Sunday, July 31, 2011

Farewell to July








Although summer has been late in coming this year, for me July was the month of a few more miles on my motorcycle, little get-a-ways, and my birthday celebration (which I seem to continue celebrating on into August!).

My Mr. Wonderful Boyfriend, planned a surprise birthday trip for me. The only thing I knew for sure was that it was a four day trip since he asked if I could take a couple days off from work. I love surprises, so asked him to keep it that way for as long as possible. As my birthday approached, he began giving me little hints and clues, i.e. you can access this place via the
"Chrysopylae", and it is home of the PEZ Museum and the Antique Slot Machine Museum. I knew none of these clues and promised not to Google, so was left in the dark. A few days before our departure he gave me the weather forecast, which did give me some ideas, but I wasn't 100% certain. The afternoon before our departure, he handed me an envelope. Written across the front it said "Do Not Open Until 10 o'clock Tonight!"

I spent the rest of the day holding the envelope up to the light and the windows, trying to pick up any clues. I could have packed my cosmetics at least, but instead puttered around my apartment, when the phone rang at eight oh oh. While he was packing his owned bag, he realized I couldn't even pack since I didn't know what I was packing for and decided 10.00 p.m. was too late since he was picking me up at 7.00 a.m. the next morning. Whew. That was considerate of him! I opened the envelope with him on the phone and inside was my boarding pass to San Francisco. Now this will sound odd, but this Wander Woman who's been as far afield as Turkey and Vietnam and as far south as Peru, who lived in Europe for over three years and traveled quite a bit of the U.S., had never been to San Francisco. I'd always wanted to go, but I'd just never "gotten around to it".

I was thrilled. It was a great surprise (even if I was starting to suspect it based on some of the clues) and Mr. W outdid himself with the full gift. We stayed at a wonderful and very romantic hotel in the Financial District. The weather was exceptional, as it was here in Seattle as well that particular weekend, and we had a marvelous trip.

We walked all over that beautiful city, exploring, sightseeing, and eating fabulous foods. Upon arrival, we checked into the hotel, dropped our bags in the room (with an amazing view), and headed out to see the sights. We first headed down to the Ferry Building for an outdoor, lovely, yet overpriced, lunch on the promenade. From there we headed up to China Town and wandered the streets and poked in the shops until we reached Russian Hill filled with Italian restaurants, shops and the famous Stinking Rose. We continued on to Washington Square in North Beach and headed over to Coit Tower to climb the stairs and take in the views. Luckily we are walkers because by now we'd covered a fair distance. But the day was not over. From Coit Tower we hoofed it to the famous crooked street of Lombard and climbed up to the top watching the cars inch their way around the hairpin turns that make the street so unique and popular.

From there we walked back down to Union Square via Nob Hill for some dinner and shopping. By this time, the afternoon sun had sunk, the evening breeze picked up and my cardigan was not quite sufficient in the chilly San Francisco air. I wasn't prepared for the temperature drop.

The next day I left the hotel room more prepared and stowed my jacket in Mr. W's day pack! We headed down to the famous Blue Bottle for a delicious mocha made with local Tcho chocolate. It really was worth the half hour wait in line! We wandered through the local farmers market filled with colorful organic and locally grown produce, then boarded the boat to Sausalito where we passed by the historical Alcatraz and took pictures of the stunning city scape behind us. Sausalito is a charming little town filled with quaint shops, restaurants, cafes and art galleries. Once back in San Francisco, we walked along the waterfront to Fisherman's Wharf, had a snack of crab cake and chowder in a sourdough bread bowl (I had no idea that sourdough was so famous there!), then we hiked up to Ghirardelli Square for a sampling of chocolate. Just a 'sampling'.

We had dinner reservations at a wonderful restaurant, "Perbaco", for my special birthday meal. I dined in succulent seared sea scallops and beets and a creamy carrot soup starter. Mr. W indulged in the devil's gulch rabbit. After dinner, we returned to the hotel to undo our belt buckles and lay ourselves out on top of our fluffy white duvet to recover. Romance ensued, but I'll leave it at that.

Sunday greeted us with another gorgeous day with the fog burning off mid-morning and the sun shining in full force. We made our way down to the Golden Gate Park where after walking through the rose garden, we came upon a bicycle rental shop. We chose to rent the bicycle built for two! Neither of us had experienced that before and we were excited to give it a try. It always looks so romantic and sweet in those old classic movies you see. That's the beauty of Mr. W., he's up for anything! We rode all around the park taking in the Conservatory of Flowers, walking through the Japanese Tea Gardens, riding past the de Young Museum and Academy of Sciences, and cruising all the way down to the beach where we strolled the shore and did some toe dipping. Okay, I did some toe dipping while Mr. W. took photos.

After returning our bicycle (once we finally found our way back to the rental place), which did prove be charming, fun and romantic, we walked over to Haight Ashbury and wandered the streets and quirky shops. We found a great lunch spot and then stopped in at the original Ben and Jerry's ice cream shop for a cone. It's a bit like coming to Seattle and visiting the original Starbucks at Pike Place Market. It just has to be done.

After our cones, we headed on to see the Painted Ladies. The sun was sinking low and we were afraid we'd missed our opportunity for some good photos with the sky line behind these Victorian homes, but once we arrived, the lighting was perfect and the views were spectacular.

We continued to Pacific Heights to view more incredible homes and daydream a bit in this fantastic city. I wish I had taken my pedometer as I'm sure we put on a million miles by this time. Luckily I brought a couple different walking shoes so I could swap from day to day.

Day four brought us to the home stretch. After checking out of our luxurious room and storing our luggage at the hotel, we walked just a few blocks and bused down to the Presidio National Park to walk along the Crissy Field path to the Golden Gate Bridge. It was a beautiful walk along the water with the bridge in the back ground. We climbed the many steps up to the bridge and walked across, taking photos, kissing along the way, getting honked at by cars for smooching, ate our Ghirardelli chocolate and had a wonderful time. Realizing our time was short, we picked up the pace and returned to the other side in time to catch a bus back into the center of town to finally ride a cable car and have a relaxing last lunch at the Hog Island Oyster Co.

July certainly has been a great month, even if the weather has been disappointing in Seattle. I've enjoyed some great motorcycle rides, took a trip to Port Townsend with the girls for a puffin seeking cruise, sat on the lawn at the Woodland Park Zoo and listened to the Indigo Girls on a surprisingly sunny mid-week evening, had this amazing trip to San Francisco that was perfect in every way, was treated to wonderful birthday dinners by dear friends and received many warm wishes, gifts, balloons, flowers and love from everyone in my life. Overall, I now realize summer isn't only about the weather.

Looking forward, however, to a sunny, summer-like August!

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Puffin Cruise Adventure





Last weekend a couple of women friends and I headed up to lovely Port Townsend for a girls' weekend and a 'puffin cruise'. "What's a Puffin Cruise?" many people asked when I told them of our plans for the weekend. "There are puffins in Washington?" they asked again when I explained to them that we were booked on a three hour evening cruise to view puffins.


I was a little concerned about the weather given our spring/summer track record. I had recently purchased a new sporty lightweight rain jacket at the REI sale. At least I kept to my promise of no new sandals this season. As it turns out, most of my sandals are still safely stowed on the top shelf of my closet looking brand new and anxiously awaiting summer. I was in need of, sadly enough, a rain jacket. I packed my new jacket, a scarf and some gloves (just in case), my comfy walking shoes and some flip flops (always the optimist) and my friends picked me up at 10 o'clock on what turned out to be a summer-like Saturday morning. I could actually wear my flip flops!


Port Townsend, as beautiful as I remembered the last time I visited 15 or more years ago, greeted us with sunny skies, sparkling waters and interesting shops to stroll. First things first, we were hungry! We trekked around town seeking the perfect eating spot to soak up this marvelous afternoon. Sirens Pub provided wonderful outdoor seating, delicious salmon sandwiches and salads. Trying to "be good", I opted for a grilled salmon caesar salad and iced tea. Delicious, satisfying and healthy-ish, it was also the last "somewhat good" meal I had for the rest of the trip. All too easily enticed into joining in on the ice cream cones, nachos, Bloodymary's and scones, by the time the trip ended, my good intentions lost all battles. Oh well, Monday I would start again! Luckily my friends are also avid walkers and we climbed hills, walked the marina and beaches and enjoyed our exercise in the sunshine.


The cruise started at 6.00 p.m., so after checking into our charming and fairly luxurious (by my standards) accommodations, we meandered around a bit more and headed down to the marina for our cruise. Adorned in a few more layers for an evening excursion in the Pacific Northwest and cameras in tow, the excitement mounted as we gathered amongst our fellow cruisers anxious to get a glimpse of these adorable birds. Kristen, a seasoned puffin seeker, remarked about a prior trip to Wales where she walked among 6,000 puffins. Wow, I immediately imagined the flocks of puffin we'd see on this clear cloudless evening.

As the first hour wore on and we slowed to a troll no less than 200 ft from Protection Island, we all hung to the edge of the rail, scanning the island cliffs and beaches for puffins. Using binoculars, we saw several eagles (the eagle counter counted 26 by the end of the trip, but she couldn't guarantee some weren't repeats. They do, after all, move around!), gulls, oyster catchers, rhinoceros auklets, a mama seal and her two pups. All the while, our guide, Roger, never missed a beat speaking in a monotone hesitant manner reminiscent of Batman. Admittedly, he provided a plethora of notable seabird information.

As the temperatures dropped, we began huddling together under blankets to keep warm. In my hurry to get on with the trip out to sea, I'd left my scarf and gloves inconveniently back in our hotel room. They would have been handy at this point.

Alas, we spotted a puffin bobbing out in the water several feet from our boat. Not just 'a' puffin, but a flock of three! While all the eager bird watchers crammed to one side of the boat looking through their view finders and binoculars to capture the moment of finally seeing these exotic creatures, I was practically peeing my pants at the thought of all of us paying $55 each to ride out to this remote island for three little puffins. These delightful tufted puffins appeared to bounce and bobble in the water. Their bright red beaks and white and yellow head tufts making them stand out against the darkening sea seemed so out of place in our neck of the woods. They really were striking.

Our captain finally picked up speed and continued his path around Protection Island to seek out more puffins. After a short distance, we spotted another one. We learned that puffins are solo birds and a flock (or 'gathering') is considered 1.4 birds. I guess seeing three at once made our trip quite successful. Roger also informed us that Protection Island was home to 13 pairs of puffin. Twenty-six puffin warranted naming an entire cruise after them. Wildlife Cruise, Seabirds of the Northwest, Bird Watcher's Cruise all seemed more appropriate and accurate.

In the end, our total puffin tally was four. Apparently, that is a good day out according to the online brochure I read a little closer upon arriving home. "Although we can't guarantee
a sighting on every outing, the chance of seeing a puffin on our evening
Puffin Cruises is very good." Reading that back, nothing about that line indicates that we were about to embark on an island full of puffins. A testimony from one bird watcher excitedly reported seeing 4 or 5 puffin in one trip. We all agree reading the fine print might have been helpful in our decision making. However, we may have opted out and would have missed a fabulous weekend in Port Townsend with beautiful weather, delicious food, spectacular scenery, a lovely boat ride and, most importantly, time spent with wonderful friends.

And to the often asked question, "there are puffins in Washington?" Our answer-- "not exactly."