The G shucking left-handed. Or backwards, take your pick!
The Gastrognome tipped me off last month to this year’s first Walrus and the Carpenter Picnic tonight. During low tide, Jon Rowley took us southwest of Olympia to Totten Inlet for a nighttime beach picnic. The forecast correctly warned of the constant drizzle, but luckily we arrived with warmer wintry temps in the 50s. I surprised myself by hardly noticing the rain, save for moments when I brandished the camera.
There were lanterns at the Taylor Shellfish’s oyster beds and a campfire in the midst of four canopies set up with four kinds of oysters: Kumamoto, Pacifica, Olympia, and Totten Virginica. My favorites: Kumamotos and Virginicas.
After we had our fill of oysters fresh off the beach & at the canopies, lo and behold Xinh had smoked oysters and oyster stew waiting for us before we boarded the bus back to Seattle. The darkness and the camaraderie set a great mood & this stew was one of the most delicious and satisfying I’ve had.
I felt like I earned my Pacific Northwest stripes last night, intentionally going for a picnic on a rainy January evening and having a GREAT time.
Mr. T’s parents invited all of us over for a perfect fall dinner. Mr. T’s comes by his gardening bug honestly — his father grew the potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, and lettuce for our dinner.
Since we were on the Eastside, Mr. T took us on a quick drive near his company’s new Eastside campus before dinner. After dinner, I reminded everyone it would be convenient to show my mom & bro an opposing, more famous campus in Redmond. You wouldn’t need 3 guesses to figure out who thought this idea was silly. We drove over there anyway.
It started raining around 10 PM yesterday. By 10 AM today, we decided to pack it in and head back home. It was gonna be way too miserable to stick around. Better luck next time.
This was one of the final moments before we headed out.
For five years now (with the exception of one year where there was a work conflict), we’ve vacationed with friends on the July 4th weekend. The first two years were to Vancouver, BC. This year, and two years ago, we went to the Olympic Peninsula. The drive is long, but almost always worth it.
After one final campfire at breakfast, we packed up for lunch at Cisco’s Mexican Restaurant (link = my review on yelp) in nearby Entiat, WA. After, we also stopped at the Rocky Reach Dam before the long haul back to Seattle.
After a good camp breakfast, our gang headed to the water where sprizee and her Dude fished. I read my Audacity book and took pictures randomly. Mr. T and the Baron hung out on the rocky beach. Wheelson headed into more civilized areas briefly, but joined us later at the water.
We milled about for a few overcast hours then headed down to Fields Point Landing, another marina down Lakeshore. The tiny bugs were out in force, so we gave up the lazing about and the frisbee-throwing for Chelan, where we found ice cream generally and sprizee found fudge specifically.
Dinner was back at the camp over the fire, which we kept going late, late, late. After the overcast, the night owls got to see the stars.
Mr. T and I left with the Baron straight after work to drive almost 4 hours to Twenty-Five Mile Creek State Park at Lake Chelan. Sprizee, her Dude, and her Dude’s longtime BFF (do boys have those?) met up with us later en route, as they left town earlier.
Since we would be making it to the campsite close to dark, we needed to eat elsewhere beforehand. Recently, another Seattle blogger wrote about Cisco’s near Chelan so I took notes for the upcoming occasion (you should read her, too). We had a great dinner, we met Cisco and we left happy. He’s got a great place going on there. What did we learn today, kids? Cook your shrimp in butter.
We arrived at our campsite after dark. The park was still busy and we were able to set up quickly with our RV neighbor’s lighting. Some neighbors were pretty damn noisy into the wee hours while another RV clan had their peace pipes going. We survived. And how!
This morning, Maya picked me up at the crack of dawn to meet up with some folks to drive down to the Nisqually Wildlife Refuge. The weather was COLD, but not too bad for our 5.5 mile walk around the delta. We saw this guy pretty early into the hike. His big buddy, Toad, hung out nearby, too well-camouflaged on an old board for photography purposes.
One of Mr. T’s colleagues/friends had a small gang over to his place in Bellevue for dinner. Eventually, we were supposed to play Carcassone, but the chit-chit lasted so late, we had to head back before we could begin. Fun dinner, hopefully we can go back soon.
