Carkeek seek and find.

After our carousel adventure on Saturday, we drove up to Carkeek Park to do some train spotting and tidal pool watching.

It was low tide when we were at the park. Low tide is great for searching for shells. Just make sure no one is living in the shells before you take them home with you!

See the oval critter in the middle of the photo? I know sure what it is, but a few years ago I did find one of these shells washed up on shore. Do you know what the name of this little guy is?

Sea anemone!

We spotted about 20 purple star fish! They are “technically” called sea stars though.

Hang on little guy!

This guy was looking for some noms. He let me get rather close to him too.

We walked up the beach searching for shells and waiting for trains.

The tide was super low! We walked on parts of the beach that we’ve never been able to walk on because the water was too high.

Here comes the sun!

And here comes the train! Our waiting finally paid off.

It’s comin’ ’round the bend.

Whoa baby! This is the biggest shell I’ve ever found at Carkeek! I brought it home with me. I’m thinking I want to put an air plant in it. I recently killed an air plant though so I don’t know if that would be the best idea. How does one kill an air plant?

Chuckanut Drive, purple star fish, vintage and vegan goods!

We took a drive on Chuckanut Drive today.

You can see Puget Sound while driving on Chuckanut Drive.

We went to Larabee State Park. We were here last and discovered a fun beach park. You have to walk through a wooded area and then on railroad tracks to get to the beach.

There were some fantastic ferns along the path.

We saw some deer walking on the tracks and then they disappeared. And then we saw this. Deer on the beach! Kind of surreal.

We also saw purple star fish! I was just complaining a few days ago that I never saw a star fish!

They were big!

These guys were all over the place. We saw at least 100 of them while walking along the beach.

Sunnin’.

There were a few clumps of these sea creatures.

Look how big they are!

Lovely!

When we left the State Park we drove a little farther north to Bellingham, WA. There was an antique store I wanted to visit and then we stopped by the super vegan friendly Co-op for lunch. We ate a wonderful tofu sandwich, chocolate truffles, and a peanut butter rice crispy treat with chocolate on top. Goodness!

I found a few vintage appliques at the antique store that I’ll use for a crafting project I have in mind.

I think this one is my favorite.

I also picked up these super cute buttons!

Food and a park.

We spent a few hours in Seattle after work today. Teahouse Kuan Yin in Wallingford has some great vegan options and tea. I had some tomato mushroom soup.

Eric has some Chana Masala.

We also had a few spicy samosas. These are some of the best samosas I’ve ever had!

A few storefronts down from Kuan Yin is Fainting Goat. They sell gelato, which is made with goat milk, and sorbet. The sorbet is deliciously vegan!

Since it was sunny we decided to go to one of the beach parks. Carkeek Park is our favorite park so Carkeek is was!

Even though it was sunny, it was a little chilly with the wind blowing by Puget Sound.

There were quite a few people out wind surfing (did I name the correct water-based activity?) too.

You can usually find some seashells along the beach. Nothing super exciting, but they’re always beautiful to look at.

It was low tide when we were at the beach so we spotted some hidden wonders we can’t normally see. Barnacles matey!

I spotted sea anemones! There were geoducks too. Geoducks are fun because if you watch them for a few minutes you can see them squirt water in the air.  I’m not exactly sure what they’re doing when they do that, but it’s fun to see.  I dare you to find a picture of a geoduck…you will regret it!!

More fun.

Eric went in search of a place to take decent photos of trains and I laid down on a rock. Jeans and jacket in May, but I was working on my tan!

I also found this guy! A sea slug! I never saw one of these fine fellows before.

Thanks for a fun night Seattle!  I miss you.