Trip to Port Orchard

Susan got Tillie from Cedar Creek Cavaliers in Poulsbo, WA. Trudy Owens, the owner, is a very conscientious breeder. She is passionate about her dogs and stays in touch with all the people who purchase her puppies. She recently contacted Susan about a Veterinarian Cardiologist who would be in Port Orchard on September 20. We were told that he is very experienced in picking up heart murmurs that might be missed by other vets. The information is crucial for both the long term care of the dog and Trudy's breeding choices. Susan decided that those were good enough reasons to drive over to Port Orchard for the test.
We got both dogs, the stroller and ourselves in the car and left Yakima just before 9:00 AM. After stopping at rest areas so we could all stretch our legs, our first stop was Molbak's in Woodinville. Yes, that is the wrong direction from Port Orchard, but they have some kneepads that we desperately needed and besides, the store is just awesome. We arrived there at lunchtime so after making our purchase, we all sat outside at Panera Bread and ate lunch. The dogs were a big hit inside Molbak's and outside the restaurant. From Woodinville we headed over to Edmonds to take the ferry to Kingston. We decided to take this route and visit any of the small towns on the way to Port Orchard, if there was time.

It is amazing the attention you get everywhere when you have two cute dogs with you. The weather was just spectacular all day long. No clouds, perfect 75 degrees and sunny. As you can see, there wasn't a wave in the water.
When we arrived in Poulsbo we decided we needed to just drive straight to Port Orchard for the test because we did not know how long it would take to get there. The vet was suppose to arrive between 3:30 and 4:30 PM and it was already 2:40 PM. It only took us 20 minutes to make the drive down highway 3. When we arrived, the vet was there and we got to go right in for the test. It only took a few minutes and Tillie's heart sounded just fine.
Back in the car, we headed for the Southworth ferry which would take us to West Seattle after a brief stop at Vashon Island. Mt. Rainier was stunning!

While driving across I-90 in the morning Susan noticed that the freeway would be closed at 6:30 PM for blasting. We checked on the cellphone and blasting was still scheduled. We knew we would get stuck in the delay if we drove home over I-90 and 410 is very windy so we decided to drive home over White Pass.
Not counting the two ferry rides, we traveled 442.07 miles. We were all very tired when Susan pulled into the garage at 11:45 PM, almost 15 hours after our day began. What we won't do for the love of our dogs!

Labor Day Weekend Fun

Since we were driving down to Bingen to try the pizza (see the previous post) I picked two Geocaches we could hunt for while in the area. The first cache was located in the Chenowith Cemetery. The cemetery is at the top of the cliff overlooking the Hood Canal. This view from the top of the cliff was just fantastic. The Hood River Bridge is just barely visible stretching across the river. Visibility was lower than normal due to the Oregon wildfire.

The town of Hood River is just across the water and was easily seen from our vantage point above the cliff.

The Oregon wildfire was visible as well. We could see the smoke shortly after leaving the Yakima area. Part of Mt. Hood is visible behind the smoke.

There were several trees around the cache which always interferes with the GPS signal. Susan noticed that the needle was moving even when she was standing still - not a good sign. Lucky for us, this was a very small cemetery so the "search" area was small.
Some people add clues to the cache information online at Geocache.com in case you need a little help finding the cache. The clue for this cache was "Delbert is looking at it.". This is Delbert.

The next cache was located at the Bingen Point Marina Park. We did not have any trouble with the signal for this cache. The GPS took us right to it.

A beautiful place to hide a cache.

What a great day of sightseeing and trying out a new restaurant.

Solstice Wood Fire Cafe

In the September 2001 Food Network Magazine there is an article in the section titled On the Road, describing the best pizza found in every one of the 50 states. The winner for Washington was the Country Girl Cherry pizza found at the Solstice Wood Fire Cafe in Bingen, Washington. We'll, since Bingen is only a couple of hours away we decided to drive down from Yakima and try it out for ourselves.

While we can't speak for the remaining 49 pizza picks, the Food Network got this one right - it IS worth the trip. For those of you that can't pick up your magazine and read about the pizza, it is made with a tomato based topped with goat cheese, cherries and chorizo sausage and sprinkled with rosemary and thyme. YUM!

We also tried the pizza special of the day; a salmon pizza with corn, cherry tomatoes, and a special white sauce. Susan preferred that salmon pizza while I liked the cherry one the best. The restaurant has outside seating and a gift shop where you can buy a variety of items from Washington state. Well Done Solstice!