Bill has been working long hours for months and finally managed to free up a couple days so we could have a long weekend camping trip. After not camping at all in 2024, it’s nice to realize that Brave Horatio is still super simple to prep.
We had the wheel bearings checked and repacked. Remade the bed. (Brave Hotatio provides an extra guest bedroom when he’s in our garage.) Swapped some clothes in and out. Refreshed the pantry and precooled the cooler. Ready!
Friday morning instead of heading upstairs to work in separate bedrooms, we’re headed north through an absolutely gorgeous morning toward breakfast.
Breakfast on the road
The Wren’s Nest in Tacoma is wonderful for people with Celiac. Their totally gluten free kitchen creates some pretty magnificent breads, cinnamon rolls, quiches, and hand pies. We don’t get to indulge like this very often.
Last Sunday we had a little adventure picking new native plants for our yarden at Woodbrook Native Plant Nursery in Gig Harbor. We planned to stop at Wren’s Nest for breakfast but the line was so long, maybe 50 people! We were happy that they had so much business but took our hungry selves to the Hob Nob.
We love the Hob Nob too. Their Bennie browns (eggs Benedict that swaps in hash browns for the English muffin) are so good we rarely order anything else.
But this morning, Wren’s Nest.
The line was short and the quiche and cinnamon focaccia delicious.
We made a short stop at Central Coop for the butter and lettuce we forgot. Bonus! They had some beautiful cards so now I do too.
It’s a lovely drive through Ruston and along the parkway back to I-5. Ruston is as quirky and charming as it was when we lived in Tacoma in the 1980s. (Minus the creepy dripping tunnel, acres of horsetail, and looming smokestack.)
The park along Schuster Parkway continues to impress me with the diversity of people using it. We need more spaces that people from different backgrounds routinely share.
Past the Tacoma Art Museum and the old Brown and Haley’s building, through the kind of lovely swoop of interchange and onto I-5 North.
Seattle
The ball at the top of Smith Tower is particularly noticeable today. (Did you know there’s an apartment at the top?)
We’ll be doing this same trip, but farther north, in a couple weeks for another long weekend on Bowen Island with friends we met in college. We’re staying in a rental cottage. Brave Horatio has to stay at home.
…and farther north
Past the ponds near Everett with geese lined up neatly along the banks, but not many other birds. Across the Stillaguamish with people lined up along the banks fishing. Down through the Skagit Valley remembering the flooded fields on the way to Thanksgiving on Galliano Island in 19xx.
Traffic’s been pretty reasonable. There’s been only one squirrelly driver. They were plenty squirrelly though. Zipping across lanes and jogging back in so close to other cars. Yikes! Don’t do that.
Finally off the freeway heading toward Whidbey Island. Usually when we’re out this way we’re headed to the San Juans. Today we’re headed to Deception Pass State Park.
I’ve driven down Whidbey Island once. Sarah and I spent a meandering day bringing her home from WWU. We drove the length of the island that day, had a nice picnic, a short walk, and nearly missed the last ferry off the south end. (I seem to remember some young men at a gas station inviting us to a party also. Can that be true?)
At the campground
We set up in campsite 103 with jets from the nearby air station roaring overhead. Quite a juxtaposition. Wood and water and quiet with frequent loud reminders of the outside world. We’re really close to town here.
My pick for the perfect site is 117. Nearer the water and nice set up for us. But 103 is really nice.
We walked to and along the beach. There’s an amazing old Doug Fir all contorted and dancing instead of tall and straight. Beautiful.
We chuckled at the sign explaining about human impact. It totally ignored the large house nicely framed by the sign. We try to be aware of fragile ecosystems and certainly didn’t stray off this path, but I’m pretty sure that house also had a large impact.
Got a nice close look at a pair of sandpipers. Such pretty little birds. Also lots of seagull, cormorant, and some grebes. No eagles.
My chocolate cheesecake from the Wren’s Nest was a more than ample lunch. It got me all nicely set up for a nap.
We had a taco dinner planned, but after our large lunch we scrapped those plans in favor of crackers and cheese.
Finished off the day with Balvenie Doublewood and a cribbage game by the campfire while listening to something screech-whistle all around the campground.
It’s good to finally be on another small adventure with Brave Horatio.