Weekend of Firsts

Emmett had his first five month birthday, we celebrated our first six year anniversary and we survived our first mudslide.  Yep, Emmett is five months old.  What?  Excuse me?  You want to hear about the mudslide?  Well, you'll have to wait and read the longest blog post ever.   

On Friday Brett and I headed out on a mini-staycation to Whidbey Island for our six year wedding anniversary.  We decided a few weeks ago that Brett works too hard and I have the vocabulary of a toddler (i.e. not enough adult conversation) so some time away from the kids would do us both some good.  We didn't want to spend a bunch of our hard earned money so after a short search on the ol' internet (love vrbo.com) we found an adorable beach cottage on Whidbey Island.  We dropped the kids off Friday afternoon (thanks Mom & Dad!) and decided to drive around to see the sights on the way vs. just hopping on the ferry. 

Our first stop was the Deception Pass bridge.  It was Brett's first time over the bridge and I was so delighted that he wanted to pull-over to check it out.  Sike.  I have been over this bridge many times and frequently have nightmares about it...I really dislike any bridge and this bridge is the extremest most extreme bridge EVER.  So, we park and walk on over to check it out.  There is a trail to the left that you can hike down.  Two steps down and you are greeted by encouraging signs.  What a great way to start our vacation.  Did I mention that it has been raining and is pretty slippery? 

So we hike around until my stomach can no longer bear it and head up to walk on the bridge.  Brett wasn't too in to it at this point because I had just mentioned that every time I encounter a ledge I get the feeling that I'm going to jump.  What?  It came out wrong.  I meant that I felt unstable and that I felt that I would fall at any minute.  But I was so nervous (sweaty palms) that words came out wrong.  We made it 1/8th across the bridge until my feet wouldn't move anymore so we decided to head back.  I strongly recommend the Deception Pass bridge as a tourist destination. 

Next stop was Deception Pass State Park, a favorite of the Dennis Broughton Fam growing up.  Driving through brought back so many great memories and made me get the camping bug.  I can't wait for a little warmer weather so we can pack up and head out! 

Back on the road we stopped for a quick dinner in Oak Harbor and continued down to the southern tip of Whidbey Island, Maxwelton Beach.  We drove up to our adorable cottage and instantly loved it.  It was really a ramshackle of a shed converted in to a "cabin."  Right up our alley but totally unacceptable to the vast majority of the population.  We (Brett) built a fire in the stove and headed out to the gorgeous backyard (seriously gorgeous, no sarcasm here) to build a fire in the pit as well.  We tried to live it up around the bonfire but the rain soon ended that party.  We headed back in and talked forever, you know, lectures and life plans and watched The Fighter.  Decent movie but didn't live up to my expectations. 

Saturday morning it was drizzling so we headed out to breakfast at an awesome restaurant in Langley called The Braeburn.  Brett noshed on a Cowboy Breakfast Burrito and I enjoyed super yummy Applebread French Toast.  If you are ever in Langley make The Braeburn your destination for breakfast (http://www.braeburnlangley.com/).  After bfast we visited Whidbey Island's best thrift stores and garage sales.  An awesome way to spend your anniversary!  We found some sweet treasures. 

The rain stopped so we headed back to cottage to gear up for a beach walk.  Remember, this is a vacation with Brett so there is no relaxing.  He is allergic to relaxing.  We load up our recently purchased thrift store backpack with a few snacks, a shovel for clam digging (not too sure if they are in season but what the heck) and a bottle of water incase we get parched.  Raincoats on we head out for our romantic beach walk.  All starts out good and pretty soon the hoods come off.  I think it might be a balmy 50 degrees.  We see many sights including beached crab pots (we need to inspect all to see if they are salvageable), a dead seal (ew), many landslides, and awesome mutli-level waterfalls. 

Brett modeling our awesome $1 backpack.

Our walk started at the north end of a huge bay and we soon find ourselves over halfway to the otherside of the bay.  Just doodling along.  We decide that our end destination will be the other end of the bay.  I keep glancing back because it seems that the tide might be coming in.  Nah, it never reaches that rock line according to my guide (Brett).  So we trek on and soon reach a challenge...a soupy, clayish mudslide of sorts.  I have tried and tried to figure out how to describe this obstacle but have come up with nothing.  We gingerly maneuver our way through it and as we step out we hear this sick, weird squishy noise.  Oh, how cute, the mudslide is making little mudfalls that sound like moving farts.  I seriously can't explain how weird it was.  The only thing I can think to compare it to is lava.  It was like cold, grey, lava that made farting noises.  So, we laugh and move on thankful that those tiny mudfalls didn't hit us. 

"Poopy Point" aka The Mudslide.  Looks cute and harmless.  Yea, right.

We make it to our destination and watch for wildlife in the water for a bit.  We see lots of birds and a cute seal that was "following" us by water.  Man could the seal move.  Really fun to watch it swim up and down the shore.  I glance back the direction that we came from and note again that it seems that the beach is gone.  Nope, it's all about perspective.  My guide is full of intelligent tide lessons.  However, we decide that we should probably start heading back.  Our five minute break is over.  As we do so I notice that things that were on the beach on the way there are now in the water.  No, couldn't be, the tide isn't coming in.  Hmmm, the beach appears to be much smaller.  We start to joke.  Hey, pick up that Styrofoam cooler, we can use it to float.  Oh, hey, an old dock, remember where that is in case we need to build a raft.  Ha ha ha. 

Hey, is that the cute farting mudslide?  It looks a lot deeper now.  Oh, because it is.  Much deeper.  Why?  The tide is coming in.  The first time over we crossed inches of soupy mud.  After trying to cross this time, we are working with feet of soupy mud.  I have my rainboots on so I try to recon (word of the day) our path.  I make it to a fallen maple (i.e. victim of recent mudslide) and see that there is no beach because the tide is now in.  Brett laughs.  We'll just build a landbridge out of driftwood over this mud and then go from there.  Sure, sounds great.  Half-hour builds a sufficient landbridge for Brett to cross..I am still clinging to my fallen tree starting to panic because I am on a tree, in the middle of an active mudslide.  Brett makes it to my tree and hops up onto the branches I am in.  Whew, we made it.  Then Brett yells, "BEAR DOWN!"  I think he's lost it until I turn around and see the entire hillside of mud headed our way.  Brett laughing hysterically and yee-hawing while I am yelling curse words, lots of them.  No exaggerating, we are going to be hit by a mudslide.  Our fallen maple tree over the mud becomes a fallen maple tree in the mud.  Mud in front, under and now over us and ocean behind us, nowhere to go.  You are reading this so we obviously survived but man, I was thinking mud was going to do me in.  So ridiculous.  Who does this?!? 

This is the mudslide "material."  It does it NO justice.

After we recovered from the fact that we just survived a mudslide, we look up the bay to realize that we have nowhere to go.  I glare at Brett repeating that the TIDE IS IN.  I ask Brett if is it too soon for him to tell me that I was right that the tide was coming in.  I am now laughing a hysterical crazy person laugh.  Brett calmly tells me that once you tell yourself there is not a way out, you will not find a way.  I say, yeah because there is NOT A WAY!  More hysterical laughing.  While I am scoping out ways to climb higher so we (me) aren't swept out to sea Brett hops, skips and jumps his way to the next root ball.  Well, duh, we'll just scale these trees and cliffs in my clearance rainboots (me) and Romeo's (Brett).  Fear leads to a little, just a little of anger.  I tell Brett while I am climbing in tree root balls dangling over the water I am dreaming of myself at a romantic candlelit dinner for two.  His response, won't this make for a great story?  Sure, if we make it.  More laughing.  After I calmed down and Brett promised me that we would get home safely (just like he promised the tide wasn't coming in) I decided that I just needed to follow my guide.  Several HOURS later of climbing over landslides, trees, massive rocks and waterfalls, we make it back to civilization just as the rain starts to pour down again.  Did I forget to mention that the bay we were on was a wildlife protection area so there were NO homes or people?  Oh, weird.  It was probably illegal for us to even be there.  Hmm.  We hadn't told anyone where we were going, forgot our cellphones and hiked down an uninhabitated beach while the tide was coming in.  Smart, real smart.  In the words of Brett, remember honey, we are on an adventure.  Funny, I thought we were on vacation.

Anyhoo, after returning safely we decide to head out to dinner.  Better late than never.  We enjoyed super yummy pizza at Village Pizzeria back in Langley.  Good food again.  Although we had hiked the entire day so we were starving.  Dinner done we grab some junk food to celebrate the fact that we are alive and laugh all night about the fact that we survived a mudslide.  A real mudslide.  We head out early Sunday morning, catch the ferry and pick-up the kiddos. 

These things always happen to us.  I'll have to share the story of the woman Brett helped save on our Honeymoon, the 10 mile walk we took in Vegas to see a pawn shop, the hike we took to a stinky hot spring while super pregnant, our Honeymoon beach walk that ended with us both seeing mirages or the "cabin" we stayed at in Forks that was being used as a backscratcher for cows in the morning.  Oh, vacation, I already miss you.  But, really, how boring my life would be without Brett.  Love you my faithful and trusty guide.