Chuckanut Drive

Today we set out to do something we hadn't done yet.  Take a drive on the Chuckanut Drive.  For those of you that are not familiar with Chuckanut Drive, it is a 20 mile road that stretches along the Washington Coast.  While it was supposed to be sunny, clear, and almost 80 degrees today -- and it wasn't -- we still had a good time.  Basically we hopped in the Juke (Indy included) and went to check out 

Things to do on the Chuckanut Drive

Our main focus was lunch.  We had a small breakfast at home and then headed out.  Here was our lunch stop...the Oyster Bar.  Neither one of us likes raw oysters, but there were plenty of other seafood options and the view was spectacular.

After lunch we hopped back in the Juke and went down a mile marker or two to the next stop.  As you can see Indy was ready to get out of the car.  Here she is nearly pulling Kristina out of her flip flops.  You would never know that this dog hiked 5-6 miles yesterday.

After a while, Jared came back and joined us and then all was good with Indy.  She just didn't want her herd separated, no matter what!

More views...

A Madrona Tree...Jared loves these trees so much that he bought one to try and grow in Woodinville.

Later on we stopped at Woodstock Farm.  It is an old historic home in Bellingham -- quite interesting and fun to wander around the grounds.  There was no one else there and again, the views were spectacular. Here's a moss lined hiking path.  Note that Kristina now has tennis shoes on instead of flip flops.

We weren't sure if Indy could be off leash (we didn't even know if the farm allowed dogs), so we kept her on leash and she stretched the entire 30 feet ahead...crazy dog!

Of course Indy had to check out the water and do a full submersion.  The saltwater didn't seem to bother her, but we didn't want her to drink too much of it.

Shells along the beach...there was sand underneath, but crushed shells sat on top of the sand.  It made no difference to us, it was still a nice little area for Indy to swim.

Views and views and more views...you can see the low hanging clouds that lasted ALL DAY.

Dorothy Lake Trail

Today was a beautiful weather day in Western Washington, and because we are getting closer and closer to fall (i.e., we don't know when the nice weather will end), we both decided to take the day off and hike to a mountain lake -- our lake of choice was Dorothy Lake.  We hit this trail last year, but we only hiked to the lake and didn't get to go explore, so today we set out to do more.

It is a short and sweet hike up to the lake...there isn't much of a climb in elevation at all, and since it was a weekday, we pretty much had the trail to ourselves.  We didn't get to take too many pictures on the way up -- Indy was burning up the trail and we probably made it to the top in record time.  However, once we reached the top we were able to take the camera out and take a few shots.  Last time we hit the outlet spur, so this time we went further around the inlet.

Once you reach the top of the trail, this is what you see.  It is quite a spectacular view.  It was sunny, clear, and warm -- and the water felt like the perfect temperature.

As we hiked around the inlet, this was a pretty good shot of the lake.  You can tell that the trail is mostly elevated around the lake and there isn't a lot of access to the beaches or shoreline.  We did find one rock star of a beach, but it was already taken with campers.

 

Does this look like a happy dog, or what?  Indy was in complete heaven all day and pretty much ran full throttle all day.  We kept waiting for her to wear down a bit, but no chance.  She was definitely the Energizer Bunny!

We finally found a place that we could get down to the lake.  We had a quick lunch and Jared thought he would try his hand at fishing.  He tried both a fly and bubble and a panther martin -- no luck with either. There were some tiny fish following him in, but no takers.  And of course Indy was interested in what was going on as well.  However, unlike some other dogs we know, she typically stays near the shoreline.

  

Here's a shot of the wet dog.  She had to do some more swimming once Jared was done casting.

Here we are back at the beginning -- we hiked back after a while.  We walked about a mile or so around the inlet and then headed back.  The sun was starting to set and we wanted to make sure we had light to get out of all of the trees.  However, Jared took a few casts -- he says he caught one while Indy and Kristina went to check out the outlet spur -- but you know how those fisherman are!  :)

The wet dog -- she had to go swimming yet again.  You would think this dog is part lab and not a cattle dog. The cattle dog genetics must have skipped her.

Pictures looking away from the lake...

Here's a shot that Kristina calls the "Rodger Harp Hole".  Anyone that knows Rodger knows that he would risk life and limb to get down to this spot.  We were both sure that it was a good one, but we couldn't see a way down without breaking our necks!

Hiking down the trail back towards the trailhead...

Lots of cool mushrooms along the way...

Almost back down...there is a bridge that crosses over the waterways.  It is slide rock heaven!  We took our time to soak our toes and do a little wading -- of course that was swimming for Indy.

Note the little black head bobbing around the swimming hole.  She couldn't get out without Jared's help, but that didn't stop her from jumping in the water -- multiple times!

Jared sitting close to snag her out when she was ready...

More crystal clear pools of water.

As our friend David always says, "Days that don't suck!".  It was a great day!