All packed and ready for our 4.5 hour drive to Anecortes to catch the 2:30 ferry to Lopez Island, we said good-bye to Portland and were on our way. I think Stella was happy to go...she couldn't figure out the big moving box that took us from the Lobby of the Hotel Monaco up to our room.

The drive was uneventful, the ferry ride fun, arriving at Mom & John's even better! Ahhhh, finally on the island for a relaxing beautiful stay with Mom & John!

Lopez Island offers so much outdoor activity, it's hard to do it all! We walked on the beach, checked out the Island, found GREAT local produce locations, played games, drank wine, and ate great food! Saturday night we had dinner at the Bay Cafe, a local culinary experience not to be missed! The Bay Cafe has been featured in many "foodie" mags such as sunset and Travel & Leisure. A+ Crab Cakes, great soups, and oh so fresh salads....all locally grown. YUM!

Stella loved being free to run and run around Mom & John's place exploring all the island smells and creatures. We visited Lopez Island Vineyards where Stella met her new friend Jessie. Stella & Jessie played and we tasted wine. Our favorite...the 07chardonnay with a strong flavor of toasted wood and the 07 Merlot that boasted flavors of berry, smoke, cherry, chocolate, and anise. We did try a very interesting and quite tasty raspberry wine made by raspberries grown locally at the Broers Family Farm. We thought this one would be great with a nice French vanilla bean ice cream and bittersweet chocolate.



One of my favorite things we did while on Lopez Island was having a Mac & Jack on the back deck in the sunshine at the Islander. Cheers!




Monday morning it was time to say farewell to Mom & John and Lopez Island. We waited for our ferry back to Anecortes and we're off to Yakima Valley for more wine tasting experiences