Ruby Unger?

Sandy here.  Little Fox woke me up this morning with the news that we were going to visit Ruby Unger today.  I figured Ruby Unger was one of LF's friends, or a fancy salmon themed restaurant, or an exclusive ice cream shop.

Nope, it was a winery.  I can live with that.

Looks nice and they have a good view of Mt. Hood.

LF and I wandered around enjoying the wildflowers. 

And some nicely planted non wildflowers.

I wanted to look at the winery equipment.

Mama, can I bring this steel tank of wine home?  Will you pay the taxes for me? 

Now onto this Unger person.  Unger farms is a berry farm and they have strawberries in season.  You can do a "you pick" but LF's roommates aren't into that so we just got some from the farm store. 

They sell nice treats.  LF and I decided to split fresh strawberries and local ice cream.  Sorry roommates, you are on your own.

A nice little setting for our snack.

 Speaking of snacks.  Back at the house there was a large chocolate cake on the counter.  Perfect sized for two sttufies and their friends to share.  Plus fresh strawberries - who can complain about that?

Being a good guest I helped out the roommates by putting the rest of the strawberries in the fridge to keep them nice and cool.

Whose up for a hike?

Sandy and LF here.  We are waiting beary patiently for the roommates to get things settled and prepared for our hike.  We have a backpack full of snacks, lots of water and plenty of treats for Sequoia.  Let's Go!

This foxglove is just coming out.  I hope to see more flowers along the trail.  Our final destination is pup creek falls along the Clackamas River.  

The Clackamas is a popular river for rafting in the summer.  Further downstream from here it's also a salmon spawning habitat.

The woods are so peaceful on a sunny day. 

Patiently waiting to see if any rafters are going by.  The river is flowing high right now as it's main source is snowmelt from Mt. Hood. 

Eventually, we made it to the turnoff for Pup Creek Falls.  Man, this would be a great hike if Droopy comes out to Oregon. 

Along the way up to the falls there were some rhododendrons starting to bloom.  The rhododendrons in the neighborhood have already bloomed and lost there flowers but the wild ones are just starting up.

Success!  We made it to the falls and believe it or not we had the place all to ourselves for about 5 minutes.  This is a popular hike so it's a treat to have some time at the falls without 50 of our closest friends. 

There is a great view at the falls but not much of an area to have lunch.  That's OK, along the trail there were lots of spots.  

Ah, what a great hike. Time to sit back and enjoy the view.

 

Seattle, Day 2.

Good Morning Stuffy World! Sandy  Bear and Little Fox in charge of the blog today.  Do you see us on this statue?  You have to look hard but we are here.

We are checking in today from the Port of Edmonds today. Lot's of boats to explore.

The port has a nice fishing pier.  You can walk about 200 feet on a pier to a fishing ramp.  Lot's of people fishing but no one is catching anything.  Drat, no fresh fish for this bear.

Lot's of fancy boats are parked at this port.  Part of the reason it's so popular is that people can drive from Seattle to Edmonds relatively easily and have access to the Puget Sound without having to go through the Ballard Locks (which get beary beary busy on a nice summer weekend). 

The port is quiet today.  Off to the left you can see the Edmonds Yacht Club.  Little Fox isn't a member so we can't explore that building but we did find an open gate the port so we can explore the boats. 

Apparenttly the gate was open because they had a wooden yacht festival yesterday and today.  Lot's of old boats from the 1910s to the 1950s.  Similar to a classic car show but for boats. 

Old boats are like old cars. An expensive hobby to keep up.  

I christen thee, the "SS Stuffy" offering free rides for all stuffies.  Unfortunately, maritime law does not recognize stuffy ships so the free ride part probably won't happen.  A fancy restaurant with views of the harbor are in the background.  Sigh, they are only open for brunch today.  

What a nice day.  What's that in the background? Cruise ship?

Not a cruise ship, a state ferry.  The Edmonds ferry travels between Edmonds and Kingston on the Olympic Peninsula. About a 20 minute ferry ride, perhaps on another day. 

Back home.  Time to say goodbye to my stuffy guests.  Back to Oregon today. 

Road Trip, Day 1.

Little Fox and I have hit the road to visit some of his older stuffy relatives in Seattle.
Coming into Seattle from the south lends you one of the best views of the downtown and the space needle, except for tonight.  It's a tad smoggy but if you look hard you can see the space needle way back there on the left.

We mae it safely and the older stuffies were ready to hang out with us. 

Rise and shine humans.  It's an amazing day, let's go!

In the distance you can see the Olympic Mountains.  If you go to certain places in Canada you can see the same mountains.

Our destination today is Ballard.  A neighborhood in Seattle that is known for it's Nordic heritage and it's fishing history.  Now it's known for it's hipsters and trendy shops.  Of course Ballard was first inhabited by the Shishole Native American Tribe, then in the 1880s the area became a major shipping point for timber and fishing industries which attracted many Swedish and Norwegian immigrants.  In 1907 Ballard was annexed by the City of Seattle and the rest is history. 

Lot's of back alleys.  An ship builder here. 

 Perhaps I can get a back alley deal on Salmon? 

 This boat looks ship shape. My guess is it's a fisher heading north to Alaska.  Perhaps I will see if I can catch a ride on it to Canada when I am ready to head home. 

Hanging out in town square. 

This bear needs a pick-me-up.  I'll take a venti hot chocolate please.

They have these bikes all over town. 

.

Who am I kidding, I don't know how to ride a bike. 

What?  Three sandwiches.....two stuffies?  This is the life!

To aid in the timber and the fishing industries the Army Corp of Engineers built the Ballard Locks.  The locks make it easy to travel between Lake Washington the the Puget Sound.  The Ballard Locks handle the most traffic of any locks in the United States.

Water level starts off low. 

Boats come in and the water slowly rises. 

And rises.

Till the boat is ready to go. 

Time to head home.  This bear and fox are hungry. Yes, fresh cheese from Switzerland, blueberries and crackers will do for dinner.  What, a stuffy size glass of wine too?   Sounds great. 

Ah, what a day.  Time for bed.  What's on tap for tomorrow?