We have had unbelievably beautiful weather so we have been out exploring Kingston for the past few days. We stopped by the chamber of commerce a few days ago and picked up their information packet. It included maps to many different hiking/biking trails so we have been exploring many of those trails. Kingston is a truly beautiful place! It never ceases to amaze me how big the water looks from land and how small it looks while cruising.

We were walking on the beach the other day and came across a man throwing a stick in the water for his dog to retrieve. As we approached the dog brought the stick up to me so I gave it a toss. After a couple of tosses the man said it was time to leave started walking away. But the dog was having none of it! He just kept bringing the stick back to me for another go. Finally we decided we should just walk away so the dog would get the hint and head for home. He wasn't too happy at first, but eventually took off at full speed heading for home. He reminded me of a little boy that just didn't want to leave the beach when his parents said it was time to leave. It was obvious that the man and the dog had been doing this for a long time as neither one of them was worried about what the other was doing.

We found an ad for a "super" market in nearby Poulsbo so we thought we would go check it out today. So far our only grocery experience has been a very small, very old IGA just up the road in walking distance. As you might expect, they have the essentials, but their shelves have a lot of empty spots in them and selection is very limited. Well, what a treat! This market rivals *any* market I have ever been in. It is very big and full of all kinds of custom/organic/natural/farm fresh stuff from the farm. What a real treat!! We spent a couple of hours just walking through the place trying all of the samples. We ultimately bought a small pumpkin and brought it home to put our boat in the holiday spirit. Jan carved it up today and we put it out on the swim step. She did a GREAT job, didn't she.