July 5

We joined Jason, Dan, and Coco on Vashon Island for July 4th.  We left the motor home in Burlington and stayed in a lodge on the Island.  We planned to do some “beach” things like sit in the sun, kayak, and paddle board.  We brought the beach umbrella for Dart and Coco to sit in the shade.  It was windy and cold, so we walked the beach in our jackets and enjoyed the views of Mount Ranier.  Dan found us something else to do for the afternoon.

Dan hit the jackpot for us and found a place to do a cider tasting.  We went to Nashi Orchards which accommodated the six of us (4 adults and 2 dogs) for a cider tasting and tour of the orchard.  Nashi is a word for pear.

It was amazing.  I had no idea that cider could taste that good.  Some of the ciders have pears.  The orchards use a lot of their own fruit but will sometimes add fruits from other local farms.  The ciders were more like a fine wine.  After getting a taste of about six different ciders, all good, we toured the orchard.  The gardens were beautiful and we got to see the fruits beginning to grow on the trees.  We met the sheep that do a lot of the maintenance around the trees.  It was so beautiful, I was ready to move in.   The owners were very enthusiastic about what they do and were happy to share lots of information with us.  (I obviously didn’t absorb it all so I have to go back for another tour.) It was a great experience and we all felt that maybe we lucked out that we didn’t want to kayak in the cold.  It just goes to show there is always something interesting to do.  We, of course, purchased some cider to take with us.

We ate a a farm to table restaurant called the Bramble House. They offered cider from Nashi Orchards and well as other local options.  The dinner was amazing and the deserts were even better.  It’s probably a good thing I don’t live next to this restaurant.

We went to the area where the official fireworks were being set off for the Island.  We took the dogs so that we didn’t leave them in strange lodgings with all the booms.  It was crazy.  We were warned it would be crazy and it was.  There were so many “unofficial” fireworks going off that we weren’t sure we would know when the official ones started.  Good fireworks like that are not cheap, so I was amazed at how many people were shooting off big fireworks.

Coco was okay as long as they weren’t going off over her head.  When we were in the thick of things, the fireworks were going off around us, so we had to back off to give the Coco some space.  Dart wasn’t happy from the start and Regis took him around the neighborhood.  That gave Regis an opportunity to see just how many fireworks were going off all around Puget Sound.  And, most of those were probably not “official”.

We were able to tell when the official fireworks started.  They were a little bigger and better.  As soon as they started, all the “unofficial” fireworks stopped.  As soon as the last official firework finished, all the “unofficial” fireworks started up again.  We could hear them long into the night, much to Dart’s dismay.  I’ve never seen 4th of July fireworks on the West Coast before and it is the wild, wild west out here.