lopez island long weekend + fourth of july.

now that its the beginning of august, lemme tell you what i did for the 4th of july.

it seems extra hard to keep up with all my photo-takings and blog postings and whatnot during these gorgeous summer months. i just want to frolic in the sunshine every single day when i get home from work. and summer weekends are like gooold- not for sitting on the computer. but i'm currently writing this while sitting on the back porch in the sunshine and pete and i are bout to grill some corn and chicken - so, win-win!

for 4th of july weekend, we took off in the cheddar bus to lopez island where we stayed for 4 fabulous days. my bff katie and her bf chad came for the first time, too! 

i just love riding on the ferry. it feels like you're going somewhere without actually going somewhere. ya feel meh?

qp & kt: a love story.

first stop was the lopez island farmer's market to visit pete's aunt & uncle who blow this amazing glassware! among many other beautiful things! check them out here!

special bonus sighting of pete's cousin peri, eldest offspring of the glassblowers. that family is seriously sooo talented and artistic and awesome...every last one of them. peri hand makes these cool tote bags out of old sails from sailboats. she also makes hats, ladies' swim wear, kimonos...the list goes on. check peri out here!

^^^ there's cousin peri and her sail bags and other goodies for sale! pete and i got the orange and also the mac & cheese tote for the cheddar bus, 'acourse :) those things are durable as hell. carry 4 bottles o wine in the medium one! big loads of laundry in the large ones! just sayin.

we made lots of cute dog friends.

^^^ we went to the lopez island thrift shoppe where pete and i scored these fab island duds. me, a $4 dress (with pockets!!), pete, a $3 seagull pullover jacket. instant vacation mode achieved.

biker gang off to laze about by the water. // this gal loves her ritz (& pete taught her the ways of cheez-whiz).

MY BOO.

all the ducks in a row. or geese.

chad built a driftwood sculpture by the sea. we named her "seahag." she fell over. but check out that walking stick at the bottom! just like yoda's stick. we meant to sell it on ebay but forgot it.

fun little day hike and picnic up at watmough head. followed by some chillin and paddleboarding in watmough bay. just crazy pete went, though. dat water was absolutely freezing.

ooo birks & socks and a wonkily buttoned shirt. #donthasslemeimonvacation

a quick sail with the zerkel men! peter and brother tim's beer coozies each match their outfits hehe.

more dog friends.

4TH OF JULY EEEEEEEATS! hot dogs & spam sliders for everyone!

awesome fireworks show viewing party right on their property. soo great. we usually watch them from the sailboat which is also sOoOooOoo great, but the water was super choppy that day.

last relaxing day on lovely lopez.

and we were welcomed back to seattle with this stellar sunset. 

love you long time, lopez. see you again soon.

 

qp

weekend on lopez island.

ahoy!

pete and i spent the weekend on lopez island in the san juans. we are so lucky to be able to go up there as often as we do. its such a laid back, slow-paced, and friendly community of folks. not to mention b e a u t i f u l.

here are some snaps from my iphone 6.

^ just enjoying a bask in a grassy knoll by the water with our friend, mr. american bald eagle. we saw several bald eagles that day, actually. 

we rode our bikes over to pete's aunt & uncle's house one afternoon, and ended up hanging out there with his uncle lark and cousin peri all evening. i've probably mentioned here before how much i loooove their house that uncle lark built. so magical and fairy tale like out in the woods of the island. downright talented folks in this family, by the way. 

lark is a glass blower and used to hand blow these beer yards as prizes for the lopez island brew festival. he told us that glass beer yards came to be back in the day so that people could easily hand beer up to carriage drivers that were seated way up high. i never knew! just thought it was some sort of las vegassy gimmick. but ze beer yard served a real purpose. and he gave this one to pete! now if only we could find a safe place to store this thing in our house......

^ just roasting snausages with lark's glass blowing tools. naturally.

below is pete's parents cabin. built in 1890! we think it is now the oldest structure on the island. pretty crazy!

this is a great place to just walk around, bike, picnic, read, visit. which is exactly what we did.

back to the mainland. and for a stop at the skagit tulip festival :) more photos to come. 

another lovely lopez island weekend in the books. 

 

 

qp