Deception Pass & Rosario Beach

On our last full day in Washington we drove out to Deception Pass. It's easier to just link to the Wikipedia page to explain more about Deception Pass if you're interested.

We had wanted to go out to the beach that we used to go to a lot when I was growing up but my parents couldn't remember exactly where it was. I thought we had to go into the campground to get there and my mom thought we didn't have to go into the campground and thought it was Rosario beach. Meanwhile, my dad didn't remember which place we were supposed to go to either. So we went to Rosario beach and it turns out the campground was right. Anyways, we still enjoyed our time there even if we didn't get to see beach we had intended to see or the ancient Douglas fir tree my siblings and I used to play on.

The weather was beautiful. Warm and sunny. Although much too sunny for taking pictures! I was really disappointed with how my pictures turned out. The sun was so bright and the trees and hills made for some really dark shade so it was really hard trying to get them exposed properly. So basically my phone pictures turned out better than my camera pictures. As much as I hate to say it.

While at Rosario beach we just spent our time wandering around enjoying the nice weather and checking out the tide pools. It had been quite a few years since I've been to a beach with tide pools so it was fun getting to check them out. We saw lots of little crabs, fish, shellfish, kelp, etc. We also saw a sea otter (pictured a few photos below) and an eagle flying overhead. (Which I did not get a picture of.)

Have you ever been to a beach with tide pools?

Friday Favorites

Hello and welcome to my Friday Favorites! Today I am linking up with Andrea!

1. Three weeks ago my favorite band, Shinedown, was in town so my mom and I went and saw them again! We had purchased tickets months ago and had been anxiously awaiting the day of the concert! They put on such an incredible show and we really enjoyed it! The crowd was really into it too which made for a fun experience! 

There was a mom with her son (he was maybe 10 or 11 years old) in front of us and I heard them talking to the people in front of them and it was either his first ever concert or first Shinedown concert, but it was fun to watch him enjoy the show. 

2. And then a week after the Shinedown show my mom decided she wanted to go to Charleston and see Switchfoot on their Beautiful Letdown tour so we drove to Charleston to see them. It had been quite a few years since we had seen Switchfoot but they put on a pretty good show.

3. We stayed in Mount Pleasant and the day after the concert we had a nice breakfast at First Watch before heading out to visit Boone Hall. My mom had purchased tickets beforehand so all we had to do was go into the visitor center to pick a time for the house tour. We wandered around the visitor center/museum until our house tour time.

The tour of the house was interesting, although no pictures were allowed inside. The house wasn't as old as we had thought (it was built in 1936 but made to look older.). And only the downstairs was open to visitors as the upstairs is still used by the family. 

The rest of the grounds were interesting. There were multiple exhibits and tours to go on that were all included in the admission price. There was a plantation tractor tour,  Black history in America and slave history exhibits, we listened to a talk on the Gullah culture, and walked through the gardens (which were very overgrown and not much was in bloom. But I bet it is very pretty in the spring!) We spent a good portion of the day exploring the grounds and thought the tour guides were all very personable and interesting.

4. After visiting Boone Hall we stopped by our hotel and then drove into Charleston to have an early dinner at Edmund's Oast. Since it was still early we drove down to the Battery and walked around the park and looked at some of the fancy homes there. It was surprisingly very windy so we didn't walk around for too long.

5. In case you missed it, I've recently shared Part 1 and Part 2 of our visit to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival from when we were in Washington.

And then this week I shared a Currently post on Monday and on Wednesday I shared my recent Old Navy haul!

Have you done anything fun or exciting lately?

Hope you have a great weekend!