Bainbridge Away!

Monday marked a whole year of being married!  

So, to celebrate we decided to head back to the beautiful Island of Bainbridge for a weekend away. 

We started our adventure Saturday, the ferry ride over was beautiful and lovely view of Seattle's new Ferris Wheel! Our first stop, of course, was the little zen park where Nick proposed (THIS time with my camera!) 

This visit both of us have rings! :)

Then off to City Center downtown to browse the shops, take in the view and eat at a favorite spot: Doc's 

 Highlights of our meal: delicious hummus, tapenade and pita plate, we devoured dinner: mussels and clams for me and an onion pepper burger for Nick.  

 Finished of course with some Mora's Ice Cream: Strawberry Cheesecake for Nick and Raspberry & Mora's (Blackberry) for me. Seriously, best ice cream ever. 

 We stayed at the cutest Bed & Breakfast: Kellerman Creek and our hostess, Jean, was so sweet and is a phenomenal cook! I didn't get a chance to photograph those nom-noms, but Sunday morning we were pampered with her homemade French Toast slathered in a homemade raspberry reduction and some delicious sausage. Monday morning was a fantastic vegetable frittata with bacon and toast and a yogurt parfait with fresh berries. 

 Day two was a rainy, wet, cool day but that didn't stop us from tromping around the amazing Bloedel Reserve. 

Nick ready to go with our self-guided tour book.

This place was huge and SO quiet. There were so many tranquil ponds and places where, if it wasn't raining, I'd curl up with a journal. This sweet pond has tiny ducklings scampering around. 

Love these -- and we weren't quite sure of their identification, but we think they are a type of lily that eats bugs...according to our tour book

The old Bloedel Residence... what a front yard! 

Behind the Bloedel Residence is a labyrinth Nick and I walked. Well, to be honest, Nick walked the whole thing. We were lucky enough to see a "baby" eagle fly back to it's nest and call for its family after the Visitor Center told us to be on the lookout. I was obviously very distracted, thus didn't finish the labyrinth. Nick and I also managed to get soaking wet and soaking wet Toms are a bit tricky so we headed back into the cover of the forest trail. 

After our adventure (and some dry shoes) we stopped for lunch at the Fork and Spoon. Nick had a delicious grilled cheese and ham and I had an amazing hummus sandwich with arugula, cucumber, avocado, tomato and goat cheese with hummus on the most amazing oat bread ever. And just guess who's drink belongs to whom :) Of course, we had to finish dinner with more Mora's ice cream. Nick tasted the Coffee Irish Cream and I mixed the Mojito and Raspberry Sorbet...OH. MY. WORD. Worth every penny.

We headed back to the B&B to finish out the rainy, lazy day with some tea, reading and of course a wood fire. I was in such relaxed bliss. One of my favorite afternoons with my hubby yet. 

Gotta have the pinkies when you drink tea...

 Later in the evening we toasted surviving each other for a whole year ;-) 

I brought the champagne flutes my mom and dad got for our wedding day and we enjoyed our last bottle of wine from the wedding. We finished with an inside "picnic" of french bread, summer sausage and Gouda cheese. 

We also watched the video from our wedding and subsequent honeymoon videos -- wishing we were back in Disney and out on the open sea, but also perfectly content with our weekend. Followed by Maverick and Quigley Down Under neither of which I had seen and both of which I really enjoyed! 

We said farewell the morning of our actual anniversary, July 16 and headed back to our beautiful city. 

The dinner Nick made for our anniversary...SO yummy! :) 

And, of course, what is left of our wedding cake...not old, and crumbly and freezer burned at all... (well ok, maybe a little. Our REAL dessert was Tiramisu YUM)

Blessed beyond reason with this husband of mine!

See all the pictures here