Sand and sweets

This little seaside park in Edmonds, Washington is a favorite of D's family. We spent several afternoons here in August, beachcombing the chilly waters and eating pizza at Marina Beach, his sister's namesake park.

For his sister's youngest, it's a wonderland: boats, seaweed, sand, three things that will amuse a 9-year-old for hours. And when that gets old, there are always shells to collect, things to poke with a stick, statues to climb, and dogs to admire from afar.

D and his mother have always been the let's go for long walks and get all philosophical about life types.

They liked start their wanderings next to the ferry terminal. Snippets of Russian would float back to me as I trailed behind with the camera.

To the other side of the ferry terminal is Brackett's Landing North, another park which actually boasted swimmers one warm-ish afternoon.

D and I spent an hour here that day, sitting near a driftwood sculpture painted like an orca, as we waited for his nephew's karate lesson to finish.

It turns out this is a dive park too. About 25,000 divers visit a year, navigating their way around a guided underwater course of man-made reefs and sunken vessels. We saw no divers in the water that day, just kids splashing around as the sun sank and the warm air turned chilly.

As for the rest of Edmonds, it's quiet. There are the quaint slash upscale few blocks of "downtown". A library. A post office. One high school. A train station. A roundabout. For this city of 40,000, the nearby metropolis of Seattle probably offers access to anything and everything not found in the suburbs.

Did you know that travel writer Rick Steves and actress Anna Faris are originally from Edmonds?

I'll always remember Edmonds for its appeal to my sweet tooth-

When we first found this sweet shop, I had no idea that it's a new trend in dessert-ing. (Is it? Correct me if I'm wrong here.)  Choose your own frozen yogurts, pile on as many toppings as you want, and pay based on weight? Say no more! Where have you been all my life??!!

Just a few months down the road from that first visit, I'm already a fro-yo veteran. There's even a shop near our apartment that offers instant coffee, fresh tater-tots, and a bunch of other weird add-ons.

As for Edmonds, I'm not sure when we'll next make it up there. When we do, the beach will surely be a wind-whipped and lonely spot (hello, Pacific Northwest winters) so I suspect we'll be making a pilgrimage back to the spot of my sugary revelation. Or there's a nearby Russian banya and bistro that's been beckoning for a few months. Hmmm.... borscht or Butterfinger? Napoleon or Nutella? Sweat or sweets? That's a tough call!