An Anniversary Trip is Just an Excuse to...

Well, you can fill in the blank. We definitely enjoyed (wink, wink) getting away. Of course, we did a lot of hiking, geocaching, and sight-seeing, as well as eating, drinking, and relaxing.

One of the most interesting geocaches I've ever hunted for! This was located at Dungeoness State Park in Washington. The following photos will bring about understanding!

We found it online, while sitting in a pizza parlor in Port Townsend, taking advantage of the free Wi-Fi with my little laptop...We decided, hey, it's a good jaunt! Let's go get it! We drove miles and miles and miles until we came to the first hint...What an awesome name for a road! Being that the name of the cache was related to cell phones, we just KNEW we were heading the correct direction!

Ah-ha! A decoy! We spent more than 15 minutes trying to take this damn phone apart, thinking the geocache log sheet must be inside. Then, I spotted it! There was a mini-micro, the smallest I'd EVER seen, stashed near the decoy! Those dirty rascals! 30 minutes later, we were able to sign the log sheet.
Hubby's new t-shirt said it all! It really IS all about networking!
Lavendar fields near Sequim. They are preparing for the annual lavendar festival in the area! Woo-hoo! We walked through the fields, absorbing the scents!

This photo is near the place we stayed. This is Ludlow Bay, a place FULL of yachts and sailboats. Definitely not a "poor man's" vacation spot.
While hiking one of the numerous trails in the area, we came across the most lovely wild digitalis (aka Foxglove). Don't eat it!
Here we are! We'd just scored an amazing geocache that was more than 50 feet from where it should have been! Someone had ransacked the cache and left it in a very odd spot. We cleaned it up a bit and returned it to the location described on the website. Grrr...stupid muggles!

I loved every minute of getting away with my Handsome Husband! We're in the midst of a transition as a couple, now married 11 years. I've just recently said good-bye to my daughter, as she is off in Europe, traveling and visiting for 3.5 weeks. When she returns, she's off to college in Colorado. My son is now 16 and pretty independent, which is good and bad. I miss having good conversations with him. Hubby and I look forward to an upcoming "empty nest," but I get sad when I see babies sometimes. I'm sure others understand. It went by much too quickly...

The Olympic Penninsula in Northern Washington State is just about as beautiful a place as can possibly be!

We stayed at the Cottage on Ludlow Bay, a place I found on my favorite site, http://www.vrbo.com/

It was overpriced, but nice enough. It was quiet and hidden away in the midst of a hemlock forest, only about 75 yards from the bay front. The owners have a MANSION on the property that blocked our view, making it "The Cottage Behind the Trees Behind the Mansion" on Ludlow Bay.

We hiked on some beautiful trails, even coming across Ludlow Falls, where we also managed to scrape up another cache.

Then, we went to Port Townsend for a day. This is where we worked on the HARDEST geocache in the history of mankind. We worked on it for more than 2 hours, off and on. At one point, we left, doing some other caches and sight-seeing throughout Port Townsend. Then, we couldn't resist. We returned to the wharf and begin hunting again. It was the freakiest hide ever. Seriously! It was rated a difficulty of "4", but I believe it had to be a "5."
This is the view from the wharf where we found the cache called "Union Wharf." Below is the sign that was near the cache. I'm seriously wondering about the sick minds of some geocache hiders! Man! As our trip neared the end, we caught a ferry from Kingston over to Edmonds, WA. While waiting, cops were everywhere, along with their drug-sniffing K-9s. This dog was very good. He came up to my window and said, "Hey. How's it goin'?"

This is another ferry going the opposite direction from us. We're in the middle of the drink at this point. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL weather and the trip was windy!

Our trip ended with an afternoon in Seattle. Hubb snapped this shot of Safeco Field as we drove downtown. We hit Pike's Market and ate little donuts at our favorite little donut place. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about...