January in Instagrams

I want to try to do a better job this year of documenting our months in Instagrams. I really really like looking back on these little snippets! So even though it's a little late (aka almost the end of February) I'm going to go back to January for a "month in review". Here we go, clockwise from top left...

1. I'm kind of obsessed with the Bachelor / Bachelorette. I know, I know. It's not the best quality TV ever. But I swear it's the only reality TV I watch! There's just something about it. I find it ridiculously entertaining. Especially when watched with friends, commentary, and booze. I went to my friend Lauren's for the premier this season, and she made these fancy schmancy mocktails! Don't worry there were also cans of Rainier.

2. I picked up these perfect little cobalt blue pumps at the thrift store, brought them home, and then had the realization that I have amassed an alarming amount of vintage Liz Claiborne stuff. Of the 80's variety. No problems here.

3. Tapes are back folks! I had been looking for a Walkman to listen to some mixtapes that our friend Scott made, and Kevin found this one from his youth and brought it back for me from Wisconsin. And then a sweet work friend brought me a bunch of mixtapes that her dad had made years ago. They're full of Roy Orbison, Patsy Kline, Elvis....and the Eagles.

4. This has been one of my favorite breakfasts for awhile now. Scrambled eggs on rice with Sriracha and toasted sesame seeds. So good.

1. I like to amuse myself at work by pulling out the pretty paperclips I find during the day and photographing them. Look at this pretty rose gold spirally one!

2. Late night breakfast!!! So good after a show. On this night it was Randy's after seeing The Wimps and Mommy Long Legs. 24 hour diners forever!!!!!!!!!!!

3. This is a typical once-a-week occurrence. Watching TV at Scott's house while knitting with a Shooby on my lap. From this picture you might conclude that he likes me. He probably thinks I'm alright. I mean, sometimes I feed him. But really I'm just sitting in his chair.

4. The days are getting longer and sunnier! It's a bit too early to think about *summer*, but regardless, I was pretty excited to see the sun out and beautiful after work one day. I snapped this quick just as I got out and am looking forward to more evening sunshine!

1. Here's a little progress shot on my Pine Bough cowl. It's a big 'ole tube scarf...so kind of a ton of knitting. But it went surprisingly fast! It was three quarters of the way done when this picture was taken, and now it's 100% finished and is being happily worn.

2. Game night! This is another weekly occurrence with some of our Seattle friends and we love it! On this particular night I was dominating as the killer Mantis in Kings of New York. I don't usually "dominate", so of course I had to capture it.

3. A pile of baby knitwear right before being packed up and shipped off to a friend. It's that stage of life right now were lots of folks are having kiddos, so my needles have been busy with lots of wee little projects. All of these are favorite patterns by now that I'll probably be making many more times.

FO: Charlie Hat

A new hat just for meeeeeeeee! And it just may be the best hat I've ever made for myself. Sure, the small gauge and folded brim detail meant it wasn't super super quick to knit, but sometimes putting in the extra time and effort really pays off. In this case it definitely did. I love love love it so so so much. Plus that pom pom. Oh my goodness, so good.

Let's jump right into details: 

Pattern: Charlie by Andi Satterlund

Yarn: Spincycle Dyed in the Wool + Brooklyn Tweed Loft

Needles: Size US 3

I bought this yarn in December 2014 at Urban Craft Uprising from the rad ladies at Spincycle Yarns. The colorway is called Tangled Up in Blue and it is just so fantastic. Very vibrant and - in my opinion - perfect for colorwork. I love how the subtle color variegation looks when paired with a lighter neutral. So good! In terms of yarn pairing, I think these two played very nicely together. Although Loft is a fingering compared to Dyed in the Wool's sport weight, it's so eh-hem lofty that they actually match up quite well. In fact, I'm so in love with this pairing that I'm planning on using it again to make myself a super special Ursula cardigan.

This was my first time doing a folded brim, and it was pretty magical. Plus SOOOOPER warm. Definitely worth the little bit of extra knitting work and semi-laborious joining row. As always, I loved knitting the colorwork and despite the small gauge it seemed like it worked up pretty quickly. I was originally planning on making a pom pom with the Spincycle, but then had the idea to make a HUGE bright flame orange one instead. I tell ya, I just can't get away from using this orange yarn! It's just so vibrant and fresh! I used the larger of my Clover pom pom makers, which I absolutely LOVE. I spent way too many years stubbornly making pom poms using a piece of cardboard. Seriously, they come out so much nice with the pom pom maker. I like to think this pom pom makes people smile on the dreary streets in the winter every time they see it. How could you see it and not smile?!?

It's a Road Trip!

Kevin and I were long overdue for an extended, just-the-two-of-us vacation. The last one we took was in August 2014. It was this trip to Glacier National Park. So this year we decided to take advantage of the fortunate timing of Christmas and New Year's and take a long road trip. Since both fell on a Friday, taking four days off magically turned into ten blissful, work-free days! Our road trip of course meant driving south to California. One word: sunshine.



We started off on Christmas Day by driving south until we couldn't stand driving anymore. That turned out to be Weed, California in the Mt Shasta area. The most memorable thing about the drive down was the beautiful full moon we had in the mountain area. The sun was already long gone, but it was a completely clear night with a brilliant full moon. Everything was snow covered, and the snow reflected the moonlight so well that it was almost like daylight. Traffic was light enough that the headlights didn't ruin the scene, so we got a beautiful moonlight view of the mountains. So unique and pretty. We did run into a bit of unexpected-to-us snowfall at the highest point of the pass, which left me driving white-knuckled for awhile. Being from Wisconsin, I'm very comfortable driving in less-than-ideal conditions. But out here, it's the unknown and the elevation that's scary. You don't know how well they salt/sand the roads or if everyone is driving so slowly because they need to or because they're being overcautious. You don't know how steep the climbs or descents will be or how long it will last. I just never know if I should be freaking out or not! In the end, the car handled really well and  I don't think there was much or any actual ice on the roads.


On Saturday we drove the rest of the way to our first destination: Palm Springs! Neither of us had been before, but I'd read a lot of things about it being a kind of quirky, design-centric town with lots of good restaurants and plenty of sunshine. We stayed at The Saguaro, which is famous for it's rainbow color scheme. Here's the obligatory picture of said rainbowyness:

We ate our first breakfast at Elmer's, which came up as one of the most popular diner-type places. Once we sat down, we had to laugh because it turned out to be a Pacific Northwest chain, with most locations in Washington and Oregon. So essentially we drove over a thousand miles to eat at the exact same kind of place we could eat at in Seattle. Well, at least we know what we like. Next we took a long walk from our hotel to the downtown area and drooled over all of the gorgeous mid-century modern ranch homes. Swoooooon. We ended up at a thrift store (not an accident) and I found this fantastic vintage Dooney and Burke bag in my favorite shade of leather, plus these perfect little vintage t-straps. Hurray for thrifting in a style-minded community of old people!!!

We also went to the Moorten Botanical Garden, which was super cool! I took lots of cactus and succulent pictures, especially the weird ones inside of the greenhouse area. My favorite plant was the haworthia attenuata and I ended up taking a little mini one home with us. Don't worry! I didn't just pluck it from the ground...I bought it in the gift shop.

After it got dark we drove to see Robolights. How do I describe this? It's a bunch of sculptures of all sizes made from found objects and mostly painted in a single color. It has been constructed over the years by one guy. For the holidays he also adds a TON of lights and Christmas-y stuff. It's super quirky and cool that this guy just DID it. A tiny bit creepy as well? Yeah kinda. Here's Kevin looking awestruck.

That night we went out to what was our favorite dinner of the trip. We walked to a place called Mr. Lyons and opted for the lounge side (we're lounge people). Yes, it is a steakhouse. And yes, one of my New Year's resolutions is recommitting to be a better vegetarian again. So it was an odd choice. However, like a lot of Palm Springs, it has this retro, mid-century, old-Hollywood vibe that I just love. Especially the lounge section was just so perfectly "fancy supper club" and I loved it. Plus! It turns out they also make really good vegetables. Kevin was laughing at me because I ordered so much stuff! They brought over his steak frites (which was delicious), and then they just kept bringing more and more of the side dishes I ordered for me. It was a smorgasbord of plates. I especially loved the fancy deviled eggs. OMG deviled eggs are THE BEST thing. These were duck eggs and I think the filling had some kind of goat cheese plus something horseradish-y. I also got the charred brussel sprouts, wedge salad (sans bacon), onion rings, and french onion soup (not vegetarian, I know, but still not a steak). They also made the most wonderful Vodka gimlet. My favorite drink thanks to my friend Kari, but which, for some reason, seems to mystify some bartenders. It's kind of my thing to order one and just see what happens. I've gotten them in a variety of glasses, with simple syrup, a sugared rim, and even once a maraschino cherry (ew)! This one was just perfect though with vodka, lime juice, ice, and a lime wedge (I like to order them on the rocks). Here's a bad picture of me enjoying it.

Afterwards we walked to the bar in the Ace Hotel for more booze. At that point I was over fancy-shmancy and just asked the bartender for "shitty beer in a can". Sometimes that's all you want. We also took what is probably one of the best photo-booth strips of our relationship, involving me swooping in for a kiss and Kevin looking awestruck. It's awesome.

On Monday we said goodbye to Palm Springs and took the scenic route to San Diego. The drive was super pretty, and also kind of strange, since we ran into a bit more mountainy snow. Who knew.

Strangely, we arrived in San Diego to rain for our first night. But whatever, we didn't let that stop us from heading out of course. Plus who can really be angry at California for getting some much-needed rain. We got a really delicious dinner at a Mexican place, dried off a bit, and then walked to the Stone Brewing Tap Room. The vibe on a Monday night at the Tap Room wasn't too lively, which was a bit of a bummer. But they did have board games! We battled each other at Connect 4 and checkers and I'll admit that Kevin came out the ultimate winner.

For breakfast the next day, Kevin found this fantastic diner (we LOVE diners) in Ocean Beach called the Old Townhouse Restaurant. It was basically perfect. After breakfast we walked the pier and beach area. There were a couple of Pelicans perched on the pier, some people fishing, and a surprising number of surfers. Well, maybe not surprising? I don't know. Surprising to me being that it was a Tuesday morning around 10am and actually a bit chilly out despite the sunshine.

After breakfast we drove to Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument. We had gone there on our last visit to San Diego, but it has been overcast so we couldn't really see any of the views and didn't stay long. This time, it was completely clear and sunny. Hurray! We walked around for quite a bit and looked at a couple of the exhibits. I really liked the lighthouse exhibit, which had two of these really amazing lenses. They're so gorgeous! From the lighthouse we drove down to the tide pool area. The tide was in at the time, so we couldn't actually do any walking around the tide pools, but it was still really cool to see the rocky coastline.

Then it was tacos for lunch (so many tacos), a happy stop at a thrift store per my request, then some more outdoor wandering in Balboa Park with coffee in hand. We visited the Palm Grove canyon and walked around the museum buildings mostly. There were a TON of people taking wedding or engagement photos, which I always get a ridiculous kick out of seeing. For dinner we decided to go up to the North Park neighborhood and picked a sushi restaurant. I think we both needed a break from heavy food! The funniest part of dinner was that Kevin ordered drinks while I was in the bathroom and told me it "was a surprise". Oh my goodness. When she started brining them I was at first confused, and then - to be honest - a bit overwhelmed! The drink special turned out to be a large bottle of Japanese beer plus a large carafe of hot sake. Each. So much booze.

The next morning we hit up another diner in North Park called Rudford's. It was totally perfect with a retro vibe. I think we may also have started a new vacation-diner-breakfast tradition: ordering a banana split. I guess I was feeling extra-vacationy, because somehow I got it in my head that it would be THE BEST THING EVER to share a banana split after our breakfast mains. And I gotta say, it kinda was. It also resulted in my favorite picture of myself from the entire trip. Check it:

Then it was back on the road on our way to Los Angeles. We arrived just around lunch time and headed straight to Philippe's for some original french dip sandwiches. You order at the counter right from the sandwich makers, who make it right in front of you while you wait. You can order the sandwiches “single-dip”, double-dip” or “wet” and have a choice of classic sides. So. Delicious.

Next we continued to our hotel, which was actually in Santa Monica. We stayed at the Seaview again because we loved it some much the first time. By the time we got there the sun was setting, so we grabbed some coffee and took a little walk. Here are some more obligatory pictures of the palm trees and the rides at the Santa Monica Pier.

That night we decided to drive back into Los Angeles to go to the Griffith Observatory . This is when - for the first time - I started to sour a bit on LA. So much driving and so many people. There were a TON of cars on the road up to the Observatory, and for a while we weren't even sure if it was going to be possible to get there and park before it closed (even though we had originally planned to get there two hours before they closed). Happily we were able to park - albeit pretty far from the actual parking lot along side the road - and then walked up to the main building. We missed the last show of the night because of the congestion, although tickets may have been sold out anyway. Instead, we just wandered around the exhibits and looked in some of the smaller telescopes they had set up around the grounds. We didn't actually get to look in the big telescope because the line was literally too long. They would have closed before we would have gotten to the front. Did I mention there were SO MANY PEOPLE?!? Regardless, we were glad to have visited and the smaller telescopes were pretty cool to look through anyway. We saw a nebulon that I have forgotten the name of, and the astrologer guy that was guarding it was really fun to listen to. Also, I got this cool picture of a sign.

The next morning we stayed around the beach in Santa Monica for a bit, renting beach cruisers and getting breakfast by the beach at a place that was just okay. Then it was back on the road to our final road trip destination: Santa Barbara.

This was another place we hadn't been before, and really we just picked it off the map as a small-ish town that was further north but still on the coast. And we ended up really liking it!  We stayed at a cheap-ish motel that was actually pretty charming right on State Street, aka the main drag. Basically all the older buildings have been preserved, although many have also been converted into mainstream retail stores. We walked from our hotel down most all of State Street, stopping for ice cream and drinks. For ice cream we went to McConnell's, just because it looked cool. But it turned out to be - honestly - the best ice cream we've ever had. So. good. You can read all about their history and special ice cream making machine on their website. I had some kind of salted caramel cookie cream and Kevin had Turkish coffee. For dinner we kept it super casual and hit up a taqueria for burritos. They had one on the menu called the California burrito (not sure if this is a thing or not) that had french fries in it. Sure! Why not!

Even though it was New Year's Eve, we went back to our hotel pretty early. Honestly, I think at this point we were a bit eating-outed out. The next day we drove as far north as we could stand and stayed again in the Mt Shasta area. This time we were heading through the mountains in the daylight, and the drive was beautiful. Driving mostly in the daylight meant lots of knitting time for me!

We made two stops on the way. One for In-And-Out Burger and one to see the Monarch butterfly grove in Pismo Beach! It was hard to get a picture of the Monarch clusters, but take my word for it that it was super cool. The small forested area by a warm inlet of the coast is one of the places where Monarchs come to spend the winter. We stopped there shortly during the warmest part of the day, so we got to see lots of them both flying around and clustering together on the pine and eucalyptus branches. It was definitely worth the stop!

Well folks, if you've made it to the end of this epically long post, congratulations! I'm done!

FO: Quarry

Oh my word this sweater is so fun. I love it.

Yarn Used: Brunswick Germantown in Flame Orange, Dale Garn Heilo in Grey

Needles: Size 8 Addi Turbos 

Pattern: Quarry by Andi Satterlund for Twist Collective

Raveled here. 

Typically I gravitate towards more traditional colorwork motifs. Fair Isle, Icelandic yokes, Norwegian designs, etc. But when I saw this piece that my friend Andi put out I fell head over heels for the modern, graphic lines. I'd also been planning on making one of her pullover for awhile - since getting lots of wear out of the cropped cardigan I made first - and was initially leaning towards a Chuck. Well, in the end my love for colorwork won out over my love for cables in this case and I went for Quarry.

The original design is in black and white. And I kinda love that and wouldn't mind another in that color scheme. This orange is so good, though! As someone who doesn't shy away from color it shouldn't surprise me that I love this bright yarn so much, but I really have been surprised by how much I love it. I've seriously worn my flame orange cardigan a ton. I knew I liked it but I was a little unsure about how many outfits I would be able to make with it. As it turns out, flame orange actually goes with everything. Just trust me. Or maybe it doesn't and I don't mind "clashing".

Anyway, I had a vision of this in orange and grey, and I think it turned out great! The grey is some deep, deep stash yarn that I scored at some thrift store somewhere. It's been so long I can't even remember where. I was happy to pull it out in keeping with my goal for this year of working through ye olde stash (a yarn fast I have recently broken a couple of months early in order to buy a couple of things I'd been planning to acquire at KnitFit). I didn't make any modifications, but due to my gauge being slightly longer in height than recommended it did come out slightly longer. Which is fine with me. And keep in mind as you review these photos that I'm wearing high-waisted pants. I also realized I need to work on my stitch picking up skills for making top-down sleeves. There's sort of a weird faux-shoulderpad thing going on with one of the shoulders because I think I picked up too many stitches along the top, and from a row that was too far in. For my next sweater with this type of construction, I'm going to review this blog post, which seems to have some really good guidelines for this sort of thing.

(This is my "it's so bright but I'm still trying to look cute" face)

The only big thing about this sweater that makes it not perfect - at least in Seattle - is how warm it is! It's because the Dale Garn yarn is super toasty. Thus, even though I finished this sweater last February, it hasn't gotten a ton of wear yet. Last winter was super mild overall, and by the end of February it was already a bit too warm most days for this guy. So, just this past weekend I FINALLY took some photos of it on one of our first clear and crisp days of the season. Here's hoping we get lots more of them before Spring! It also didn't hurt that we just happened to be taking the ferry to Bainbridge Island, aka a super good photo-op opportunity.

The reason for the Bainbridge trip was three-fold. 1) Go to the Madison Diner for some killer hash browns. 2) Visit the Local Color folk at the Saturday farmer's market. 3) Buy some Loft to at Churchmouse to eventually turn into this sweater. Ohmygoodnesssomanylinks. It was such a beautiful day!! After two previous weekends of straight rain, the blue skies and sunshine were a welcome change. Sure, it was pretty chilly on the ferry. But who cares when you get to wear all the woolens!!!

Here's a shot of my lovely hubs and I at the diner, plus our equally lovely breakfasts. Mmmmmmmm hash browns. They're seriously some of the best in the greater Seattle area.

FO: Rock Island Shawl

This pattern has been in my queue for sooooo long. Basically since it came out. Typically, I don’t go all starry eyed over lace shawl patterns. I mean, I like them. They’re fine. I’ve made a fair number of them in my knitting carrier. But I’ve never actually fallen in love with a pattern before that I really wanted to make for myself. Usually it happens the other way around, with me wanting to make a lace shawl - any lace shawl - for someone as a gift and then searching through patterns to find one I like. With this pattern, I saw it and was instantly in love with the final product and wanted it all for my own. The lace is just so unique! And I love that it has a lovely garter stitch section as well as the intriguing lace bits. 

Nevertheless, it took me quite awhile to actually prioritize it in the queue and get around to casting on. Then when I did…well I had a bit of a false start. I don’t remember exactly when it was that I first attempted this pattern. Several years ago at least. I can’t even really remember what yarn I first attempted it with. But in reading through the charts and beginning my first rows, I just couldn’t do it. It was beyond my skill range. The yarn I was using may also have not been suitable. Could I have tried really hard and gotten through it? Maybe. Probably yes. But after starting and restarting several times and repeatedly ending up with a mysteriously wrong stitch count - mysterious meaning I had no idea where I’d gone wrong and wasn’t able to “read my work” to figure out where it had happened - I got frustrated. So I filed the pattern away and moved on to something else. Lord knows there has never been a shortage of projects in my queue to pottle along with. 

I think this is something I often forget about knitting. That it actually does take time and practice to advance your skill level. Sure, it’s just different combinations of knits, purls, decreases, and decreases along with the very basic ability to read a pattern. And you actually can advance pretty quickly from being a complete beginner to making beautiful, varied, and impressive work (never fear beginners!).. Cables, colorwork, lace. They are all completely learnable for a beginner in a fairly quick amount of time, keeping in mind of course that “quick” is a relative term. However, on the other hand, one’s wrists, hands, fingers, and mind do learn through repetition and challenge, and you do invariably get better the longer you do it. Muscle memory in your hands. And also actual memory. Like the kind in your brain. I can now simply read “sl1k2togpsso" and know what it means and what I have to do with the stitches when I see it pop up in a pattern.

So this time, I decided to give it another go and see how things went. It’s just too lovely to let go of. I’ve had this yellow-green yarn in my stash for awhile. It was purchased at a little yarn shop in Cincinnati while on a work trip at least two years ago. It’s Classic Elite Silky Alpaca in the Cameroon colorway. I first used this yarn for an Ishbel for my aunt Sandy. I absolutely loved working with it and was very pleased with the fabric it created. So when I saw it on sale at the week shop in Cincinnati I scooped up two balls. To be honest, I wasn’t 100% sure about the color when I first bought it. I’m going to call it chartreuse, although it’s probably a bit too green to be a true chartreuse (I just really like that as a color name). That’s probably why it sat in my stash for so long. Then, I picked up a Jackie cardigan at Goodwill one day in basically the exact same color. And then proceeded to wear it with just about every outfit for a week. It’s a surprisingly versatile color. So I dug this out of the stash and decided it needed to become something ASAP. 

A couple notes about this pattern. First, I LOVE It. It’s fabulous. It’s the Rock Island Shawl by Jared Flood for Brooklyn Tweed. It’s very clearly written and easy to follow. Naturally.  Construction-wise, this pattern was something new for me and I ended up really liking it. Instead of starting at the center bottom of the triangle and increasing stitches from there, it starts with working the entire edging first as a separate piece. Now, that’s a whole lot of knitting. It’s huge, and took what felt like forever. But once it’s finished, you’re decreasing stitches from there, so the rows get faster and faster each time. This is exactly opposite to the center-bottom construction where it starts out super, super fast and then feels like each row takes an hour at the end. Which is kind of a nice change. From the edging, you pick up stitches for the bulk of the shawl and then decrease to end at the center bottom of the triangle. You’ve got to get through the spider-web like lace first, but then it’s smooth sailing until the end with just a simple garter stitch for the majority of the triangle. I had a couple false starts with the difficult lace portion as I was getting used to working lace on both sides,  but since the section begins with several rows of garter stitch between it and the edging I was able to easily rip back and start again. Once I got into it, it became very rhythmic and by the second pattern repeat I no longer had to stare at the chart. What a feeling of accomplishment! 

The end fabric has not disappointed either. I’ve worn in a ton already, usually just wrapped tightly around my neck like a scarf. I’ve not been precious about it either - stuffing it into my purse and what not - and the shape has held up really well. I’ll probably have to re-block at some point, but that’s to be expected. I am 110% in love with the finished product and am so happy I didn’t give up on this pattern. Hurray for my very first for-me shawl!

Lopez Island

We recently took a trip over to Lopez Island. Which is apparently goes by the nickname "Slopez". Cuz, you know, "island time". Lopez - ahem - Slopez is one of the island is the San Juan Islands group. Having visited the larger San Juan and Orcas islands, we were glad to have the opportunity to check out Lopez as well. I've heard it described as the most chill of the three main San Juans, and it's also known as the "biker island". As in bicycle island, because it's the most flat and accessible to bikers I think.

Also, on this particular weekend, the community was hosting the annual Lopez Island Sheep and Wool Festival. Fiber arts goodness combined with a beautiful island backdrop? Sold. Also, there was camping. Double sold.

We started out the day by heading straight from the ferry to the festival. There was spinning, dying, weaving, felting, knitting, crocheting, and even a sheep shearing demonstration! There were a small but quality number of booths set up and I purchased a handful of treasured hanks. I've got plans to make a simple but perfect beanie with a small hank of natural grey. Probably something "for Kevin" that I'll steal quite frequently. I also got a large hank of natural white and a muddy-yellow wee one of the same type that was dyed with mushrooms. I'm thinking something with some simple colorwork Maybe a cowl? It's Romney and very soft and pillowy. Plus it smells awesome.

From there we went exploring. We walked around the village area and of course had to stop in to the wee thrift shop. They had a surprisingly good amount of things to peruse for such a small shop. I ended up snagging a cheerful little lady bug pin for the bargain price of $0.75. Next we continued to a slightly different kind of "thrift store", the Lopez Island dump! Or more technically, the Take It or Leave It area of the Lopez Solid Waste Disposal District. It's really a magical place. People can bring their items in, nice volunteers organize them, and then anyone can come and take what they please. It's really very nice! I'd even put it a step above the Goodwill outlet. I mean, I love the outlet, but it's really a pretty disorganized dirty place. This was not that.I was reminded of the treasures that used to be pulled from the Enterprise dump where I grew up. Most memorable is a set of Fire King Jadeite that my great uncle Andy rescued for me when I was still a youngster.

Next we headed down to check out Iceberg Point. It's a really rocky point on the south end of the island with a short little walk from the parking area to the outcropping. Pictures do a much better job of describing it.

Then it was time to set up camp! I love camping. For this trip we stayed at Odlin County Park at one of the walk-in sites right along the beach. They had these cute little chalkboard signs with our names on them. I think the photo below captures the campsite well (notice the Kevin in the background making himself at home). For dinner we made kabobs and sat around the fire until well after the sun went down, as you do.

The next morning we got of fairly early (as you also do) and got the coffee going right away. For breakfast it was eggs in frames and Heinz vegetarian beans. My favorite! There's really nothing that beats an egg in a frame. A second pot of coffee was made, some knitting was done, and then it was sadly time to pack up. Before lining up for the ferry home we quickly swung by Hummel Lake (sooo many mosquitos) and Spencer Spit. We decided that if we ever get back to Lopez (hopefully) we'll try camping at Spencer's Spit. The bother there is that you're not able to make advance reservations, but it seemed like a really lovely spot.