Spring Break 2012 planning was underway by August the previous year. Amanda had just accepted a new position and we were ready to book a celebratory trip. This probably goes without saying, but there are no direct flights from anywhere in the midwest to Orcas Island. So, we booked two tickets from St. Louis to Seattle and decided to work out the details later. The details, as it turns out, fell together nicely.
Still skeptical about this alleged island in the Salish Sea, I decided to negotiate a few other stops while in the Evergreen State--Seattle's Space Needle and Pike Place Market, Olympic National Forest, and the Pacific Coast. Barron Ambrosia, our travel companion gnome, negotiated a couple stops of his own--Forks and La Push (yes, Barron is a Twilight fan).
We arrived in Seattle on a rare, sunny Saturday. After a quick nap, we headed to Sky City at the Space Needle for dinner. We were expecting the Space Needle to be a little cheesy (even for us). Completely wrong. Amazing views, great food, and an out-of-this-world dessert (the Lunar Orbiter) made for an enjoyable first night in Washington. We even left with a mini-iron replica. Yes, I admit this.
Before leaving Seattle the next morning, we stopped at Pike Place Market to "quickly" look around. Several hours later, we arrived back at the car with primroses, bread, wine, fish spread, Indian spices, lentils, cherries, soup mix, and, of course, two coffees from the original Starbucks. At the time of publishing this post, we're still wondering how to get some of this on the plane. It was definitely time to leave the city.
Across the lush, densely-forested Olympic Peninsula to La Push, where we would spend the night at the Quiluete Oceanside Resort. Being a romantic, I splurged by spending an extra $10 on a room with hot water. Seventy-nine dollars for a room with an ocean-view? Is this possible? Our expectations were not high. But before we could find out what we were getting ourselves into, we had to make a stop in the town of Forks (for Barron Ambrosia, of course)...
Forks, Washington--made famous by the Twilight Saga books and movies--sits about 15 miles from the Pacific coast at the edge of the Olympic National Forest. For kicks, we took pictures of our travel companion, Barron the gnome, with the town's signature welcome sign. Locals are used to parents making the pilgrimage with their teenage daughters to do exactly what we were doing. But when two thirty-somethings show up with a gnome to take pictures, people stare. I'm positive we were the talk of town that night. There are two Twilight-themed gift shops in downtown. Being Sunday, we were lucky that one was open. Amanda made a few purchases for her Twi-Hard friends. Then we left as quickly as possible as if, somehow, the length of time spent in Forks can make the journey less pathetic. Continuing on to La Push (also referenced in Twilight), we were notified by a large, plastic sign, when we crossed the treaty line, indicating where vampires are not allowed to cross.
Quiluete Oceanside Resort is on First Beach in La Push, a wild and wonderful beach that looks like something off of a Pacific Northwest postcard. The water is dotted with haystacks, giant rocks jutting from the water into the air. Within ten minutes on the beach, we spotted gray whales just off the shore. After Amanda composed herself, she exclaimed two things: 1) Cue the deer! (A reference to the movie Funny Farm - we quote this a lot) and 2) Sea World is now dead to me.
So what about this $79 ocean-view room? Absolutely fantastic! The resort looks fairly new and is maintained well. The room was very spacious and included a kitchenette. There is no television and no telephone, but who cares?! The view of First Beach with its whales, haystacks, and giant driftwood trees would not allow time for TV anyway! One afternoon did not allow enough time to fully enjoy First Beach. As the sun sank into the Pacific, we cooked an eclectic meal in our kitchenette, all compulsively purchased earlier in the day at Pike Place Market.
And then, we went looking for this place called "Orcas Island." Several hours and two ferries later, we arrived. Our cottage was located on Buck Bay near the community of Olga. The island is rural and agricultural with an artisan population, giving it a unique and laid-back vibe. Next to our cottage was a shellfish, chicken, and horse farm. The island is mountainous with multiple state parks.
It only took us one day to develop our routine. Mornings began with a short walk to the Olga Cafe, located in the town's former strawberry packing facility. The front of the building is a cooperative artisan shop, the back side the restaurant. The cafe's specialty breakfast is baked eggs. You can get your eggs one of six different ways (sometimes a seventh way, depending on the special). Amanda's recommendation: Dungeness Crab Baked Eggs. Brent's recommendation: Salmon Baked Eggs. One thing we both agree on: the raspberry jam is like a dessert in and of itself. After dining at the cafe, we walked a quarter mile to the old Olga pier where we watched otters swim, feed, dry off, and then repeat their routine. Later, we then return to the cottage for a nap. In the afternoon, we drank Wet Orcas (champagne with blueberry and pomegranate juices) from our patio while we watched the bay. Then, we would walk down to the bay to enjoy our Orcas on a log that we declared as our own. Evenings included a dip in the hot tub followed by scary movies. Yep, island life is rough!
Straying from our routine, we did check out Moran State Park, about five miles from the cottage, where we "climbed" to the top of Mt. Constitution and hiked to Cascade Falls. Traveling in the opposite direction from our cottage, we visited Obstruction Pass State Park, where we hiked to the beach to explore the tide pools. From Deer Harbor we took a wildlife boat tour, charted by Deer Harbor Charters. The tour took us out into the Salish Sea, around Spieden and Cactus Islands and out into Canadian Waters near Sidney, British Columbia. We were able to see many bald eagles, harbor seals, and sea lions. No whales :(
This is our last night on the island. Tomorrow we'll board the ferries and head back to Seattle for our flight home. Each day there are reports that orcas have been sighted from ferry boats. Will tomorrow be our lucky day? If not, one thing is for sure, we will be back...
Still skeptical about this alleged island in the Salish Sea, I decided to negotiate a few other stops while in the Evergreen State--Seattle's Space Needle and Pike Place Market, Olympic National Forest, and the Pacific Coast. Barron Ambrosia, our travel companion gnome, negotiated a couple stops of his own--Forks and La Push (yes, Barron is a Twilight fan).
We arrived in Seattle on a rare, sunny Saturday. After a quick nap, we headed to Sky City at the Space Needle for dinner. We were expecting the Space Needle to be a little cheesy (even for us). Completely wrong. Amazing views, great food, and an out-of-this-world dessert (the Lunar Orbiter) made for an enjoyable first night in Washington. We even left with a mini-iron replica. Yes, I admit this.
Before leaving Seattle the next morning, we stopped at Pike Place Market to "quickly" look around. Several hours later, we arrived back at the car with primroses, bread, wine, fish spread, Indian spices, lentils, cherries, soup mix, and, of course, two coffees from the original Starbucks. At the time of publishing this post, we're still wondering how to get some of this on the plane. It was definitely time to leave the city.
Across the lush, densely-forested Olympic Peninsula to La Push, where we would spend the night at the Quiluete Oceanside Resort. Being a romantic, I splurged by spending an extra $10 on a room with hot water. Seventy-nine dollars for a room with an ocean-view? Is this possible? Our expectations were not high. But before we could find out what we were getting ourselves into, we had to make a stop in the town of Forks (for Barron Ambrosia, of course)...
Forks, Washington--made famous by the Twilight Saga books and movies--sits about 15 miles from the Pacific coast at the edge of the Olympic National Forest. For kicks, we took pictures of our travel companion, Barron the gnome, with the town's signature welcome sign. Locals are used to parents making the pilgrimage with their teenage daughters to do exactly what we were doing. But when two thirty-somethings show up with a gnome to take pictures, people stare. I'm positive we were the talk of town that night. There are two Twilight-themed gift shops in downtown. Being Sunday, we were lucky that one was open. Amanda made a few purchases for her Twi-Hard friends. Then we left as quickly as possible as if, somehow, the length of time spent in Forks can make the journey less pathetic. Continuing on to La Push (also referenced in Twilight), we were notified by a large, plastic sign, when we crossed the treaty line, indicating where vampires are not allowed to cross.
Quiluete Oceanside Resort is on First Beach in La Push, a wild and wonderful beach that looks like something off of a Pacific Northwest postcard. The water is dotted with haystacks, giant rocks jutting from the water into the air. Within ten minutes on the beach, we spotted gray whales just off the shore. After Amanda composed herself, she exclaimed two things: 1) Cue the deer! (A reference to the movie Funny Farm - we quote this a lot) and 2) Sea World is now dead to me.
So what about this $79 ocean-view room? Absolutely fantastic! The resort looks fairly new and is maintained well. The room was very spacious and included a kitchenette. There is no television and no telephone, but who cares?! The view of First Beach with its whales, haystacks, and giant driftwood trees would not allow time for TV anyway! One afternoon did not allow enough time to fully enjoy First Beach. As the sun sank into the Pacific, we cooked an eclectic meal in our kitchenette, all compulsively purchased earlier in the day at Pike Place Market.
And then, we went looking for this place called "Orcas Island." Several hours and two ferries later, we arrived. Our cottage was located on Buck Bay near the community of Olga. The island is rural and agricultural with an artisan population, giving it a unique and laid-back vibe. Next to our cottage was a shellfish, chicken, and horse farm. The island is mountainous with multiple state parks.
It only took us one day to develop our routine. Mornings began with a short walk to the Olga Cafe, located in the town's former strawberry packing facility. The front of the building is a cooperative artisan shop, the back side the restaurant. The cafe's specialty breakfast is baked eggs. You can get your eggs one of six different ways (sometimes a seventh way, depending on the special). Amanda's recommendation: Dungeness Crab Baked Eggs. Brent's recommendation: Salmon Baked Eggs. One thing we both agree on: the raspberry jam is like a dessert in and of itself. After dining at the cafe, we walked a quarter mile to the old Olga pier where we watched otters swim, feed, dry off, and then repeat their routine. Later, we then return to the cottage for a nap. In the afternoon, we drank Wet Orcas (champagne with blueberry and pomegranate juices) from our patio while we watched the bay. Then, we would walk down to the bay to enjoy our Orcas on a log that we declared as our own. Evenings included a dip in the hot tub followed by scary movies. Yep, island life is rough!
Straying from our routine, we did check out Moran State Park, about five miles from the cottage, where we "climbed" to the top of Mt. Constitution and hiked to Cascade Falls. Traveling in the opposite direction from our cottage, we visited Obstruction Pass State Park, where we hiked to the beach to explore the tide pools. From Deer Harbor we took a wildlife boat tour, charted by Deer Harbor Charters. The tour took us out into the Salish Sea, around Spieden and Cactus Islands and out into Canadian Waters near Sidney, British Columbia. We were able to see many bald eagles, harbor seals, and sea lions. No whales :(
This is our last night on the island. Tomorrow we'll board the ferries and head back to Seattle for our flight home. Each day there are reports that orcas have been sighted from ferry boats. Will tomorrow be our lucky day? If not, one thing is for sure, we will be back...
