To Washington and Back Again

I haven't been blogging, because I've been out of town. We went to the wedding of Amber and Curtis, in Ferndale, WA, yesterday. What a lovely weekend! This is the gift I made for them...

Our weekend began with an arrival in Bellingham, via Allegiant Air. Interesting airline, interesting airport. I totally cracked up when I saw PEOPLE unloading the baggage at baggage claim. Have you ever seen PEOPLE unload your bags? Or do they just spill off of a conveyor belt, delivered by who-knows-how?

We arrived in Bellingham on Friday, and decided to pay a visit to Anacortes on Saturday. We'd been there once, in the late 90's. We'd been there on a Sunday, and everything was closed. This time we had all day Saturday, and the town was as lovely and inviting as I remembered/imagined it.

I particularly liked this view from Commercial Avenue, with all of the cranes, in various sizes.

I loved the hanging baskets, that are on every street corner and in between. What a difference between WA state and Central CA. The colors in WA are so vivid, and the plant life is so ALIVE. Here, other than agriculture, most plants have to work hard to simply survive. Hot and dry vs. cool and damp. wow. The color says it all.

I stopped this young woman on the street, just for you. I know there are a lot of dog lovers out there, and this was truly a "cute puppy alert." :) The picture doesn't do him justice.

We went up to the Viewpoint, and I loved this picture with the ship with the snow-capped mountains in the background. Simply gorgeous!

We left Anacortes, and drove to Deception Pass. This was Pete's favorite part of the day.

We drove back to Bellingham, and had dinner at Anthony's, overlooking the harbor. I asked Pete to take my picture, modeling my sunburn. It's my first sunburn of the year, and I got it in WA. Crazy. Specifically, I got it in Anacortes, where they'd had a TOTAL of 78 MINUTES of temperatures over 70 degrees THIS YEAR. I think we brought the CA heat with us, and then took it away when we left.

After dinner, we walked down to watch people load their boats on their trailers. Fascinating.

On Sunday morning, we stopped in Lynden, WA. There is nothing to do in Lynden on Sunday, other than attend church. All of their lampposts also sport gorgeous hanging baskets.

Here is Pete, texting a client. "You were right. Everything is closed. However there are no hymns being piped out to the empty streets. They are being sung in the churches."

Window shopping was good. This Pineapple quilt was quite worn, but under $50.

In the afternoon, we attended the wedding. What a beautiful bride!

I've never seen a cake like this. I thought it was quite clever.

The wedding was held in a beautiful garden in Ferndale. I think one of my favorite parts was the fire pit, complete with all the makings for S'mores, at your pleasure.

All too soon it was over, the bride and groom were off on their honeymoon, and we were headed back to CA.

It was a lovely weekend, and tomorrow vacation is officially OVER. Back to work...