Day Trippin'

This past weekend, I found myself surrounded by girls... We'd originally thought that Cindy and I would be "home alone" but it turned out that it was more like "Mike, Alone in a Sea of Estrogen."

Wanting to show the ladies a good time, we decided to take advantage of the fact that Augtober had vanished and let a couple days of August weather through, and headed for a day trip out to Port Townsend on the Olympic Peninsula.

The Plan: Fun in the Sun! Hit up the beach at Fort Worden State Park and eat some good food along the way.

The first stop for good food in Port Townsend in the Summertime, is a little old fashioned hot dog stand called Dogs A-Foot. This business has been there forever, is open only during the spring and summer, and is THE best place to get a hot dog that I know of. They have a huge variety of sausages that they serve up on lightly toasted buns, with just about every topping you can think up - even bacon!

With pleasantly full tummies, it's off to the beach, right??

No, didn't I mention that I was travelling with four women? Well, those women noticed lots of interesting things (ie: STORES) as we were driving up the main street in town to get to our lunch spot. So the beach would have to wait, there were clothes to peruse!!

Normally, I can find ways to entertain myself in the quirky little clothing shops that girls are so magnetically attracted to. But this one just didn't seem to have anything for a guy to do... Of course, there was another thing calling me OUT of the store, almost as loudly as the girls were called IN.

As we were walking toward the store, a street musician was setting up right outside the door, and something about the way he looked made me want to catch a few songs. He was just starting his first song when I went back outside. And it was great!! I mean, this guy could be one of those success stories you hear about, where the guy toils on the streets for years with no intention of moving up, until being discovered by a bigshot in the music industry. He was really good. And his money jar was an old "Chopped Ocean Clams" can, which just fit the seaside town perfectly. After the first song, I ran back into the store. Cindy was only about 1/3 of the way around the clothing racks, so I figured I had time.

I needed the camera!!

So I ran to the van, grabbed the camera, and as I was walking back up the sidewalk.... Oops! Cindy's looking around for me, thinking I'd abandoned them! She'd also found the cutest shirt ever made, and didn't have her purse... I was needed!

After the purchase, I finally got the pic of the outstanding street musician...



Cindy slipped a dollar into his can for to cover my taking a picture, and I was happy to contribute because he really was great at what he was doing.

One or two (or three or four) stores later, we finally returned to the van so we could head down to the beach!

As we got close, the evidence started to build that yes, there was a beach nearby!



A little further, and we were looking at this:



And finally, THIS:



It didn't take long for the Baywatch Patrol to start up...



Once we got our blankets set up and laid in the sun for a few minutes, Cindy decided that it was hot enough to justify a dip in the sound to cool off. Only thing is, cooling off in Puget Sound is like cooling off in a sub-zero blast freezer. She got in to her thighs, did an about face, and practically walked on the water to get back up to the beach!



I got in about to my ankles. It felt like millions of icy needles shooting through my skin, bones and nerves. That is not what I call fun. Or refreshing. Plus, I really like hot weather, so I stayed dry on the beach, soaking up the sun!



The younger girls, of course, haven't developed their nervous systems enough to know when water is painfully cold, so they swam the afternoon away.

The surprise of the day was Ellysa, who has bragged about swimming in ice water with glacier chunks floating in it, said that yesterday's water was too cold. Her cousin Chelsey did NOT accept that answer.



Always looking for the next big thing, Kaylee explored the fashionable options surrounding fresh seaweed.



Cindy got hot again and decided to brave the arctic chill one more time... which made Kaylee SO happy...



The girls took a (minor) break in the swimming action to dig a Jacuzzi... I don't even WANT to know if there were any bubbles involved... ewwwww...



Then they all conspired to bury Kaylee...



During all the digging and burying, Chelsey found a candidate for dinner.



I thought it looked a little small, and was still kicking, so I threw it into the water to grow some more. Maybe next year we'll meet again, over cocktail sauce. But probably not.

We had dinner at the Pizza Factory, and then headed back to the other end of town. Across the street from Dogs A-Foot, is Elevated Ice Cream.



Homemade and delicious!! And every summer, their feature flavor is Local Raspberry, made from - can you guess? - local raspberries. I had to get a scoop of that, along with their Lemon Custard. Heaven on a Sugar Cone, my friends!



As I told the order-taking-girl at Pizza Factory, it was "A near-perfect day at the beach, followed by pizza - that's about as good as it gets!"

This coming weekend, Cindy and I are taking a parents only camping trip - on the wet side... I am hoping and praying for August instead of Augtober... Either way we're determined to make the most of it!