ZZZZzzzzzzzzz

The weather has turned. Oh it is still marvelously sunny out. Yet, the air has an autumn crispness to it. A chill that demands one put on a sweater, and makes breath appear as smoke in the night air.






The forecast says the rains are coming. Normally we would have entered monsoon season by now. My cocooning instincts are starting to emerge. I want to curl up with a good book and hot beverage in hand.


There is a lot of this taking place:

I have to admit that Miss Po isn't that only one taking cat naps!

Meet Me In Mukilteo

Today I wanted to "take" you to one of my very favorite places. We took a weekend trip down to Mukilteo in August and had a very relaxing time.

The Silver Cloud Inn - I Love It

Mukilteo is approximately 20 minutes away from Seattle in good traffic. We are fond of staying here. It is much cheaper to stay here than it is in downtown Seattle and it is a seaside. We have stayed in Mukilteo and then gone into Seattle to watch the Mariners play baseball or to go to the Woodland Park Zoo. http://www.zoo.org/

Jacuzzi and Fireplace

Our room had a jacuzzi. The rooms are well designed because the hotel allows you to open up the windows. The blinds can be shut from the bottom up so that you can have privacy and block the breeze at night, but still have the sound of the waves. I however, opted to jacuzzi in my bathing suit during the day and people watch. Sitting watching the scenery whilst relaxing in the frothing tub, while the ocean breeze swept over me was a life highlight. I am very grateful to have experienced it.

Our Room Was the Top Left Corner

This room vantage point allowed us to see the ferry dock, the patio of the restaurant next door and the pier out back of the hotel. It was truly a people and scenery watching paradise!

Staring Contest

Mr. O'M found this crab on the beach during our walk one morning.

Sunset View of the Ferry Disembarking

To the bottom left of the picture you can see the patio of Ivar's restaurant. The ferry arrives and departs regularly to Whidbey Island providing convenient transportation for those wishing to explore that island.

Fishing Off the Pier

One of my favorite aspects of this hotel is that there is always something to watch. The pier itself is very entertaining. One night I could see lights moving to and fro beneath the water. A few minutes later heads popped up revealing scuba divers. We learnt it is a popular spot for divers. We could see why when we spotted sealife for ourselves. We saw large purple starfish, neon orange octopus and different varieties of jellyfish.

It was a rare moment when there was not some kind of fishing taking place on the hotel or ferry piers. Some people come to collect clams and mussels. Others seems to pry barnacles off the posts. I was enchanted by the amounts of different races and ages of people who come to fish. Obvious stranges would show up and eventaully introduce themselves and share the experience.

The couple on the left in this picture seemed very sweet. She was obviously new to the whole fishing experience and her partner was helping her. The man on the right was an old hand and he would periodically jump in and help them. Her boyfriend or husband eventually caught the largest fish we saw caught. It was very flat and big and after asking around at the hotel I found out that it was a Flounder, a very good catch indeed!

The Mukilteo Lighthouse

Isn't it a beautiful design. I took a fancy to this old-fashioned triangle alarm system. The lighthouse started in 1906 and was filled with oil and had to be winded like clockwork every 3 hours. Thus, it was a big deal when they converted to electricitity in 1927.

Now the buildings are used for the US Coast Guard. The lighthouse itself is still operational though. It uses a 2 seconds on, 3 seconds off system which is individual to Mukilteo itself.

Lighthouse Beach

There is a beautiful very long stretch of beach, with a terrific walking path. You can see a dog in this picture swimming out to get a stick that his owner was throwing to him. He was such a nice dog. Above the ferry is a kite flying. Behind the rocks were play areas where daycamps had children, families were picnicking and people were bringing ornate kites to fly.

Arnie's

When Ed and I drove into Mukilteo we could not believe it when we saw a parking lot where our favorite restaurant used to be. We were so shocked we even asked the hotel clerk if we were mistaken about the location, we were so desiring it not to be true. Alas, Buzz's is gone forever. The good news is that we have found Arnie's.

Mr. O'M loves fish and chips. I do too, but I am not the life-long afficianado that he is. Also to be considered is the fact that we live in a coastal city that offers many restaurants that do fish and chips mighty well. So, I do not say this lightly: Mr. O'M said that this was the best fish and chips he has ever had. Enough said.

Puleeeeeezzzz Come to Vancouver!!!!

One day we were driving around for lunch and we saw this place and decided to try it thinking it would be a glorified Subway. It is much nicer inside than it looks from the outside. It has very comfortable booths and tables although take-out is offered also.

We liked it so much we came back the next day. This is a genius restaurant concept. The menu board is amazing as it offers about 75 options. It is guaranteed to satisfy both the starving male, female and children in your family.

Mr. O'M went for the gourmet burgers. There is every kind of burger you could imagine. Beef patties with your regular bacon and cheese, or pineapple, egg, peppers, bbq pork etc... I had to try the wraps. The first time I had a steak with blue cheese theme. The second time I had a Californian with avacado, chicken and chock full of vegetables. There is seafood, vegetarian options. Curly fries if you don't feel like regular fries. Chowder and soup if you feel like something more comforting.

Their condiment selection leaves nothing to be desired. The drink selection is self-serve and not only do they offer pop but they have an iced-tea machine with a full selection of iced-teas. They also have a cooler of specialty drinks.

As someone who is basically "grossed out" by fast food (though I do indulge sometimes) this restaurant hit my reflexes just right. I sincerely hope they come to where we live.

I can't wait to go back to Mukilteo!