lavaman.  BK was feeling the same way (or at least being nice to me) so at the decision point near Shark Reef Bay, we turned to do the 17-miler instead of the 31.  The main factor for me was knowing there were more hills coming on the 31 that I knew I would struggle on.  I think if it had been warmer out I probably would have gone for it, but I was cold and tired and ready to be done.  It was still a good ride, just not as good as last year.  BK and I rolled into Lopez Village, parked our bikes and warmed up in Holly B’s bakery which I was delighted to see was open.  We loaded up on baked goods and then walked over to the BBQ.  We grabbed a table at the back to get whatever sun we could when it poked out from behind the clouds.  Slowly the rest of our group gathered and we all hung out around the Village for a couple hours since the ferry wasn’t until after 4:00pm.  We did have like 5 more miles to get back to the ferry though, so that warmed us up eventually (especially the last climb to the ferry dock) and the sun was out when we got down there which was nice.

Back in Anacortes, we took turns showering and then headed downtown for dinner at a spot called Adrift (http://www.adriftrestaurant.com/).  We had a bit of a wait which tired out our already tired group, but the food was well worth it – they have a wide variety and use lots of local vendors.  I had sweet potato and pork tacos that were yummy.  Back at home Sallie had brought some games to play, but we all crashed pretty quickly.

 

Sunday morning we packed up and drove back to Bow-Edison to visit the Farm-To-Market Bakery, home of the Lime Polenta Cake (http://www.insiderpages.com/b/3723386117).  I didn’t see any when we first walked in, but luckily they were just coming out of the over.  Mar, BK and I each bought two.  Mar and I also split a piece of quiche and a maple walnut scone that was also fresh from the oven.  (And the good news was BK & I would be back up there in a couple weeks for the Skagit Spring Classic and more yummy goodies!)  Sallie & Fede met us there too, but then hung around Edison while we took off through the Tulip fields.  We stopped at one daffodil field and tulip field for a few photos before hitting the highway home.

Other Local Faves

while we’re at it though, here’s my list that I recently gave to a new hire, with a couple additions from Shelby C:
Subject: Kendra’s favorite restaurants

Nice

All Tom Douglas restaurants:  http://www.tomdouglas.com/    (Serious Pie is casual though)

La Spiga: http://www.laspiga.com/

Flying Fish: http://flyingfishrestaurant.com/

Boat Street Café: http://www.boatstreetcafe.com/index.html

Matt’s in the Market: http://www.mattsinthemarket.com/

 

 

Casual

Volunteer Park Café:  http://www.alwaysfreshgoodness.com/

Pies & Pints: http://www.piesandpints.com/

Tamarind Tree: http://www.tamarindtreerestaurant.com/index.php

La Rustica: http://www.larusticarestaurant.com/

all Chow Foods restaurants:  http://www.chowfoods.com/   (Skip Hi-Life though)

Chinooks: http://www.anthonys.com/restaurants/info/chinooks.html

Divine: http://www.divineseattle.com/

Fu Man dumpling house: http://www.nwsource.com/ae/scr/edb_vd.cfm?ven=32332&s=nws

Baguette Box: www.baguettebox.com/

 

 

Ethan Stowell is making quite a name for himself – his restaurants aren’t my favorite but in case you want to check them out they are: Union, Tavolata, How to Cook a Wolf, Anchovies & Olives.

Same goes for Matt Dillon – his restaurants are Sitka & Spruce and the Corson Building

 

Haven’t been here yet, but I think it’s gonna be good:  http://oddfellowscafe.com/,  springhillnorthwest.com, http://www.table219.com/, www.spinasse.com

 

ADD:

Harvest Vine http://www.harvestvine.com/

Pair http://www.pairseattle.com/

Barolo http://www.baroloseattle.com/

Rock the Wok

Technically I haven’t gone anywhere to warrant a blog posting on my travel site, but I’m posting this info for anyone who may be traveling to Seattle, ’cause it’s a good list.  All credit goes to Mar, who has guest-blogged here before.  Heidi asked me for good chinese restaurants in Seattle, but I deferred to the real expert – here’s her list and commentary:

Question: Are the out of towners native chinese or non-chinese? Are they from a city with good Chinese food (Vancouver, SF, New York, Los Angeles)? If native chinese, then avoid places like Judy Fu, but otherwise, you could go to any of these:

My parents really like Chiang’s Gourmet on 80th and Lake City Way – by the old Mojito Cafe. It’s got consistently good food – my parents know how to order and also has the favorites that tend to be liked by most westerners. However, KMJ, they have your honey walnut prawns too.

Up north, there is T&T seafood, which is by the Ranch 99 but that’s getting close to Lynnwood

In Wallingford, a small place is Rocking Wok (near Stone Way and like 43rd or so, one block east of Stone Way). We went there a few times, but haven’t been lately. My parents are creatures of habit.

Judy Fu’s Snappy Dragon is good for some things – hand cut noodles, pot stickers, but caters more to a americanized chinese palate – not that I don’t like their food, I love it, but my parents tend to only like it for those things, less their main dishes.

Kendra is a big fan of Fu Man Dumpling House up in north Greenwood (Greenwood and 140th). Great dumplings, but no rice/meat/veggie dishes.

Over in Bellevue – there are more options cause there are more Chinese people over there, so over there off 520 beyond 405 there is Ming’s Chinese Garden, in downtown Bellevue there is Sea Garden (also in the ID). Top Gun used to be in the ID, but is now at Factoria. They are also quite good and have Dim Sum.

Down in the ID, there is Sea Garden for dinner, but for dim sum you could try Jade Garden – often crowded though. Dim Sum at Noble Court in Bellevue is good too.

I think our family consistently goes to Chiang’s Gourmet. We like them a lot. Hmm…I’m going to save this list.

Seattle Burger Wars

One Sunday morning a group of girls headed out in the rain to tackle three Seattle institutions and declare one as having the supreme burger.   Since one of the girls didn’t eat burgers (me!), the group also rated grilled cheese and onion rings. At each spot we shared one burger, one grilled cheese and one order of onion rings.  Below, please find our results:

Red Mill

Price $11.08/ $4.09/$3.34/$2.59 (total/burger/cheese/rings)

Burger got a 4.  Bun sesame seed and toasted.  good/fresh condiments on burger.  special sauce, unevenly distributed but good flavor.

Cheese got a 2.5.  Tillamook cheese.  wheat bread.  not evenly toasted.

Rings got a 3.5. 

Wait time 10 min.  Overall 3.75

 

Kidd Valley

10.76/3.65/3.65/2.69

Burger got a 2.5.  Sesame seed bun, not toasted.  special sauce like salad dressing.  toppings not as fresh.

Cheese got a 4.5.  American cheese, sour dough bread.  grilled evenly.

Rings got a 3.5.  not very oniony.  crumbly.

Wait time 5 min.  Overall 3.25

 

Burgermaster

11.90/4.39/3.79/2.99

Burger got a 2.  NOT sesame bun, yes toasted.

cheese got a 4.  good but not as good as kid valley.

rings got a 3.5.  even though they were frozen!?  not crumbly and more oniony.

Wait time 5 min.  Overall 2.  SICK!!!

 

Final Summary:  Red Mill, of course, was the clear winner for burgers, but Kidd Valley will always probably be my fave.  The most shocking point of the day was actually the downhill slide of Burgermaster – the one at U Village was just gross dirty, and not very economical for what you get.

Also Noted:  D’s bathroom trips.

Only two.

12:16 Redmill

1:47 Burgermaster

Tour de Lopez – Day 3

I finally finished my book before going to sleep last night – The Time Traveler’s Wife.  Janet had given it to me awhile ago, so it was good to finally get through it.  It’s an interesting story, and apparently there is a movie coming out so I’m glad I finished it first.  Sunday morning woke up around 8:00am and made some tea.  Mar & I hung out on the couches until Kelli & Kevin woke up and we formulated our plan.  The problem with visiting islands is of course the ferry issue.  We knew there was a ferry at 11:00am with limited space and the next wasn’t until 1:40pm, but would have lots of space.  Adding to our dilemma was the fact that the Lions were hosting a pancake breakfast at the Lopez School at 9:00am.  We decided to forgo the pancake breakfast, stop by Holly Bs for treats, and try to make the 11:00am.  If we couldn’t make it, then we’d go wander around for a bit.

As we drove near the dock, our unfortunate fate became clear.  The line was already stretching back up the main road, so we pulled into line.  Mar hopped out to investigate the situation and didn’t return with good news:  we were currently car #60 and the 11:00am boat would be taking 25 cars.  The 1:40pm boat would take about 100 cars, but to ensure we got on we would need to stay put.  So there we sat for three hours, awaiting our turn to escape the island.  We walked down to the dock hoping there might be some beach access or a trail to hike, but there was not.  So we just sat for a bit, looking for Seahawks Draft info on our blackberries (as this was one of the few spots on the island with reception) and using the Wizards of Ooze porta-potties.  Back in the car, Mar continued to devour her “Gardening for Dummies” book and Holly B treats (here’s my quick review: Holly B’s bakery is high on charm and warmth and freshness.  Many of their pastries feature the same dough for example, they have quite a few savory croissants – ham and cheese, andouille sausage, gruyere, egg with pesto, green chili and gruyere obviously share the same dough as the chocolate, almond and plain croissants.  The Danish may have the same dough but brushed with sugar.  The filling for the Danish was similar to the filling for the marionberry crumble, the brioche dough seemed similar to the orange pinwheel.  The only one that seemed a bit different was the cinnamon roll dough was a whole wheat dough.  The fresh focaccia was delicious, sprinkled with parmesan and rosemary.  The Danish was tasty, a bit too gooey for me as it left the bottom a bit undercooked – like pie dough, then the cinnamon roll was nicely not overly messy and didn’t feature an icing which I appreciated, could have used more raisins, and the almonds were a nice touch….still have to try is the green chili croissiant and the pesto brioche, this may be a day when I in fact only eat pastries…that might be a first if you can believe it. –MC), as I also munched on my Ham & Cheddar biscuit then caught a quick nap.  Raindrops started to pelt the car as the minutes ticked slowly towards 1:40pm.

Eventually we were able to board and nabbed ourselves a window booth, while Kelli & Kevin played Speed at a neighboring table. (OK, before I was going to make a snarky comment, but couldn’t until I actually played one of them, but Kendra and I commented that our very cute couple were so mellow and well, slow when playing SPEED, so before I trash talked them on the blog, I had to back it up.  I played Kel and near the beginning she commented that I was aggressive and then near the end she commented she didn’t want to play me anymore….I realized my many years of ferry boat riding with my brother, my friends’ brothers made me into savvy, opporutnistic Speed player. Kevin and Kelli have similar playing styles, mellow and non-urgent, but will get crushed by players like Kendra and me….—MC)

Landing back in Anacortes, we made a beeline for the outlets where I bought a couple dresses and shoes.  That place is just mayhem though – wow! Where do all those people come from?  And so many kids!  That must be a boring day for them except when they get to ride around in the strollers shaped like fire trucks.  The final stretch home was pretty rainy which meant Mar couldn’t mow her lawn tonight. 

Tour de Lopez – Day 2

The ride was on Saturday and we awoke to a glorious day:  Clear and sunny, still a bit chilly but overall a pretty great day for a bike ride.  We zoomed into town to get treats at Holly B’s bakery (a variety of croissants for me and Andrea & Ian), then drove into Odlin State Park to park & register before all of the ferry folks arrived.  While driving I tried to flash the two-finger “Island Wave” to other drivers I had learned form my buddy Chip long ago, but it was met with mixed results:  some drivers didn’t do anything (clearly not local), and then I got several full finger  or one finger acknowledgments (not that finger!).  I’ll have to confer with Chip when I get back if I was doing it right.  Anyway, while waiting to register, I bit into my Egg, Parmesan and pesto croissant – to my surprise the egg portion was not scrambled, but a giant hard boiled egg.  Eww!  I squeezed the egg out into the garbage, and then enjoyed a Parmesan Pesto croissant, followed by a gooey chocolate one.  Mmmm.  (I had a delicious, albeit extremely buttery ham and gruyere croissant which Holly herself gave me the slightly crusty cheese that had oozed out…..it seems weird that I’m commenting on the amount of butter, but really, it seemed a bit like too much.–MC)  Once registered, Kelli & I had to put our pedals back on our bikes, and Mar meanwhile looked for her gym buddies who were arriving from the ferry.   Once parts and groups were all assembled, we headed off onto the Tour de Lopez. 

Mar dumped us to ride with the speedy bikers from her gym, so the rest of us enjoyed the leisurely ride around the island, past farms, cows, sheep, barns, schools and churches.  The first rest stop featured more treats from Holly B’s:  raspberry almond shortbread and cappuccino bars.  We would later figure out that all rest stop had these treats – bonus!  Farther south we biked along the coast and water, beaches and bays.  It was really beautiful out.  At the second rest stop, Andrea & Ian decided to do the 17-mile instead, so we separated and continued on our 31-mile trek.  The ride had been pretty easy to this point, with only one evil hill.  The extended version featured many more hills – in the end they weren’t that bad, fairly short and some gradual, but man did my gears get a work-out.  Back & forth as I slowly cranked my way up an incline, barely moving as I inched up a hill, to then crest and fly down the backside.  As each new hill materialized in front of me, I just kept thinking about Machu Piccu – this is good training for the Inca Trail, this is good training for the Inca Trail….  As we neared the finish line, Andrea & Ian drove past on their way to the house, honking at us as we made our way to the village.

Around 1:30pm we “crossed” the finish line in Lopez Village, parked our bikes and grabbed our plates for lunch provided by the race organizers. It was actually quite good:  grilled chicken, corn salad, pasta & spinach salad, lots of cookies (to be specific: oatmeal raisin cranberry, ginger molasses – excellent flavor!, chocolate chocolate chip, and for those who finished earlier, pecan bars –MC).  We sat on the grass soaking up more sun and comparing ride notes with Mar, who we had only seen briefly along the route. Once fed and refreshed we then had to get back on our bikes and ride another 4 miles back to the state park where we had begun – that was a tough four miles, especially a small hill in the middle.  Whew! 

Back at the park we loaded our bikes onto the cars to drive home, but first we stopped at the Lopez Island Winery, recommended by my friend Zoey who had been camping on Lopez last weekend.  There were lots of wines to try and I was surprised to see they had a Malbec, my current favorite red.  Zoey had recommended the Raspberry Dessert wine which was in fact quite yummy.  After the tasting we sat outside near the vineyard for a bit, soaking up some more nice weather.

Back at the house Andrea & Ian’s car was gone and it turned out they headed home early, so it was sad not to see them post race.  Our group of ten now down to the final four.   Mar & I sat outside on the deck for a bit, while Kelli napped on a couch and Kevin grabbed the other couch.  One by one, we showered and changed, then drove into town for dinner at Bucky’s Island Grill.  Mar & I each got fish & chips (touted on the menu as the San Juan’s best) (nicely breaded with panko crumbs! –MC), while Kelli got a cheeseburger and Kevin the ribs.  Dinner was then polished off with ice creams of course, courtesy of the Lopez Island Creamery  - chocolate truffle and strawberry blast.  Mmmm…. (Dang, that was good ice cream, but maybe it’s because it’s been a while since I’ve had full fat ice cream…..nothing like fried food followed by artery clogging ice cream…I can feel my arteries solidifying right……now! –MC)

Back home we gathered around the coffee table for “The Game of Real Life” which we hadn’t played in a long time.  It was a rough start – Kelli & I were each aborted and had to start over, and Kelli, Mar & Kevin were all orphans.  I however met the grim reaper first, OD’ing on cocaine.  Kelli was next, hit by a landmine when Canada invaded the US.  Mar then took out both herself and Kevin (aka Burtha) in a nuclear war – game over.

Tour de Lopez – Day 1

For the weekend a group of us headed up to Lopez Island for the Annual Tour de Lopez bike ride, which you can choose to do in 10, 17 or 31 mile increments.  We of course, planned on the 31 given our recent athletic endeavors and were excited for the ride as Lopez is supposed to be a great place for biking (i.e., not a lot of cars and fairly flat).

Originally there was a group of ten going but by departure time on Friday afternoon, we were down to six:  me, Mar, Kelli, Kevin, Andrea & Ian.  We all headed out in three pairs from different destinations around 3:00pm, in hopes of making the 6:40pm ferry out of Anacortes.  As we crawled through the Everett traffic, our hopes were slowly diminishing but you never know right?  Mar and I were the first car to arrive and told we were car #11 on stand-by for the ferry, with less than a 50% chance of making it.  Kelli and Kevin arrived a little later and were told they would definitely be on the 8:25pm.  Andrea & Ian were still driving, so there was no way they would make this one.  As the ferry unloaded and began to fill back up, we inched forward towards the dock worker, we thought we might have a chance – but no.  Guess who would be first in line for the 8:25?  That’s right, we missed it by one car.  Math lesson for the day:  less than 50% = 0.

Not having eaten, we found Kelli & Kevin a few cars behind us and walked up the street to a nearby bar called Charlie’s – it didn’t smell good (Marlene C guest writing here: it smelled like sewer!!) and the hostess was not friendly.  Add to that the fact that we would only be able to order soup and/or salad, we exited and made our way down to the dock, to the Cheesecake Café in the waiting room at the terminal.  While none of us had cheesecake, the cookies that came with our sandwiches were quite yummy, as were the additional chocolate chip cookies we bought.  It was a beautiful night, so we sat near the waters edge awaiting our boat.  (MC-everyone ordered the same sandwich, the Southwest Chicken on Ciabatta rolls and don’t ever buy coffee out of a vending machine, especially an amaretto “latte”) Once it arrived, Mar and I were indeed the first car on, front and center. 

Landing in Lopez it was now dark, so we had a little trouble finding the house Mar had rented for us, but we eventually did, along with Kelli & Kevin.  It was perfect for the weekend, lots of bedrooms, right by the beach and close to town.  Nice work Mar!  Mar immediately dove into the bookshelves, grabbing every cookbook she could find, including first edition Julia Child: Mastering the Art of French Cooking.  Andrea & Ian sadly were left behind in Anacortes waiting for the 9:30pm ferry.  We started to worry though as 11:00pm came and passed and there was no sign of them.  And unfortunately (or fortunately) Lopez Island is one of the last few corners of the globe with limited cell phone coverage, so we couldn’t call and see where they were at.  In one spot by the kitchen window I could get a couple bars, so I managed to send a text.  What came back was “Help!  We R lost.”  As reception allowed they slowly navigated towards us, arriving around 11:45pm.  It turned out Andrea had only printed directions for the rental office, not the rental house.  Oops!  Andrea & Ian took the downstairs, and we all settled into bed.