We just watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty last night. It didn't get rave reviews (although, not bad ones either), so I wasn't expecting much of it. However, I really enjoyed it. It has a relatively simple plot, but it's really well done. And I loved seeing the scenes during Walter's adventures. He just takes off on this adventure. Like Cheryl says, "Life is about courage and going into the unknown."

Josh and I like to just take off and go on our own mini adventures, too. Not quite like Walter, but it's fun to drive and see where we end up. We headed out last Saturday to Chuckanut Drive. We would just stop and explore when something caught our eye. We lived on the wild side. Well, for me it is a bit wild since it's totally a different way of travel then how I grew up (with everything being planned out...not that this a bad way to travel, I think the combo we have is perfection - partly planned, partly adventurous).

We headed up the 5 freeway, and took exit 231 towards Chuckanut Drive (aka Route 11). We knew we were in for some scenery when we came to the first bridge. I was so ready to be spontaneous that I pulled into a gravel road that maybe in retrospect I shouldn't have - we survived (and so did the car). But it got us some good view.

Turn slightly to the left, and you get this:

Or cross the road, and look at this:

We hopped back into the car and continued down the road to see what else we could see.

And we came upon a side road to Taylor's Shellfish Farms. Oh, so this is where Taylor's oysters come from! (They're in many Seattle restaurants). By the way, oysters...yuck! I hate how the slither down your throat. No thank you. But apparently Josh likes that.

You can buy oysters and some other shellfish in the little store. There are oyster shells all over the ground, and you can look out and see them out in the water/mud.

We also got a good view of the bay. Thanks iPhone for your panoramas!

Driving back to the main road, I had to pull over and snap a shot of the train tunnel. It made me feel like James Bond.

I think we got more of a kick out of the train, though. How do you hump a train? Did you mean bump? Or did you really mean hump?

Of course, we had to take a few selfies and photos of each other.

The journey continued and we pulled over to pretty much every view point. I loved the little island on this view. Do you wonder, what's on that island? What animals? Any homes? Can you just boat over to it? So many mysteries.

We ended up in Bellingham for lunch at Boundary Bay Brewery. Then we roamed around the Farmer's Market that was happening next door. We also strolled around Fairhaven, a historic part of town.

But then we were back on the road. And we decided to take Chuckanut Drive south, too. On the way back, though, we made some more side trips. The first was in a tiny town called Edison. There are really only about 8-10 businesses there - a gallery, bakery, a couple funky stores, and a couple places to eat. We grabbed a cookie at Bread Farm, and then a drink and rest at Sough Food.

From Edison, we went out to Samish Island, which isn't really an island but a long strip of land that juts out into the water. We stopped for a whiskey tasting at Golden Distillery. There were some nice houses here with some great views. I could take this for a view; not too shabby.

Next we made a random stop at Japanese Zen Gardens (and fed some Koi). Then we noticed paragliders coming down from the hillside, and landing right by us. Now there is an adventure! Not sure if I could get myself to do paragliding; me and heights have a tough time together.

We drove along and passed through Bay View, for a final view of the bay before heading back to the 5 and back home.

What a fantastic drive! This sort of day always reminds me of what a beautiful area we live in, and it helps to reminder when we're going through some of the gray & rain...because after the rain you get green. You can't beat this!

So I'll end with the Life motto from Walter Mitty:

To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, draw closer, to find each other, and to feel. That is the purpose of life.