A Family Week

The very best kind...  We've had a whirlwind of fun, food, sight-seeing (mostly dog-sitting for us!), and just plain sitting around, watching the views parade by, and laughing and talking...a lot of laughing with friends Jim and Laura in attendance.  They are staying at the Palace Hotel in the downtown area.  Steph and Gary with granddogs Maci and Riley are parked right across the driveway from us in their motorhome which recently received a complete interior renovation.  This is very conducive for all our shared fantastic meals:  tri-tip, pork chops, turkey burgers, and salmon, shrimp and chicken on the barbie...different nights of course!  Plus a great dinner out at "T's" Restaurant and some super terrific Cabernet provided by Miss Laura, oenophile extraordinaire.

Family fun

Granddogs Maci & Riley

Laura is also a super photographer and Jim is an avid golfer, so there were days photographing at Hurricane Ridge and a couple of golf games in order.  Fort Worden State Park was visited often, not just for the fabulous views and obvious history, but the filming of the 1982 movie An Officer and a Gentleman, then later in 2002 The Ring, took place here.  I am going to try to link this to Laura's Facebook album, as her photos are breathtaking.  Of course, there were many walks into town and at the uptown market Riley was a hit!

Lighthouse at Fort Worden

Riley's a hit at the uptown market!

We were sad to see everyone leave Friday morning.  They have a 2-day drive home to Sacramento and need a day to recuperate before returning to work on Monday.  I must admit that we were exhausted and have spent the last couple of days cleaning up but also enjoying our final time here.  Friday night was a performance by La Loupiote (don't think this link loads very well), a French family traveling the world performing aerial ballets and acrobatics in the mast and lines of their sailboat.  This took place right here in our backyard at the Pt. Hudson Marina!

Acrobatic sailors, La Loupiote

This was followed with a Saturday day and evening of really warm weather, necessitating us to sit out, barbecue once again, drink a little more fine wine, and be mesmerized by yet more views and ship traffic well into the night....well, maybe until 9:30 p.m.  We saw the most unusual,  lighted contraption that looked like a giant golf ball sitting atop an oil drilling platform being pulled out to sea by some super tugs.  The tri-pod had been put away so a photo without camera shake was impossible in the dim light....But, the good news is that I did a quick Google search and found it on internet.  Here are a few photos from earlier:

Trawler flanked by cruise ship with Cascades in background

Cruising Mt. Baker!

A bit surreal..turning the corner by Fort Worden