LBB '11: Saturday

Saturday was gorgeous. GORGEOUS! I started off wearing shorts and a tank, but the wind just wouldn't let me get some sun on my legs so I gave in and changed to pants. This was the first time I'd ever imagined wearing shorts at the beach though! It was in the seventies both days and sunny the whole weekend~ amazing for the Washington coast! Here are some photos of our day:

Started the day with the Ilwaco Saturday Market

Breakfast/Lunch at my favorite cafe. Their clam chowder
is tied for my favorite at the beach. Their real claim to
can be seen in the next picture.

This unsuspecting, if not cluttered doorway
may seem like nothing special, but I am sitting
at my table, enjoying my delicious food,
and taking this picture of the adjoined yarn store.
Yes, you read that right! Cafe and yarn store in one.
It's the most perfect set-up you could find!

After eating and yarn shopping, we went to an antique store.
This was one of my finds. I'm not sure where I'll put it yet, but
I thought it was cute. Also probably not an antique, but whatever ;)

Now, what happens next is something quite special. The moments captured in the following photos will supply my warm-fuzzies bank for quite some time. Blake's Grampa's beach cabin is three houses from the 'beach', which really means this long expanse of grass that leads down to the beach. There is a trail that Blake remembers from his youth that leads to the beach. We attempted to walk this trail last year but were stopped so very rudely by a new neighbor that would have nothing to do with us walking on her driveway. Well Grampa couldn't have this! So he talked with the other neighbors and made sure we could walk through their driveway and instructed us to try the trail again this year.

I am so glad we did. I hadn't looked past the few trees that lined the start of the trail to realize the splendor that was down that path. Now I will ask you to forgive me as I severely romanticise these next few events.

It was one of the most glorious walks! I imagined us frolicking walking through a Yorkshire moor covered in heather on the coast of England. You could hear and smell the ocean, there were little flowers and wild strawberries who's sweet smells competed with the salty air of the ocean and little animals scurrying about. It was perfect. I'm sure that if we were in England it would have been cloudy and gray, but this would have been okay with me too. SUCH a felicity to walk the path through this marshy meadow, hand in hand with my sweet husband :)

Looking back toward the houses.

This is where my romanticism stops. We had a pleasant walk along the beach with bare feet, clasped hands and light hearted conversation. I was glowing from the felicity ;) of my walk along the English moor the marshy meadow but the warm-fuzzies meter slowed at the sand. The beach is not romantic in my view. Furthermore, I don't understand why people romanticise it as much as they do. It is dirty and windy, snot runs from your nose regardless of your good health, your ears ache from cold, your hair gets blown into knots never to be considered attractive again until it meets a brush and probably a shower, and most of the sea creatures you see are dead. All of that said, it was beautiful :)

*warning*




 

Case in point: dead sea lion... or is it a seal?
Either way... gross!

After another glorious walk back through the meadow, we settled into the cabin and worked on our puzzle until it was time for dinner. My first birthday dating Blake (2008) he took me to this restaurant and we had such a romantic evening. Of course we didn't get any pictures of that date, but we took pictures this time. We even sat at the same table! This restaurant, The Depot, used to be a train depot in 1888 and was a tavern before it became a lovely restaurant. We were not disappointed as the food and atmosphere were wonderful.

The Depot has my other favorite clam chowder.

Same spot we sat three years ago :)

Dessert: Flourless chocolate torte with a pecan crust.
Even more delectable than it looks!

We walked home after dinner with almost painfully full tummies and the most pleasant breeze. We went back to the cabin and enjoyed a bottle of wine, watched a movie and worked on our puzzle. Believe it or not, we also went to get ice cream at Scoopers (a beach tradition) between movies. Blake's grandparents recommended Somewhere in Time with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. We however, would not recommend it! Oh well ;). We trepidatiously scanned for our next movie from the somewhat scary beach movie collection and chose Atonement with Keira Knightley and James McAvoy. This was a fascinating romantic drama. It appeared to have been nominated for several awards and was a fairly modern and recent addition to the beach movie selection. I'm not entirely sure I would recommend it or watch it again though, just because of some graphic/vulgar content that kind of ruined it for me. Without the unnecessary content, it would have been an intriguing movie.

We finished the puzzle (always a 1000 piece jigsaw) around 1:30 am and hit the sack!

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