Orcas Island | West Beach Resort

Last weekend, Mike and I headed once again to our all-time favorite camping spot that we discovered last year - West Beach Resort on Orcas Island.

If I've said it again, I'll say it 1,000 times over - this is one of the best places we've ever camped! How can you beat a private campground that offers private docks, beaches, tables and chairs that overlook the water and sunset, kayaking, crabbing, fishing, a community hot tub, a little store with homemade waffle cones, ice cream and espresso, games to rent, clean facilities, etc. Plus, all on the charming little artistic island of Orcas! The experience is fabulously relaxing and romantic. Every time we come back, we feel like our relationship has been rejuvenated.

Mike took a half day on Friday, so we could head across the ferry a little early. It's a trek to get to the ferry from Seattle! (All the up to exit 230 on I-5, which is nearly to Bellingham) So, leaving during rush hour is not an option unless you want to get into the campground past 11 p.m. We were able to take the 5:30 ferry without missing it. Ferry rides in Washington, no matter how many times you've done them, are always a treat!

We landed on Orcas Island around 7 o'clock (The ferry ride is 50 minutes), and drove to the west side of the island and our campground, West Beach Resort.

When you enter the resort, there's a little sign that will greet you:

I love this because it's SO true! It's time to slow down when you're on Orcas Island - time to relax, shut off your phone and just enjoy the scenery and each others' company!

Of course, the minute we got there, Mike put his crab pot into the water. One of Mike's favorite part about Orcas Island and camping at West Beach is the ability to crab! Just be sure to pay attention to the times you can crab - I believe it's not allowed Sunday-Wednesday. Mike bought a crab pot last year, so it was quick and easy to drop it in before we set up our campsite and made dinner!

Before we left on our trip, I threw some chicken skewers from Safeway (only $6) in a bag of a quick marinade I made up - 1/4 cup of olive oil, splash of water, tablespoon of crushed garlic from a jar and some generous sprinkles of lemon pepper. It's quick, easy and a tasty alternative to plain camping dinners like hot dogs or hamburgers!

The next day, we started with none other than a breakfast of BACON. (No camp trip of ours is complete with it).

We knew we wanted to head into the town of Eastsound for the farmer's market. Turns out, we were on Orcas for the Library Festival and Storyfest - so there were tons of booths with arts, crafts, produce, yummy food and even entertainment! We shopped through the festival and town a little bit before sharing a loaded baked potato, probably some of the best barbecue I've had, and a piece of blueberry-peach pie ala mode! We went into a neat little shop called Aesthetica where I bought a little jar of chile pepper verde-infused sugar from Orcas Alchemy. The shop owner let us taste it and said it was great on salmon, so I bought it right away! I can't wait to try it!

After exploring town, we headed to a little wine tasting spot called Country Corner Wine Tasting where we were able to taste some of the wines made on Lopez Island - another island in the San Juans. I, of course, bought a bottle to take home with us for a special occasion. Then we were back to the campsite to head out on a bike ride! Orcas Island is known as a great spot for bike riding. Personally, Mike and I think it's a bit hilly... it'd kill us to ride around the whole island. Perhaps we're amateurs. But that's okay. We managed a small one-hour bike ride and stumbled across the island cemetery! It was morbidly interesting to look through the tombstones as we played the game, "Find the oldest gravestone." Perhaps this is why we're great for each other?

We finished up the day with a dip in the hot tub and some crab for dinner that Mike caught! A guy was nice enough to take Mike out in his homemade wood kayak, so he could drop his pots off somewhere other than the dock. (We've had problems with our crab pots being raided on the dock). It was a gourmet crab feast!

While Mike was out checking his crab pots in the kayak, I was able to catch the most beautiful sunset in the entire world! Seriously...there's something about a sunset that just makes you glad to be alive!

In the morning, we had to check out of the campsite at 11 a.m., and we wanted to go to Rosario Resort since we missed it last time we went to Orcas. The ferry was leaving at 1:30 or 4:30, so we went to see if we'd miss the 1:30 ferry. Turns out the ferry traffic isn't any better than Labor Day weekend. They said we'd have to get in line for the 4:30 at noon or we'd miss it! But the ferry guy said the 7 p.m. ferry is never full. We decided to scrap waiting in the ferry line for four hours, and chose to kill seven hours exploring the island a little more. After all, it cost us $55 to take the ferry over there! We made a pact-we'd stop at every little kitschy place there was to look at local art, and we'd try to head back to Moran State Park for a bit and Rosario Resort. Turns out it was the best idea!

There is a super great little house on the left hand side of the road away from the ferry terminal. I believe it's the first you run across, advertising homemade pottery. But it's a huge collection of art from artists all over the island and more than worth stopping to look at!

Next we drove to Rosario Resort and stopped at Cascade Bay Grill in the marina for some fish n' chips that were extremely fabulous! Some of the best fish n' chips I've had in a long time... the batter for the fish was just right!

We decided against touring Rosario Resort because of the $5 fee (we're not cheap, we had just spent SO much money on the weekend by then), headed to Moran State Park to stretch out on a blanket so I could read and Mike could fish, and wrapped our weekend up with a homemade waffle cone packed with yummy ice cream from West Beach Resort.

Final Verdict: Most definitely go back! We already have! Orcas Island is such a welcome little break from the fast-pace of city life. You can't help but to sit back and relax, enjoying the sites and tastes of the island. If you don't make it to West Beach Resort, there are tons of little B&Bs, hotels or other camping spots to check out. The easiest and largest is Moran State Park. But leave with lots of time, the trek and ferry ride makes it worthy of at least a three-day weekend!

Camping in the Olympic National Forest

Seafair weekend is the best weekend in Seattle. That is, if you have a boat. Unfortunately, Mike and I were unable to find a boat to mooch off someone, so we decided to head out of town for a camping trip with some friends instead. Best to make the most out of our summer!

Mike's friend Brian used to be the neighbor of my college girlfriend Kristen. These two are the reason Mike and I met, and also the friends we headed out of town to camp with for the weekend. For this trip, we brought Caden again. Brian wanted to camp in the Olympic National Forest, so we agreed and packed up the car to follow him on adventure.

We drove across the Tacoma narrow bridge, down US Highway 101 toward Sequim, the Dungeness Valley, Olympic National Park, Port Angeles and the Hood Canal. Don't worry - we managed to cover it ALL to tell you about here!

You can drive down Highway 101 or you can take the Edmonds-Kingston or Seattle-Bainbridge Ferry to Kitsap county. All these routes will get you to the same area! Driving adds 60 miles to the trip if you're coming from Seattle, but the ferry has looong waits in the summer, so pick your poison!

A popular spot in this area is the Dungeness National Wildlife Refuge and the 5.5-mile Dungeness Spit. We stopped in this area at a campground, which I think was the Sequim Bay State Park, but we didn't like the openness and feel to the campground, so we continued on. Plus, it was cold next to the beach! After driving for at least an hour through the woods and twisty forest roads (seriously, I thought we were going to get lost and die in the woods), we finally came upon the Dungeness Forks Campground. Turns out we took a super big roundabout way to get there, and it's actually easily accessible from Highway 101. Reminder: don't follow boys' idea to trek through the woods and find "a remote spot." Luckily we put the kibosh on that idea, and they agreed to head to an actual campground.

Dungeness Forks Campground is super nice! We found a vacant spot (at 4:30 p.m. on a Saturday) right next to the river! The campground is at the confluence of the Dungeness and Gray Wolf Rivers.

Our spot was so large, it would have fit atleast four tents! And we had a large, awesome tree in the middle to provide some shade.

I loved the proximity of the river and the size of the campground... also because the campground is so small and the sites so large, there is tons of privacy from camping neighbors.

The facilities are less-than-awesome though. Just a one-room bathroom, without a light, and more of a Porta Potty type toilet in the middle. YUCK! The campground only has nine spots, but it's not reservable, so I don't think it gets a lot of traffic! My only big complaint would be the amount of bugs since we were right next to the river. Bring your bug spray! And lots of it!


The next day we headed back and stopped off in the Olympic National Park to head up to Hurricane Ridge- the entrance is just past the heart of Port Angeles. Hurricane Ridge is a huge lookout point in the Olympic National Park - the view is beautiful! The park has tons of hiking, scenery and camping options - just bring cash cause it costs $10 to enter!

After checking out the Olympic National Park, we headed back down Highway 101 to catch the ferry back instead of driving over the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. Turns out we missed the turn somewhere, so accidentally had to drive ALL the way down Highway 101 to Olympia then back up I-5 to Seattle. We probably added atleast a couple hours plus weekend traffic to our trip, but I was secretly happy we were able to take the drive through the Hood Canal. (Don't tell Mike). The little waterfront towns, seafood shacks and scenery was SO charming! Hoodsport is one of my favorite little places on the Hood Canal... it'd be great to have a summer home in the area. Or at least know someone who does some day! We stopped at a little oyster and seafood shack to check out the goods before making our way back home. (Slowly but surely).

Final Verdict: Probably go back. This area has SO much to offer - and so many campgrounds to explore, I don't feel like we saw the half of it! The hiking in Hood Canal is also abundant. A couple years ago I headed to Lena Lake with a friend, and I'd like to do that again. With so many options and sites, we'd definitely recommend the area. The cooler temps and waterfront options are a welcome change to hot and dry Eastern Washington!

Floating the Snoqualmie River

On Sunday Mike and I gathered a group of friends to float the Snoqualmie River. We had it on our calendar to float a river for more than a month - it was something I had done with a group of people the summer after my senior year of college, but I've yet to do it since. We knew there was a ton or rivers to float in the area, but we were a little skeptical about which one would be the best length and time. (If you go too late in the day, you run the risk of being in the water still when it's dark. The perfect float time is between 4-6 hours, in my opinion).

We decided to float the Snoqualmie since it's near Mike's house (just up the Redmond-Fall City Road). The night before, we bought the appropriate beverages and tied a cooler to a single-person floaty with rope. It's essential to have a cooler, and don't forget snacks and water! It's a long day in the river if you're hungry and dehydrated. We tried to research how long it would take, and where to park, but there was minimum information besides one blog we found that talked about how floating from the top to Fall City was only an hour and a half! We wanted a way longer float, so after parking down Fish Hatchery Road (near the top of the river/below the Snoqualmie Falls. Follow it until you see a parking lot with cars), Mike and another friend we were with drove the cars down and struggled to find a place past Falls City where we could all jump out.

Turns out the float from the top to Fall City is more around 4-5 hours, so you don't need to park past Fall City at all. Everyone who was floating (and there's a lot. It's a popular spot in the summer) was getting out at Fall City. Next time we'll just do that.

Final Verdict: Most definitely go back. The drive was quick and easy, and the river was a perfect speed and length for a great day of floating in 90-degree weather with friends! When it's that hot in Seattle, the best way to spend it is in the water all day with laughter, food and drinks!

Belltown Wine Walk

This week, Mike and I headed to the Belltown Wine Walk - a new wine event that some of the restaurants and bars in Belltown are doing on the second Tuesday of every month, from 5 - 9 p.m.

I first heard about it on Twitter - and quickly gathered my boyfriend's approval for a night of $5 tastings in the neighborhood just down from my house in Queen Anne. Because of traffic, Mike was a little late to my house after work, so we didn't get started until 7 p.m.

While the list of places participating in the wine walk are as such (starting in order from North to South)...

Urban Wine Cafe: Corner of 2nd & Denny
Local Vine; Second Avenue [ 2nd & Vine Street ]
Seattle Cellars: 2505 2nd Ave # 102 [Between Vine & Wall]
El Gaucho: 6:20 - 7:00: 2505 First Avenue [On First, between Vine & Wall ]
Branzino: 2429 2nd Ave [Between Wall & Battery]
Rob Roy: 5:40-6:20: 2323 2nd Avenue [Between Battery & Bell]
Rendezvous: 5:00 - 5:40: 2322 2nd Ave

...we decided to skip the Urban Wine Cafe since it was quite a bit further distance to the other bars, and we just wanted to park and walk. We first hit up The Local Vine, which is great wine bar we've been to a couple times before. The Local Vine had CMS from Hedges Winery as their tasting for white wine. CMS is a blend of Chardonnay, Marsanne and Sauv Blanc. The wine was quite versatile and mellow - it probably could have been paired with a number of summertime dishes. The Local Vine paired it with a thyme & ginger polenta with carrot frisee salad.

We thought the dish and pairing was quite impressive! The bartender told us that The Local Vine chooses a new wine and food pairing each week - and for only $5 for both! Five bucks for both a full-sized glass of wine and a small plate is more than worth my time!

From TLV, we moved onto Seattle Cellars, but were kinda surprised to see that it closed at 7 p.m. We had read the wine walk went from 5 to 9 p.m., and there was no word that one of the places closed early! Sort of a bummer, but we'll have to remember that if we do it again.

So, we continued onto Branzino, which is what I was most excited about. Branzino is the restaurant of Chef Ashley Merriman, one of the two Seattle chefs chosen to be on Top Chef 6! I cannot describe how excited I am to watch local chefs. We sat at the bar at Branzino and were given the choice of a white or red for our wine walk tasting. We chose the white - a chardonnay from Airfield Estates, a winery in Yakima. Branzino didn't have a dish for the pairing, which we were more than a little disappointed about. But, we decided to split a bar plate anyway. We ordered the crispy meatballs with creamy polenta.

Sorry for the crappy cell phone pic! The lighting was dim.

Two dishes of polenta for us! (I'm kind of a polenta fan). We both agreed that we enjoyed the polenta at TLV a little better, but that says nothing about our thoughts on Branzino! We want to go back to try it out for the full-meal dinner! While we were at the bar, I was able to watch Ashley Merriman in action and even went up to her before we left, to personally congratulate her on her Top Chef placement. I'm such a dork! But it's like a local celebrity! I love that show!

From there, we only had time for one more stop - Rob Roy, formally known as Viceroy. Rob Roy didn't have a food pairing either, but they did have complimentary Goldfish crackers! Ha! We dug right in! The white wine they offered was a Riesling from Clean Slate wineries. (Come to find out, it's won Best Riesling at the 2007 San Francisco International Wine Festival). It was GOOD. We definitely gave it the vote for Best Wine of the night. I will probably try to seek it out in a grocery store. For overall experience and money value though, The Local Vine gets our vote x 1,000!

Final Verdict: Probably go back. We might hit up the Belltown Wine Walk again, but this time we'll try to go to the places we skipped. I imagine El Gaucho will have a great pairing! We'll most definitely go back to TLV for the $5 wine walk deal, but will probably pass on the other two places we went. We were expecting more of a tasting experience, not just a $5 glass of wine. Overall though, it was something fun and different to do on a Tuesday.

The Paragon

Generally, Mike and I love to check out new places in Seattle. We think it's much better to try something new rather than go to the same ole places over and over. However, there are a few places that we'll sneak back to time and time again, and one of those places is The Paragon on top of Queen Anne hill.

We've been to The Paragon for breakfast and dinner, and every time it doesn't fail to impress. The food is always yummy and high quality, especially their brunch, which is served from 11:30-3 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 - 3 p.m. on Sundays. Mike and I are HUGE breakfast fans. Unfortunately for my waistline, and our wallets, it's hard for us to go a weekend without snagging eggs and bacon at a local jaunt. While we've been to handfuls of Seattle breakfast hot spots, we continuously go back to The Paragon - their bacon is some of the best in the city, their portions are HUGE and their food is just plain yummy. How can you argue with this:

Eggs Benedict - a personal favorite of ours

The "Scramble Special" - Jalapenos, bacon, tomatoes and onions

Dinner tends to be a little bit more on the spendy side, but The Paragon is a great date night destination - the atmosphere is a little swanky, they have great drinks and there's live music five days a week. (Plus, the bread you get before your meal is to.die.for! It is warm and melty with a little Asiago cheese inside).

The Paragon even just revamped their happy hour, which they're calling Tini Time. Classic martinis such as a Lemon Drop or Cosmopolitan are only $5, and their food menu boasts $7 treats such as fried green tomatoes, beef short ribs, Mongolian chicken, corn fritters and calamari. We'll be checking out happy hour soon - it's our goal to try out new spots, but we like to support the local spots too!

Final Verdict: Most definitely go back! We already have!

Where: The Paragon
2125 Queen Anne Ave N
Seattle, WA 98109
(206) 283-4548
Web site
Category: New American
Neighborhood: Upper Queen Anne
Atmosphere: Swanky casual
Price range: Dinner: $13-24. Breakfast: $9-15
Service: It tends to be a little slow. Don't go starving for breakfast! Each time we have kinda waited around a long time for our breakfast to be served, but we still think it's worth it!
Cool features: Live music five days a week!

El Gaucho Happy Hour

Tuesday, Mike and I went to see The Hangover at Big Picture in Belltown and decided to finally check out El Gaucho's happy hour. El Gaucho is upstairs from Big Picture, so it makes a perfect pre-movie spot. (Black Bottle, across the street is also a really great option. You can read a review of Black Bottle and Big Picture at Seattle Date Night!). El Gaucho is one of Seattle's famous and SUPER spendy steakhouses. It opened in the 1950s and used to be a speakeasy. Neither of us have been before - to tell you the truth, I thought it was a Mexican restaurant for the first 25 years of my life. (Embarrassing to admit). While the price is generally out of our league for a casual date night, I've heard the happy hour is great.

[via valerie's picture playground]

When we walked in, we were shocked with how dark it was! The atmosphere is swanky mcswankerson. It's definitely an "Old Boys" restaurant - a place to smoke cigars in the cigar room, sip expensive Brandy and order a manly steak. Not usually our scene. As we sat down, I realized the very loud jazz music was actually coming from a live pianist behind us. "Gosh, if I had to work in this dark bar and listen to jazz music all day, I'd shoot myself," Mike said. If that gives you an idea of the atmosphere. Haha.

For happy hour, the "bar bites" are half off, specialty cocktails are $6, Bud Light bottles are $3 and house wine is $5. Bar menu can be found here.

[via Corazonita]

After glancing at the menu, we were super glad we were there for happy hour - the prices on the menu for "bar bites" were $19, $15, $14 and other super high prices. I ordered the Mac n' Coastal Cheddar Cheese, $6 half-off price, and Mike ordered the 410 Burger, $7.50 half-off price. Now - the reason I've been using quotes around bar bites is because these are not bites! They're huge meals! The price of them paid off tremendously for the size. Mike's burger was the size of his head and stuffed with 1/2 pound Certified Angus Beef® Prime top sirloin! I wish I wouldn't have forgotten my camera. When I asked him if it was the best burger he'd ever had, he said, "Pretty close," but the size was actually too big to make it just perfect. It ended up being tasty, but a little messy. His plate also had a side of the best mashed potatoes I've had! They rivaled my grandmother's for sure! My mac and cheese was absolutely sinful. I've never ordered mac and cheese at a restaurant, so I decided to live a little. This mac and cheese is made with an imported English Coastal Cheddar, baked in a personal-sized casserole dish with breadcrumbs sprinkled on top. YUM.

Final Verdict: Probably Go Back. I don't think we'll make this a summertime place - it's just too dark and gloomy in there. But the proximity of it to Big Picture and the happy hour value for the amazing food makes it a great option for a wintertime retreat, which is also a more acceptable season to eat carbs with a side of carbs for dinner. I doubt we'll make it for the full meal deal unless it's a very special occasion. (Wink, wink, Mike).

Where: El Gaucho
2505 1st Ave
Seattle, WA 98121
(206) 728-1337
Web site
Category: Steakhouses
Neighborhood: Belltown (Also Tacoma and Bellevue locations)
Atmosphere: Fancy schmancy - don't show up in flip flops
Price range: Happy hour = $3 - $9, Dinner = $27 - $135
Service: An aquaintance of mine was the bartendar, surprisingly, so I'm a little partial on the service. But it's very, very formal. A lot of "sirs" and suits.
Cool features: Live piano music, cigar bar, dancing in the Pampas Room.

Wish-Poosh Campground, Wenatchee National Forest and Salmon Le Sac

Of the camping trips Mike and I have been on already this summer, (Osoyoos Lake and Lake Entiat), we've yet to bring Caden along with us. After taking him on our camping trip to Yakima Statesman Park last summer, all he talked about during the winter was going camping. Our friends, Kristen and Emery were dying to go camping too, so we decided to go along with them and take Caden for his first trip of the summer. Because we had driven long distances two times in three weeks, we wanted to choose a place that was closer to Seattle, yet still in Eastern Washington so we could chase the sun.

Caden loves sleeping in his own tent!

We did something we've yet to do - instead of searching frantically for a free spot at a state park, we pulled out Mike's copy of Inside Out Washington | A Best Places Guide to the Outdoors: Camping, Biking, Lodging, Hiking... and all outdoor activities by Ron C. Judd (phew, that's some title!) Wow. I recommend this book 100 times over. I think we've abandoned our use of state parks for good. Well, maybe not for good... but it was great to find a ton of campsites that we never even heard of, and some of them were even free!

We headed to the area of Washington accessible by Highway 903/Salmon Le Sac road. If you take exit 80 off I-90, toward the tiny town of Roslyn, there's a whole slew of beautiful, woodsy campsites in the Wenatchee National Forest, along lakes and rivers - and it's only an hour and a half away from Seattle! We chose the first campsite that came along, Wish Poosh, after driving through and loving the spacious campsites. This place is perfect if you want a little privacy. The sites are large, and include picnic tables, a fire pit and even a BBQ grill! The bathrooms are clean, a little bit primitave without a shower, but it's still nice to have bathroom facilities. The campground is super woodsy, which was a change for us because we usually find ourselves in deep Eastern Washington where the trees are scarce and you're always left waking up at 5 a.m. to the blazing sun. It was nice to have the shade of the trees, to say the least. The campground has 17 tent sites and 22 RV sites that aren't reservable, but we didn't have a problem when we arrived around 8 p.m. on Friday night; plenty of sites were still available. The campground is located along Cle Elum Lake, a reservoir that was full to the brim and hard to float or swim in. Apparently it drains as the summer goes on, and there's a great big sandy beach along the shore. We were sad to miss it because the lake was a little unusable without a boat.

The next morning, the weather was a little cool (the area is not as warm as Lake Chelan, Wenatchee, or further down Highway 2 and I-90) so we went on an adventure drive, further down Salmon Le Sac Road to check out the handful of other campsites that the book mentioned. The drive is gorgeous.

A little further up the road is Cle Elum River campsite and Red Mountain campsite (free!) along the Cle Elum River. Both of these are approximately 12 miles north of Roslyn. We also drove approximately 10 miles down a road to Cooper River, and Owhi campsite, which was gorgeous, and even further past Salmon Le Sac to Scatter Creek and Fish Lake. The road to these campsites is super rough and the area is really primitive. There is the occasional bathroom, but the road is steep, rocky and hard to drive if you don't have a SUV, Subaru, etc. (All campsites are free, and it's approximately 30 miles north of downtown Roslyn).

An outhouse we found out there - complete with the crescent moon!

We were shocked to see the occasional houses out there - talk about a remote cabin! The scenery is really breathtaking, however. Mountains, streams, waterfalls down the side of the hills, little purple and yellow mountain flowers. We couldn't stop taking pictures!

All of these campsites are so private and remote, they'd be great for big camping parties with friends that are often inappropriate at state parks because of the families and park rangers that don't tolerate the noise. We kept seeing signs everywhere with posted paper plates of people having big camp parties. SO fun!

After our drive and a late lunch, the weather turned for the worse, and we were caught in a torrential downpour and thunder/lightning storm! It sort of sucked. I haven't been camping in the rain in forever. All the more reason to wait to camp in this area until the dead middle of summer. We all tried to make the best of it...

Jiffy popcorn and marshmallows, oh my God!

Hiding out underneath the tarp...

We put up tarps and the boys were frantically digging moats to keep the water out of the campfire, but once the campfire was flooded, the campsite muddy and the rain relentless, we decided to pack up early and head back.

Final Verdict: Most definitely go back. This camping area is too close to Seattle and offers too many options to explore to not head back again! Plus, it was a welcome change to camp in the woods with the shade of the Evergreen trees. Next time, we'll wait until the weather guarantees summer heat, and we can enjoy the water!