Well, it’s Monday morning and our staycation week is over but sorting through my new photos to find one image from each day has been a fun trip back through our latest adventures. Our goal was to visit at least one mountain, island, river, beach and city while trying new things and as of today we accomplished just that. Our feet need a rest and the laundry is out of control but we’ve got plenty of happy memories stored away and a long list of places we want to revisit when summer changes to fall.
Our week started bright and early Sunday morning with a hike up to Wallace Falls. We made it all the way to the upper falls and the view down was spectacular but my favorite part of the day was the climb through old and second-growth forest. This shot is from our last rest stop along the river on the way back down. We spent Monday exploring Port Townsend and Fort Warden on the Olympic Peninsula, a pretty ferry ride from Edmonds. I’ll have plenty of photos to share over the next few weeks but this view is of the caretaker’s house next to the lighthouse at Pt. Wilson. Tuesday found us a little closer to home enjoying lunch on the deck and a walk through Carkeek Park in Seattle. Inside the park we found this little orchard and some of the trees had bags tied over the young apples as part of an art project to be revealed in September. We’ll have to go back to see the final results.
Wednesday was our “in-the-city” day with a trip to the Seattle Aquarium, lunch on the waterfront and a ride on the Great Wheel. Thursday was our 21st Anniversary and my aunt Maryellen joined us on a beautiful hike up the Ira Spring trail near Snoqualmie Pass. This peaceful view of Mason Lake was our lunchtime reward for climbing the 3.5 mile trail straight up the mountain. Our sandwiches, fruit, trail mix and chips were just enough fuel to power our trek back down to the forest service access road and by the time we made it home pizza on the couch was the perfect dinner.
Our final adventure of the week was a trip to Whidbey Island and a hike through Ebey’s Landing National Historic Reserve. We enjoyed another ferry ride followed by coffee and cinnamon rolls in Coupeville before heading to Ebey’s Landing for lunch on the beach and a hike along the bluff. I could write a weeks worth of posts about this day but today you get an image of Ryan winding up for a rock skipping throw before flying his kite while whales jumped and swam past our picnic spot on the beach. What a day! I knew it would be hard to live up to Friday but Saturday definitely took a turn for the worse and I’m sorry to say my aunt’s sweet little Prius will never be the same… She’s alright though so everything can be solved with a little time, a little luck and some creative thinking.
Even though I was away from WordPress last week I posted plenty of new photos on Instagram and Facebook so if you’d like to see more of where we’ve been please stop by and take a look. 🙂
Each photo was taken with my iPhone 6 using Hipstamatic’s “shake to randomize” function then posted without any additional editing. If you like a particular combination and want to try it at home just click on the image to see the lens and filter used. For variety I continue to add new lenses and filters so if you want to try Hipstamatic but are unsure how to start let me know and I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
oh wow the first shot looks so much like our Lynn Valley Canyon! awesome 🙂
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Sounds like a place I’ll have to visit!
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You’ll be surprised how similar it looks 😀
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I wish I lived where you do to have a staycation. If I do a staycation here in Indiana, I get corn and flat ground. Zzzz Zzzz I keep workin on my wife to get us out there. Not getting any younger.
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I like looking at cornfields but I’m sure it’s different if you see them everyday. 🙂
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Happy Anniversary, Lisa! Love the shot over Mason Lake.
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Thanks, Nancy! Actually I was thinking about you and your Grand Canyon adventure when we were working our way down. Really I said “if Nancy can do the *** Grand Canyon I can handle this mountain trail”. 🙂 Thanks for the encouragement. 😉
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Hahahaha! I’m laughing because just yesterday I was brainstorming ‘cool’ and ‘fun!’ ideas with Mr. Enthusiasm for a vacation in October. One of those ideas was “we could do Rim to Rim this time: North rim to river and up South rim”, to which he responded with a resounding, NO. 🙂
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This was the second year in a row I planned a steep mountain hike for our Anniversary… I’m pretty sure John won’t say “yes dear” the next time. 😉 Good luck with your October adventure!
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It’s such a treat to use that feature in Hipstamatic. I will have to try it. That first image is serenely lovely with its pinks and oranges saturating here and there.
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Thanks so much, Sally. I hope you have fun experimenting!
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Looks like you all had a whole lotta fun not to mention good weather!
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We did have fun, Jude and yes – the weather was perfect. 🙂 I hope yours is improving.
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Funny weather here Lisa, cloudy most mornings, sometimes all day, some rain mostly showers so it doesn’t even water the plants enough, but when the sun does come out it is HOT!
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Great photos. Love the one taken on way to Wallace Falls.
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Thanks, Rusha. I’d planned to take my random shot from the top of the falls for some dramatic scenery but completely forgot once we were up there. The river below ended up being my only Hipstamatic image of the day. 🙂
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But it turned out OK. I just applaud you for going to the top. When we visited the Oregon waterfalls near Portland, we only went halfway!! Still pretty!
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I think waterfalls are pretty from all angles, Rusha. 🙂
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The little orchard looks so cute. Looks like the apples are blooming and hopefully the next time you are back you will be able to take home a few with you…if you are allowed to 😉 And laundry can always wait 😀
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I’m pretty good at making the laundry wait, Mabel. 🙂 We’ll definitely check the orchard again for apples later in the fall!
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Wowsers, it was really foggy at Mason Lake! Happy belated anniversary……
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Thanks for the anniversary wishes. We were surprised by the amount of fog up there but the misty views across the lake were surreal and pretty so no one minded. 🙂 Plus the cool air felt great after our warm trek up the trail.
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that is so beautiful and great tones 🙂
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Thank you, Joshi. 🙂
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great photos and wonderful memories, Lisa!
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Thanks so much, Lola!
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The caretaker’s house looks a little radioactive! 🙂 When we were in Panama we visited a guava plantation where all the fruit was bagged to keep the bugs off. It was quite a sight!
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Bagging all that fruit sounds like a lot of work, D’Arcy!
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I like what you have done with the Hipstamatic, Lisa!
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Thanks, Amy!
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Ohhhh…my heart melted when you said you had coffee and cinnamon rolls in Coupeville. So many really great memories. So glad you made it to Whidbey and Coupeville.
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Our Whidbey Island adventure was my favorite day of our Staycation week and I can’t wait to go back. :). I can see why you miss living there.
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[…] that selection requires thought or it can be serendipitous. Lisa at Northwest Frame of Mind (click here) regularly has fun with the “shake” feature in […]
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I just want to stand in that stream and turn over the stones to look for water bugs. 🙂
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Sounds better than going to work right now. 🙂
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