Long Beach and the Oregon Coast

Our hotel was at Long Beach, Washington, which is at the very southern end of Washington. Our hotel had free bike rentals so we took advantage of that and went on a ten mile bike ride in the morning along the beach. That was great fun.

We then headed down to Oregon to the town of Astoria, which is pretty hipster. It's like a mini-Portland. Someone had sheep in their backyard, and even the beer is served in mason jars in this town.

Further south on the Oregon Coast, Ecola State Park has beautiful views of Cannon Beach.

As we were looking at this, Leonard asked if I wanted to go down to the secluded beach, which involved a trail for "experienced hikers only", and I said no since I wasn't even wearing proper shoes. I thought he was upset because he became quiet and didn't take any photos of this gorgeous view, but little did I know what he was actually thinking...

He then led me to this picnic table off to the side of the viewpoint, got down on his knee, and proposed! I'm now an engaged woman!  And what a wonderful place for him to pick.

We then headed off to explore Indian Beach and Cannon Beach.

What a great day!

The Olympic Peninsula

Day one of our three day road trip involved twelve hours on the road along the Washington coast, with no map and only a 2001 Michelin travel guide from 2001. We were incredibly lucky with the weather on our trip. It felt like summer!

Our first stop was Port Townsend. We got there by driving through Whidbey Island and taking the ferry from Coupeville to Port Townsend. It's a pretty town with amazing architecture from the Victorian era.

Fort Worden's lighthouse:

Port Townsend:

We then headed west towards the Olympic National Park. We didn't get to go inside the park, but drove around it instead and stopped at the sights along the highway.

Lake Crescent:

Ruby Beach

Driving through the rainforest and Lake Quinault

I'm definitely going back one day. These weren't even the three star attractions in the park!

Cooking Class Night

This spring's high school alumni event was a celebrity chef cooking class! The cooking class was held in the old home ec room, and the five course dinner was in the fancied-up gymnasium, with candles, flowers, and a big chandelier.  It was great fun and I got to see what the new school looked like (they did renovations starting the year I graduated).