Vinocaching, it’s just like geocaching, except you are searching for a bottle of wine at each location.

The Husband tasting wine. The bandanna was our team color.

A couple of months ago I went to a fundraiser in Yakima Valley for the HeartLinks Kids fundraiser. It was bascially a scavenger hunt for grownups. My husband and I were a team with his parents. The goal was to use GPS devices to locate, by longitude and latitude, medallions with symbols on them that we had to decode.

We would then call in to the base and they would give us our next coordinates. Each location was either a winery or a local point of interest. At each winery we had to perform a simple task, like applying wine labels or washing the windows, in exchange for a wine tasting and a bottle of wine.

One of my favorite wines of the night, it was actually port. But there are laws about what you can call port*.

I believe we made it to around 6 of the 10 wineries in the time frame. We then donated several of the bottles to the auction that would be held at the post race dinner. Here’s a site that has a description of the event.

One of the winery tasting rooms.

It was all a very good time. And the dinner was amazing, the freshest of asparagus is what I remember most clearly. The asparagus was grown locally, and they fried it up in a wok made from tractor parts. It’s amazing as it sounds. And there were buckets and buckets of the veg.

Many dollars were donated, much food was enjoyed, and numerous bottles of wine finished off in mason jar glasses. And of course dinner was located on Merlot Drive.

The wineries were all beautiful and expansive. This one in particular had an awe-inspiring view, I believe this was the DavenLore winery. I suggest you visit them if you ever go to Prosser, WA. Despite its podunk feel, there’s a lovely wine country. You should come to the VinoCache if you’re in the area next year. It’s a very unique idea for a fundraiser and it’s one that’s sure to please. Good food + excellent drink + good cause = grand time all around. Join us next time why don’t you?

My favorite wineries were:

DavenLore (the one with the view)

Coyote Canyon

Thurston Wolfe (especially their Sweet Rebecca dessert wine)

A Guide to Prosser Wine Country

Our car is old. Not twenty years old, or even thirty, but it’s solidly over ten. It’s been abused by ski trips, a spilled bottle of fish sauce (the worst possible thing you could spill anywhere), and an accident before we owned it. It’s been rough.

Well it finally kicked the bucket, combining a flat tire with the emergency brake going out coupled with a handful of other maladies.

Caleb and I have yet to find a new car (have you seen how many car scams are on Craigslist? Ridiculous!) Thus we have been puttering around via bicycle and bus, which is great. We’ve had the chance to go on romantic treks all over Seattle.

The other night we went to Citizen, a cafe in Queen Anne.

Thank you iPhone photography. Excuse the appearance, I had helmet hair.

Outside at Citizen.

It’s really cute, I really recommend it. It has its issues, but we find them charming. It’s kind of hit or miss with the service, but the food is excellent. Their pulled pork sandwich (on regular bread, not the baguette they normally serve it on) is absolutely amazing! The seasonal rhubarb crepe tops the list as well, though it’s the only crepe I have had of theirs.

On a side note, Seattle is beautiful, especially our location. We’re right next to the water, and rent is no higher than anywhere else in Seattle. If anything it’s lower.

And we get this. Pretty, right? We don’t have an actual water view or anything, but this is literally a few minute walk from our place. We really love our apartment, as you can tell.

In other news, I’m going camping again in the San Juans this month. Hurray!

In other, other news, I gave those Matrushka measuring cups to my future sister-in-law at her wedding shower. If you knew her, you would know that they were perfect for her. I found them at Fireworks in Seattle, you can find them online as well.

P.S. No I’m not trying to brag. I was just feeling defensive towards people who were saying that Seattle was lame. :)

Last month Caleb and I went to the walrus’ birthday at the Point Defiance Zoo. His name is E.T. And yes we have an annual pass to go see him whenever we want to. We really like walruses.

At the moment there are also two female walruses on loan from the San Diego Zoo. It’s E.T.’s harem. They are supposed to make baby walruses together, I hope they succeed this year. You have no idea how excited I will be if there are walrus pups to see. Though I’m just excited that there are three walruses at the zoo right now. There’s only about 13 or so in captivity in the U.S. Maybe even the world. They don’t really do well in captivity since they are such social animals. And it’s hard to house a herd of walruses.

Anyway. E.T.’s birthday. He was turning 38. Or 32. Something old. Walruses generally only live to be 35-40 years, so he’s an old guy. He’s been at Point Defiance since he was a pup, rescued from the waters of Alaska. His birthday party consisted of him doing a few tricks and then blowing the herring candles out on his cake. No, really, he blew them out. You should have been there.

Did I mention that we went to two of the three “parties”. We waited for 45 minutes for the second one to start so we could get front row seats. We have a problem. Is there a Walrus Lovers Anonymous?

They rule fiercely, are hard to please, and have thick dictatorly ‘staches.

Exhibit A:

We flock to restaurants and cupcake shops, tasting their wares and reviewing them without mercy! The peasants read our verdicts and cower before our decisions. The lucky establishments that pass our tests are revered in the kingdom and highly patroned!

So really the Citysearch Dictators are a group (you can join, at least in Seattle!) of people that review businesses on Citysearch. The editor, Chelsea, gives us monthly “assignments” that we can partake in and have the chance to win prizes! Assignments vary from writing a list of restaurants with patios to a review of our favorite restaurant that has Sunday Suppers. Sometimes you can win by having the best, or other times you can win by entering first or just winning in a random selection. I won a $25 gift card to Agua Verde recently to be one of the first 5 to submit the assignment.

We also have monthly gatherings, with a raffle and often free food or cupcakes! The last one I went to was at Cupcake Royale.

At this gathering we happened to get to decorate our own cupcakes and sample some local wine. We were given some great swag, a box with a Cupcake Royale travel cup, a coupon for a free cupcake, a bag of Shepherd’s Grain Flour, and some other neat goodies too.

Here’s a picture of the Sprinkle Bar where we decoratee our cupcakes. We got to choose the frosting! And we got to sample three different kinds of babycakes, oh were they good. I love Cupcake Royale.

In the raffle I won a Sprinkle Party! Me and a few of my friends (6 or so) get to come in and decorate our own cupcakes. Not sure when to use it, but sounds like a cute idea for some get together.

At the first Dictator gathering at Post I won a jar of Bacon Jam from Skillet. Which I shall have you know is very, very, awesome.

It’s a great group, and it helps you to get to know the city better. Quite a few of them are also very active foodies on Twitter, the gatherings are always a hoot with this group. We’d love more dictators, so join and get your ‘stache on!

*I found the photos on the Dictator Facebook Group Page, so kudos to whoever took them!

It’s nearly July and Seattle has had one day where it was over 75 degrees. One.

So my man and I decided to roll with it and go somewhere that is always a little chilly so our expectations would not be let down—the San Juan Islands.

The irony is that it turned out to be quite sunny and warm (high 60s). I even got a sunburn, first of the season. Hush now, I was expecting clouds and showers. And the sunblock was buried in my backpack somewhere that I did not desire to seek out.

The Juans were gorgeous, as always. They’re breathtaking rain or shine, clouds or not.

Caleb shot this photo right before we left the ferry back in Anacortes.

And they are home to all manner of fluffy, cute, frolicking creatures–which I am very sorry I didn’t catch any pictures of. We had numerous deer sleep in the field next to our tent and in the morning we drank coffee watching the sheep and the bunnies play.

We left early in the morning on a Saturday, driving up to Anacortes and grabbing some Old Rasputin stout on the way (for camping, not for driving).

I am going to build a castle on this island and live there forever.

We parked in the lot way up on the hill, pieced our bikes back together since we had to remove the front wheels to fit both bikes in our little car (a task easier said than done). And sped down the hill and onto the ferry.

Our little trip started on Lopez Island. Where we discovered that Caleb’s bike tire was flat. And town was 5 miles from the ferry terminal. Uh-huh. I see.

The Husband without, and with, enough coffee at the Lopez terminal.

So we began our trek in the heat into town, trying to catch a ride. It’s amazing how many trucks with empty beds sped by. Finally an old van with a bumper sticker on the back reading I love my Eagle Scouts pulled over to the side. Ah! Someone with the scout’s honor! And indeed it was an Eagle Scout to our rescue. He took my husband and his bike into town and I just rode the rest of the way in on my bike.

~

The secret writing on the wall, is there more?

The secret writing is here because the CSS is being weird. In the mean time, congratulate yourself.

Caleb and I stayed the night after riding our rears off all over the island at the Lopez Farm Cottages and Campground. We opted for the Camp Nest, a carpeted tent with a futon and comforter already set up for you. And no, we’re not lazy. We just didn’t want to haul in the camping supplies for our one nighter on bicycles.

The campground was empty, it was all ours. Just to share with the gentle creatures of the forest. It’s a very peaceful camp, I highly recommend it. The perfect change of pace from the city. Not that Seattle is all that wild, but it is compared to a meadow full of bunnies.

The rest of the weekend was spent on our bikes visiting Spencer Spit, walking on the beach, beckoning the bleating sheep, delighting on espresso over homemade ice cream, and whale watching.

P.S. No photos of me because all of them turned out awful. Somehow the husband looks good even after a day of bike riding in the wind.

Places we ate at:
Bucky’s on Lopez (average but good burger, excellent fries)
Isabel’s Espresso on Lopez (we had the ice cream with espresso, highly recommended)
The Crab House in Friday Harbor (really fresh seafood, naturally, but sorry we spent the money as it wasn’t very good despite the freshness)
The Hungry Clam in Friday Harbor (read my review here)
The Doctor’s Office in Friday Harbor (just got coffee, it was alright)

Verdict: The only repeatables were the fries at Bucky’s, the espresso float at Isabel’s, and the burger at The Hungry Clam.

This past weekend I went on a fabulous getaway with my husband up to the San Juan Islands near the border of Washington and Canada. I have been there a few times and my husband never had the chance. It’s a really gorgeous place, completely green and secluded with abundant wildlife. We saw deer, bunnies, sheep, and numerous birds. The deer are especially content on these  islands as the only predators are birds of prey.

Photo by Ephus Bailey.

We also saw whales on a whale watching excursion. This is something I have wanted to do since I was a wee lady (I couldn’t very well say ‘lad’ could I?) (my mother reminded me that I could have said ‘lass’ there, ah well.) But it is an expensive luxury that I never had the opportunity to partake in. When I met my husband, in the early dating days, he told me that he wanted to take me whale watching. 3 years later we got our chance.

Photo by tibchris.

About a month ago Groupon had a whale watching deal for 50% off tickets. The tickets were still expensive, in my opinion, but we went for it. They just don’t get cheaper than that around here. So I planned a whole weekend around this opportunity, of which I’ll detail in my next post. It was a harrowing weekend with hitchhiking, a sore gluteus minimus, wind-burned faces, and fear of being frolicked to death by bunnies and fawns.

So. Whale watching.

The San Juan Islands are where the orcas like to summer along the west coast from May to September. They were my favorite animal growing up, many an orca I have Crayola’d. And no, it’s not a “killer whale”. Because it is an orca. And that’s that.

To sum up our excursion, it was kind of lame. It was pleasant and fun. The “naturalists” on board were characters and certainly knowledgeable, no problem with them. But about the first 2 hours of the trip was spent putting around the north end of San Juan Island seeing little to no wildlife but birds. It was a little dull. It was nothing we hadn’t seen on the hours of ferry-riding thus far.

Photo by Chrissy Gombos.

When we did get to where a pod of orcas were grazing, we mostly just saw the occasional dorsal fin. It was like a meteor shower, but faster. “Look! There’s one! Aw you missed it. There’s another! Man, they’re quick!”

They fail to inform you that the boat has to stay quite a distance away from the animals, which I respect. But they should inform you that it’s annoyingly far. Don’t expect Shamu to come right up to the boat.

Our whale watching boat. Photo by Jeff Henshaw.

I saw one whale breach. If I hadn’t seen it I might not have even been sure that they were orca dorsal fins. Pretty disappointing.

I understand that the tour operators can’t control what the animals are doing that day, so I don’t completely blame them. I just wish they were a bit more upfront about what to expect. Out of the 4 hour tour, we had about 20 minutes of dorsal fin spotting. That was the “whale watching”. Alas. My childhood expectations ruined me.

This is basically what we saw of the whales. Photo by spacecrafty.

Recommendation: Don’t pay full price. In fact, pay nothing more than 50% for whale watching tickets up in the Juans. It was pretty enjoyable, you just have to have the right expectations. You never know, you may luck out and spot a few more playful whales than we did.