Our Anniversary

Our anniversary was on Sunday and to celebrate we spent Saturday night in Seattle.  It was rainy and cold, but despite dodging raindrops and warding off the chill, we had a really fun time.

These photos are from twelve years ago.  Lots has happened since then and much has changed.  Sadly, Riordan's no longer exists.  We got engaged there so it was a special place for us. 

Fast forward to the present.  We started the night at Liberty, a watering hole in the Capital Hill district of Seattle.  It was a cool, neighborhoody type of place with some unique decor.

The drinks were excellent!

 There was lots of funky wall decor. Some call it art.

After finishing our drinks, we popped into Licorous, a bar that had less art but more people.  We knew we were in the city when we noticed everyone in the bar was wearing black. Where we live now in Poulsbo, brown is king. 

More soft light and people in black.

From there, we moved on and found a great restaurant called Palace Kitchen.  It had art and lots of people.  Perfect for dinner. 

Throughout dinner we noticed the holiday decor. It reminded us that we were heading back to the country after getting a city fix. 

Have a great week!

Poulsbo's Marathon

This was a big weekend for little old Poulsbo, Washington. The inaugural Poulsbo Marathon was held on Sunday morning. There was also a half marathon. With Matt in San Diego doing Navy stuff, I decided to join the other runners and try out the hilly but scenic course(half marathon). No pictures of the actual race as I was too busy run/walking and otherwise just trying to complete the long 13 miles. I did get a t-shirt and since Baylee wasn't doing anything, I got her to model it for some pictures.

Baylee's not much into the modeling thing.  No treats involved and all that.

All of the runners who completed the course were awarded medals.  Here is Baylee again modeling my medal.  She is a little more engaged in the task here after she heard the magic word.  Yes, she got a treat after this.

This is the number that I wore.  Makes me feel like a real athlete when I wear a number. A real athlete. Yeah, right.

No, I didn't pin that on Baylee. 

This is how I felt after the race.

Don't know if I'll do it again next year. Maybe after the blisters heal and the aches and pains subside, I'll think about it.  Oh, and Baylee is going to be really happy when Matt gets back.  It means I bug her less.

Dungeness Crab Festival in Port Angeles



This weekend's rain didn't dampen the spirits at the Dungeness Crab Festival in Port Angeles. Dungeness crab is a local delicacy and there were lots of people enjoying crab this weekend.

Port Angeles is about an hour from Poulsbo. It lies along the Strait of Juan de Fuca and is the primary point of entry to the Olympic National Park.

On the way to the festival, we decided to check out one of the wineries that is on the Olympic Peninsula. We came across the Olympic Cellars Winery, the first woman-owned winery in the North Sound.  We tasted wines with names like Working Girl White, Go Girl Red, and Rose the Riveter. 

They were in full fall mode at this winery.

From there, it was on to the Crab Festival. Crab was on everyone's mind as they lined up for a taste.

This guy was cooking up some Dungeness crab paella.  In a very big pan.

The Grab-a-Crab Derby was popular.  Five dollars bought 10 minutes of tank crabbing. If you got one with a special mark you could win a prize. A lot of concentration going on at this activity. And at least one funny hat.

If you look closely, you can see a crab that someone caught at the back left of the tank.

Fans of the Twilight book series can find a store just for them in Port Angeles.  Forks, Washington is about an hour away on the western side of Olympic National Park.

Before we headed home, we had to try one last winery, Harbinger Winery. Located in a former logging truck shop, the interior is decorated in a fun, cozy, retro style.  A friendly atmosphere and nice wines, too!

It was a great way to end the day in Port Angeles.

Club Racing

On Sunday, Poulsbo Yacht Club's Fall Racing Series started.  The series is a low-key affair with races typically lasting 1-2 hours and held right here in Liberty Bay.  We've done a little bit of racing in the past on other boats and thought this would be a good place to start racing with Sun Break. 

On Saturday, we practiced. The gloves mean we we're racing, even though Carol didn't really need them as helmsman.

The competition getting ready on Sunday.

This was the start, something we hope to improve.  All the other boats except for one were ahead of us.

But, by the time we were halfway through the race these boats were behind us and we were side by side with a couple of others. We figured we must be doing something right.  We liked being in the middle better.

There were 11 boats total.  This was the largest, at forty two feet.

And this was the smallest.  A fifteen footer.  The crew was Marena (on the starboard side), a junior club member and her dad, Jason, who recently retired from the Navy. He told us that after all his time away from his family with his Navy career, he was happy to have an activity that allowed him to spend time with his daughter. 

The winds were erratic and at times non-existent.  Fortunately, the doldrums didn't last too long.

Matt did everything he could to catch the wind.

This interesting looking boat passed by during the race.

We completed the race with a respectable time in the middle of the pack and then headed up to the clubhouse.  Carol brought brownies.  She thought they might come in handy in case we needed to bribe the race committee.

No bribe needed.  The brownies were all eaten anyway.  Everyone enjoyed the race and we are looking forward to the next one. 

Fremont Oktoberfest

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.  This was the sky on Friday night and we decided to take advantage of a beautiful Saturday by sailing over to Seattle and taking in the sights and sounds at the Fremont Oktoberfest.  Fremont is a Seattle neighborhood where the residents pride themselves on being unconventional.  "De Libertas Quirkus"  (Freedom to be Peculiar) is the unofficial motto of the area, borne out at several annual events and festivals, none the least of which is the Summer Solstice Pageant featuring nude cyclists (sorry, no pictures).  We had high hopes for a fun event and we were not disappointed.

After a great sail over that required reefed sails due to 20-23 kt. winds, we settled into a slip at Shilshole Bay Marina.  Shilshole is the largest facility in Seattle for recreational boats.  This is only half of the marina.

That's a lot of masts. 

As part of a tribute to the Scandinavian-American community, there is a  large statue of Leif Erikson on the the marina grounds.  Plaques on upright stones around the base have names of Scandinavian immigrants, their hometowns, and years of immigration.

After a good walk from Ballard, we arrived at the festival.

To start, we checked out the the handiwork of the pumpkin carving contest.

We thought the ones that the children did were, well, cuter.

Several kids were also participating in the zucchini derby with their handmade zucchini cars.  We decided we'd like to use some of our zucchini as cars.

Next up was some beer tasting.  Dozens of offerings throughout. We stuck with the German style beers.  And both East and West German beers were available.

This "keg" was a unique and appropriate way to serve beer.

This fun duo posed for a picture for us.  They were really nice and had authentic looking costumes, too.

Later on, a band took the stage.  They even had a tuba player.

On our way home, we walked along the Burke-Gilman Trail.  We used to ride our bikes here a lot (before we had the boat).  It brought back memories.

We were happy to see the boat again after the walk back.  Over 6 miles total for the day!  It was worth it, we had a great time!

A nice and easy sail back to Poulsbo on Sunday was a great conclusion to the weekend.