Friday was a gorgeous night. We went out to dinner at a Hungarian place, Budapest Bistro in Mukilteo. Everything is made from scratch by Elizabeth, a Hungarian lady, complete with the authentic accent and everything. They were out of a lot of things since they were preparing for a big dance festival to feed 200-300 the next day. We had our fill of meat and potatoes and beer.
Saturday morning we ate breakfast and then got out of the house again even though it was mostly cloudy. By the time we were over in Mukilteo, the sun was in full view. It was really shaping up to be a beautiful day. We parked on Front St and moseyed over to Diamond Knot Brewery & Alehouse B1, established in 1994. They have 3 other locations around the Puget Sound. This location handcrafts its own fine beers. We did a sampler tasting of 9 beers of their beers, with their reknown IPA as a favorite and the fruit notes of the Industrial IPA peaked my palette even more. This hole in the wall location served up some great food, surpassing most bar food. They are known for their stone grills. We had stuffed portabella mushrooms with sausage.
Afterwards we took Chance across the street to the Mukilteo Lighthouse Park. The old-fashioned white lighthouse has guided seafarers for more than 100 years. Today the main sea vessels were the 2 ferries heading back and forth between Mukilteo & Clinton on Whidbey Island.
The rocky gravel beach is strewn with driftwood and a popular picnic spot, especially today. There are fire pits, grills and picnic tables. There’s a playground and large grass field for playing.
I’m not sure what was so funny, but Joe took a good picture. We have an overwhelming about of pictures of Joe out here, but not me since I am the one majorly behind the camera and writing this blog.
We walked back to Front Street. We passed Woody’s Market, eyeing their ice cream cones and open garage door policy letting Chance come in. We walked by Ivar’s, a Puget Sound fried seafood stable. There were tons of people at their walk-up counter ordering lunch & soft serve. They have a great outdoor dining deck where you can watch the ferries come in and out every 30 minutes. We went back to Woody’s and enjoyed our moose tracks and coffee ice cream cones, with Chance even getting a little treat.
Both of us were really tired for some reason. We drove further down the coast towards Edmonds, but we decided to head home and take a quick catnap before our next endeavor outdoors.
We grabbed our bikes and took to the streets around our house. We biked north to Silver Lake, in the Silver Firs region of Everett. There isn’t a trail around the whole lake since there are a few private single-family homes on the waterfront, but Thornton A. Sullivan Park is really nice on the western shore. There are picnics and playgrounds. There is even swimming, that’s lifeguard monitored from mid-June to September. Unfortunately pets are not allowed in the beachfront part of the park. No swimming for Chance. I can’t imagine how cold that water must be anyways.
Since Joe needed to do work on his Xterra on Sunday we chose to drive to Snohomish to burn a few gallons of gas. He had to replace his fuel gauge censor so he can accurately know how much gas is in his tank so the less gas, the easier to work with it. We drove closer toward the Cascade Mountains. They felt so close we could almost touch them, except they were still an hour away. The valley is well known for skydiving and great for hot air balloon rides. We saw both as we drove by the small aircraft airport. As we turned onto Second St, the main drag in town, running parallel to the river, we noted Chuck’s Seafood Grotto where we ate lunch while house hunting in Lake Stevens months ago. The hanging flower baskets gave the rustic shack new life with the patio setup awaiting the summer crowds. As soon as the word’s Fred’s Alehouse came out of my mouth, Joe was turning into a parking spot. Apparently I didn’t need to say those words twice. Looks like we’re having dinner in Snohomish instead of at house as previously planned. We walked along Second Street for a bit noting other locations to try and the lower trail along the river which begins the Centennial Trail, a path I hope to bike soon.
Nothing peaked our interest as much as Fred’s Rivertown Alehouse and I’m sure glad it didn’t because this place was phenomenal. It is known as the place for fine ales, single malt scotch, and northwest food. The bartenders told us it was actually a slow night due to the miraculous appearance of sun & beginnings of summer today. The place would usually be packed and loud if everyone wasn’t out enjoying the weather. There were 32 beers on tap. Fred’s was awarded the highest rating of Four-Stars by The Beer Lover’s Guide to the USA, one of only two such ratings in Washington. They were also on the list of Top 21 Beer Establishments in the country. I think we found our favorite go-to bar. There’s only 2 tv’s so not the greatest for watching games, but the food and drink selection makes up for it.
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