San Juan Island Adventure

Our last bit of adventure on our Summer 2011 road trip was a day trip to the San Juan Islands!  We took the ferry from Anacortes, WA really early in the morning...

And picked up some mopeds to tour around the island on!

{that's Hubby getting his little safety talk}

{That's me rockin' out the moped!}

We saw some great scenery..

And a really pretty Lavender Farm...

And even a camel!

But mostly we had a great time exploring the island with each other!

After which we made the short {but seemingly long} road trip home!  Phew! What a great vacation!  

Enjoy!

Yeeehaawww!

Winthrop, Washington is a cute little town that has an old west theme...

The wood-plank sidewalks line the streets, and the whole town embraces it's gold mining history and ranch roots..

Like Leavenworth, the signs for the stores are hand painted and incorporate the western motif..

They have a museum in town with a lot of artifacts from the founders of the town and the history of how they went from a struggling gold mining town to the tourist destination they are today.. and the only thing that i absolutely loved in there was.. a sewing machine! hahaha

{check out the detailed paint job on this beauty!  it's amazin!}

We set up camp just outside of town..

Right next to the river..

{pretty convenient for dishes.. and of course this is the one time hubby picks up the camera lol..}

Check out the cute seat carved into a tree!

Even the campsite had it's own little touristy attraction lol..

{bwahahahaha!}

Then hubby and i planned out the route for the next day by the light of the campfire.. and our handy dandy headlamp..

The morning greeted us with another sight common in Winthrop..

{so pretty!  i'd love to go up in one someday.. hint hint hubby!}

Stay tuned for more from our road trip adventures!

Enjoy!

Lake Chelan

After our brief stop at the Rocky Reach Dam, we headed up to Lake Chelan for two nights of relaxation!  We got really lucky, and we were able to get a campsite right on the water!

{pretty swanky if i do say so myself...}

{our view from the campsite!  the lake was absolutely beautiful!}

{the water was soooo cold!  the lake is fed by glacier run-off}

{hubby made some really really yummy steaks over the fire!}

{hubby loved fishing!}

{he caught us a little bit of dinner!}

{he cleaned it all up...}

{it was so delish!}

I lay out in the sun most of those two days.. it was wonderful!  I even got a tan!  A first since moving to Washington.  Lake Chelan was definitely a spot that we plan on going back to.  It would be a great place to celebrate a long weekend like Memorial Day!

Enjoy!

Sights on the Road

Our second day of our road trip adventure began with a delicious breakfast at a little waffle haus in Leavenworth.. it was a great start to the day!

{hubby loves waffles!}

Then we were off!  We stopped on the way to check out Rocky Reach Dam, a Hydroelectric plant on the Columbia River.

{they had some beautiful grounds, and we even found out that they do weddings there lol}

{this fish ladder allows the Salmon and other fish to travel upstream to spawn each year}

{we went underground and got to see the huge Salmon making their way up the ladder}

{this is a mockup cross section of the fish slide, this helps the fish go back downstream at the end of the spawning season and out to the ocean!}

We are almost to our next stop, Lake Chelan!

Enjoy!

A Sweet Bavarian Town

When I tell people who are not from Washington that we went to Leavenworth for a visit.. they pretty much look at me like I'm crazy, going to visit a prison and all..  um.  yeah..  no.

Leavenworth is also the name of an adorable town in Washington state that transformed itself from a struggling timber and rail town to an Alpine Bavarian village.  

This was our first stop on our exploration of the Cascade Loop, a scenic route through the heart of Washington state that gives you a taste of the best that Washington has to offer.

{notice the footprint sign?  i had no idea that Harry and Henderson's was so old!}

{we spotted Harry on our way to Leavenworth!}

{we also stopped at Deception Falls on our way!  such a powerful waterfall!}

When we did get to Leavenworth, we took a quick trip through the town and then started setting up camp for the night..

{look at hubby bein' all outdoorsy!}

{i think i took this picture a bit later, but here's a good view of our site for the first night on the road}

Then we went to explore the town.  The buildings are unique in that they all follow the inspiration of an old tradition.  

{so cute, right?  i'm pretty sure that i broke out in that song from Beauty and the Beast at least five times during our visit lol}

All of the store signs are hand painted.  Although the downtown area is quaint, each shop has its own charm with fudge shops, Christmas boutiques, outdoor sports outfitters and everything in between.

We had lunch at a little cafe downtown.  They had the most delicious brats that I have ever had!  And of course some brews to wash them down with too!

Hubby liked the brews so much, that he got some to bring home for later!

It was a great day exploring Leavenworth! Stay tuned for details of our next stop.. Lake Chelan!

Enjoy!

Wenatchee Whitewater!

A couple weeks ago, Hubby and I took a chance and decided to go on a trip with the MWR! For you civilians out there thats the Morale Welfare and Recreation office.   The Northwest Adventure Center {NAC} on Fort Lewis set up a white water rafting trip to the Wenatchee River!  

So we hopped on a bus!

And donned some wet suits!

And Hubby helped to plump up the raft...

And we some some awesome white water!

And we had a fantastic time!

How are you taking advantage of Summertime?

Hello Summer!

What a beautiful weekend!  This marked the beginning of camping season for Hubby and I!  We packed up the car and the dog and headed off to Deception Pass State Park.  It was so relaxing and peaceful, I wish we could have stayed for a week.

We also managed to find the world's largest ice cream cones!

Enjoy!

Another trip to Alaska!

Hello friends!

This week I ventured to Anchorage, Alaska for one last planning meeting for my big trip this summer!  We sate down with all the units participating and worked out the last details for our humanitarian mission.

It wasn't all work though..  I found a great Sushi restaurant called Sushi & Sushi, which I highly recommend if you're ever in the area.  When we drove up we had some doubts, because the outside looks like a super shady strip mall, but when you walk inside it's like bam!  Really nice.  I meant to take pictures of the food, but it was so good I totally forgot until after.  Yum!

I found some amazing wooden carvings at a local shop.  There were so many to choose from!

 I have been thinking about getting a totem pole every time I have been up here during the mission planning process.  Many of them are very expensive, and I have a hard time spending too much on curios.

But, with this possibly being my last time in Anchorage, I decided that if I was going to get one, I needed to go ahead and bite the bullet.

This hand carved whale has a new home on our travel shelves!  It ended up being a bit larger than most of the totem poles they offer, and a lower price, and made in Alaska.  You would be surprised how many they sell that are made in China.  And that kinda defeats the purpose of buying local crafts.



I also really love the quirky decorations on the street.  This blue moose caught my eye...

I also got to get a look at the Captain Cook statue this time...

I found out that I'll be spending about a month in the remote town of Bethel, Alaska this summer in support of our humanitarian mission in the area.  So it looks like I'll get to see the midnight sun this year! This trip, the sun started setting around 10:00pm!

And of course one of the best parts of staying in a swanky hotel on the Army's dime is... room service!  Ok, just kidding, the cake was on my dime, but it was delivered!  whoot whoot!