The third segment of our trip began with me freaking out about how we were going to pick Adela up from the airport… while she was in the air flying to the airport. So there wasn’t much room for coordination. Luckily Todd had two backup car rentals lined up and I was able to snag one. Also luckily Todd misplaced his ID… so the rental was just transferred to me and we didn’t have to pay the extra driver fee. So it all worked out wonderfully! I also learned that in Seattle car rentals at the airport are 1.5-2x as expensive compared to just picking one up at a neighborhood branch. Anyway, I made sure to have post-plane snacks ready as we began our intrepid trek to find lunch. We settled on a ramen place. I think I drove around the block three times before finding a random Safeway parking garage that we snuck in to. The ramen was pretty good.
For our next stop we decided we were thirsty, so we headed up to Five Rights Brewery. One of the owners used to be a nurse so the name of the brewery comes from something to deal with bioethics somehow. I am a little unclear on the specific details. Energized with some beer we finally completed our journey by driving to the house my mom had rented in the Positano of the Northwest. Except the gate code didn’t work so we had to call the owner to have him buzz us in (everyone after us had to call the owner too, so he texted everyone the correct code real quick).
The house was pretty awesome, with dedicated sleeping areas for everyone and an amazing view. Parking was also special in its own way! We took a little stroll down to the beach, which was definitely too cold to enter the water unless you had the metabolism of someone under the age of ten. Also I learned that blackberries are EVERYWHERE in this area. Like giant hillsides of lush blackberries. Anyway, the next morning Adela and I decided to exercise the forethought of others and steal their adventure plans – Deception Pass State Park. It gets its name because the European who “discovered” it thought that Whidbey Island was actually a peninsula. The island was actually named for Whidbey to commemorate the honor of having mistaken an island for a peninsula . While at the park we took the Goose Summit path because it was a segment in Strava and then hung out at the really cool beach for a little while. Here we got some pretty amazing views of the famous (and seriously cool) bridge that spans Deception Pass.
On the way back we stopped for some burgers at Bastion Brewing before driving up to a scenic view of the Twin Sisters. Definitely worth the drive no matter what Adela says about it. When we got back to the house mom had once again outdone herself with the catering. Adela and I each tried an oyster in secret so nobody could see our faces, and then we continued to hang out with the rest of the family. The next day we continued our streak of piggy-backing on great ideas by going on a (killer) whale watching tour! The boat we were in was pretty big with inside areas and multiple levels to do whale watching from. After trolling around looking at other wildlife for a little while we got word of a pod of whales so we high tailed it over there. There are two ecotypes of killer whales in the area – one group eats mammals and the other eats fish. The group we happened upon was the first type. They are the exact same species but knowledge is passed down from the mothers in the pod so the children only learn one type of food!
We finally arrive at the whole purpose for the visit to Washington… Scott and Rayme’s wedding! The wedding was hosted at her family’s blueberry farm, which was a downright adorable wedding venue. The ceremony was really touching and we might have gotten some ideas for our wedding. Dessert was doughnuts on a peg board… simply splendid. After a little bit of dancing we all headed back to mentally prepare for the real world and our uneventful trip back to Pennsylvania.
