The United States boasts lots of great places to live, but I personally think that the Pacific Northwest tops the list. In fact, here are the first five of my top ten reasons why I think summers are great here:

1. Extra Long Days: In the summer time we enjoy amazing long days, with the sun rising EARLY in the morning, and setting LATE at night. There’s nothing like watching the sunset at 9:45 in the evening.
2. An Incredibly Temperate Climate: Most people think of the Pacific Northwest as constantly rainy, but here in the summer we get our fair share of sunny, warm (but not overly hot) days, with moderate humidity. True, we may get a summer sprinkle or two, but summertime here usually brings with it a seasonal drought, and temperatures in the 70s and 80s. In other words, perfect weather.
3. Beautiful Scenery: Do you like mountain views? We have those. Do you like water views? We have those. Do you like forest views? We have those. Do you like forested mountains rising above lakes, fjords, bays, or rivers? We have those, too! There are very few places on earth as beautiful as the Pacific Northwest.
4. Great opportunities for outdoor life: Camping, hiking, sailing, kayaking, geocaching, windsurfing, waterskiing, fishing, hunting, shellfishing, biking, golfing, diving … just to name a few!
5. Great State Parks which provide venues for the activities in #4 (and more). But they’re popular, so you’ll probably need to make reservations early in the year if you want to get space!

We’ll cover reasons 6-10 in a future post, so stay tuned!

If you’re a resident of the Kitsap Peninsula, or the Pacific Northwest, leave a comment below and share your favorite reasons for living here!

This coming weekend, August 8-10th, the Alderbrook Golf & Yacht Club (AGYC) will host its 38th annual “Skippers and Mates” golf tournament. This is AGYC’s largest golf tournament of the year and includes golfing couples from as far away as Bellingham, WA.

The festivities begin on Friday, August 8th with a practice round, and the tournament itself will take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 9th and 10th. Participants will enjoy continental breakfasts and delicious lunches on Saturday and Sunday, as well as a buffet dinner on Saturday night.

The frosting on the cake is the $6,000 prize fund for the winners. That makes for some exciting stakes, I think!

Even though registration for this tournament closed on August 1st, you can still enjoy golfing on one of the nicest courses in Washington State, because the Alderbrook Golf Course is open to the public. 

Here’s what one AGYC member has to say about the Alderbrook golf course:

“The Alderbrook golf course is cut into the forested hills just a mile from the Alderbrook Inn on the Canal. Someday you will be coming down our finishing hole, you will look over the 18th green, see the majestic snow-capped Olympic mountains, and say as I have many times, ‘this must be God’s country, and I’m living the dream…’ The golf course is laid out with no parallel fairways. No stray balls to duck, no other golfers to hear. Just listen to the birds and the breeze.”

Sounds like a dream to me, and a very pleasant one, at that!

Did you know that Hood Canal is a fjord? A fjord is a “long, narrow inlet with steep sides, created in a valley carved by glacial activity” (hat tip: Wikipedia).

Most people think of places like Norway or New Zealand when they hear of fjords, but residents of the Pacific Northwest only need travel to Hood Canal to enjoy the beauty of this unique geographical feature.

Hood Canal separates the Kitsap Peninsula from the Olympic Peninsula, and averages 1.5 miles wide and 177 feet deep. It’s long, extending for about 50 miles from its entrance between Foulweather Bluff and Tala Point down to Union, Washington, (just down the road from Alderbrook Properties) where it makes a sharp turn, known as The Great Bend. It continues for 15 miles to the northeast, ending in the shallow tidelands of Lynch Cove, near Belfair.

Hood Canal got its name from Captain George Vancouver, who named it for Admiral Lord Samuel Hood, on May 13, 1792. It boasts the world’s third longest floating bridge, the Hood Canal Bridge, which spans 6,521 feet. (Information and statistics courtesy of Wikipedia, here.)

Hood Canal is a great place for all kinds of water activities: kayaking, boating, fishing, whale-watching, shellfishing, and scuba diving, to name just a few. It features many state parks along its coastline, such as Belfair, Twanoh, and Potlatch, where you can swim, fly kites, picnic, camp overnight, and generally enjoy the beauty of Hood Canal. Or, if you prefer, you can enjoy the beauty of Hood Canal from your automobile on the Hood Canal Scenic Drive.

Like much of the rest of the country, we’ve had strange weather here in the Pacific Northwest this year … late spring snows, large temperature fluctuations from day to day, overcast and rainy weather one day, then sunny and warm weather the next. The seasons seem confused.

Some might say this sounds normal; after all, the Pacific Northwest has a reputation as a rainy, cold place. But is that reputation deserved? Overall, the average rainfall here is only 65 inches a year (although the Olympic foothills do get just a bit more rain: 135 inches annually – they don’t call it the rain forest for nothing!) And in the months of July and August (and sometimes September), we usually have a bit of a seasonal drought, with very little rain falling.

And as far as temperatures go, the weather here is, in a word, moderate. It rarely gets below 10 degrees Fahrenheit in winter, or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer. And those are the extremes. We’re much more likely to see temperatures in the 30-50 degree range in winter, and in the 60-85 degree range in summer. (Hat tip: weather statistics are from the Shelton-Mason County Journal’s 2008 Visitor’s Guide)

I recently met two different women who had moved here from the southern United States. The first woman told me she planned to move back to the South. “It’s just too cold. I’ve been here for two years and I’m freezing all the time!” she explained. The second woman told me she loved it here and would never move back to the South. “I just called my mama and she told me it was 98 degrees in Alabama. She sounded miserable. I told her it was 68 degrees here and beautiful. I’ll never go back to the South.”

As they say, different strokes for different folks. I guess everybody has their own idea of perfection. But in my opinion, it’s hard to beat the natural beauty and moderate climes of the Pacific Northwest. After all, if we had only dry, warm weather here, we wouldn’t have all the beautiful green trees and meadows, or the stunning snow-clad mountains to enjoy.

Something interesting has begun at Hood Canal School (grades K-8) right here on the peninsula. After more than a decade without a music program, they are now offering an extracurricular children’s choir which rehearses Monday-Thursday mornings from 7:30–8:30 a.m. Response from the kids (and parents) has been overwhelming, with over 10% of the school participating. In fact, so many kids have signed up that they’ve had to split the group into two different choirs: one for grades K-3, and one for grades 4-8.

How did this happen? Matthew Blegen, the director of the Annas Bay choir, presented the idea to the school district, offering to direct and teach the program. He has been joined by about 10 dedicated choir members who have been helping every day and sharing their love for music with the kids. They plan to have the children’s choirs collaborate with the Shelton High School choral group and stage production, as well as the Annas Bay choir later in the school year. They may also plan a concert at the end of the school year if possible.

Sir Winston Churchill once said, “We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” It seems that the director and members of the Annas Bay Choir understand this concept and have taken steps to put it into practice. In doing this, they have encouraged me (and hopefully, you!) to find a way to give something back to my community. Suddenly the phrase, “Get a life!” takes on a whole new meaning.

What about you? Is there something you could do to serve the community in which you live? Share your ideas and dreams in our comments section.

The Men’s Club of the Alderbrook Golf & Yacht Club will hold its first meeting tomorrow, April 2nd, followed by 18 holes of golf. The following Saturday (4/5), they will hold their annual Ball Buster Tournament, which is open to members, guests and outside players.

The Ball Buster Tournament is a two-man best ball format. It’s fun and challenging because the tee boxes and course are set up to make each hole difficult to play. As one member put it, “It takes extremely lucky shots to even get close.”

The AGYC Men’s Club plays every Wednesday and Saturday. Wednesday play is organized so that players have an opportunity to meet new people. On Saturdays, the men choose their own groups and tee times. There are about 70 men who play regularly, and 150 who play occasionally.

In addition, the Men’s Club is planning four Home and Home tournaments. In May, the Alderbrook men will play Lakeland Village; in June, they will play Dungeness; in July, they will play Kitsap and McChord.

If you are interested in finding out more about the Alderbrook’s Men’s Club or any of the above events, you can contact Alderbrook’s Head Golf  Professional Justin Gravatt at 360-898-2560.

Residents of Hood Canal who regularly travel along State Route 106 (milepost 14, between Union & Belfair) have been missing something lately: a wooden bear who goes by the name of Ralph Shakesbear. For years, Ralph has entertained travelers by holding various quotes in his paws, quotes like, “My back goes out more than I do” or “Dentists bore me to tears.” To our profound regret, Ralph “retired” in January, and hasn’t been seen since.

Ralph was carved by chainsaw by Pete Merrill, a long-time Hood Canal resident. Mr. Merrill has been responsible for selecting the 2500+ quotes Ralph has held in his paws which have provoked thought and smiles for passers-by since 1991. Mr. Merrill attempted to retire Ralph back in 2006, but public outcry prevented it.

Mr. Merrill has written two fiction books about Ralph: Ralph – Conversations with a Bear and Council of Bears in the Olympic National Park.  You can get an idea about Mr. Merrill’s writing style from his short story, “Foxworthy Pembroke” or “The Bear that went to Bremerton” (Warning: some rough language is alluded to a few times in this story, and so this may not be the best choice for children, or for those adults who prefer to avoid such language).

It looks like Ralph Shakesbear has truly retired this time, so we’ll just quote Ralph’s namesake, William Shakespeare, and say, “Farewell, sweet playfellow” (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act 1 Scene 1) and wish him and Mr. Merrill a satisfying retirement.

Do you have a favorite Ralph quote (or just a favorite quote)? Share it in our comments section.

My husband got a call a few weeks back from a California-based mortgage lender, wondering if we wanted to refinance our mortgage (we don’t). Over the course of the call, this lender told my husband that, while real estate is down over most of the country, Oregon and Washington communities are still seeing some real estate appreciation, although it has slowed from the double-digit annual gains we had been seeing.

When you combine this fact with the recent IRS ruling that now allows 1031 exchanges on vacation homes (provided certain conditions are met), it seems that real estate may still be a good strategy for long-term investment. And if you’re looking for a place to invest … make sure you check out the beautiful homes at Alderbrook Properties (and check out the pictures right here in this post)!

If you want a good explanation of what this means for owners of second/vacation homes, check out this post at BawldGuy Talking (one of my favorite real estate investing blogs) on the ruling. The Bawld Guy gives a good summary. In another post (just below the linked post), he also makes a great case for real estate investing, comparing it to stock market investing. If you’re wondering where to invest these days, you’ll want to read the whole post.

What do you think? Is real estate still a good long-term investment?

A few miles down the road from Alderbrook Properties you will find the community of Belfair. And at the heart of Belfair you’ll find something called the Theler Community Center & Wetland Trails.

The Mary E. Theler Community Center was named for the wife of real estate developer Sam Theler, who donated land to the community. The Community Center provides a wide variety of services to the community: events for youth and senior citizens, weddings, boy and girl scout groups, family events (like family bingo), community social events … all of these find a home at the Community Center.

The Theler Wetlands are an additional community resource, providing four separate walking trails contained within 75 acres of wetlands. This is prime bird-watching and photo-taking territory, where you might see a blue heron or even a bald eagle. The trails are open daily from dawn to dusk, and admission is free. (No pets allowed.)

If you want to support the Theler Center, then you’ll be glad to know that they are holding a Spaghetti Dinner and Silent Art Auction on March 1 from 5 – 7:30 p.m. to help recoup the costs of resources used during the December 2007 Flood Relief effort, when Theler Community Center provided shelter, food and other necessities to those in need. The monthly art show hosted by the Community Center will also be selling watercolors and pen and ink drawings of trilliums (on notecards and bookmarks) as an additional fundraiser.

Come on out and support this great community treasure … you’ll be glad you did your part to keep this heart of a community beating!

I have always associated scuba diving with exotic, tropical locations like Hawaii or the Caribbean. White sandy beaches with warm, clear, azure waters and dazzlingly colored sea life … these are the images that flood my brain when I think of scuba diving. And I know I’m not alone in these stereotypes, thanks to an article on scuba diving by Sarah Kahne in South Sound Lifestyles magazine.

I was surprised to learn that the Pacific Northwest is a popular destination for divers, and one of the most popular dive sites is right here on Hood Canal, at Sund Rock in Hoodsport, just a few miles from Alderbrook Properties.

OK, I know it’s February, and submerging yourself in the cold waters of Puget Sound – even in a wet suit – seems … well … let’s just call it “counter-intuitive.” But I learned that underwater visibility is often better here in the winter, because the warmer summer weather can cause algae blooms which cloud the water.

If you’ve always wanted to try scuba diving, or want to learn the secret of what makes Hood Canal such a treasure for divers, check out the information in the article linked above.

It’s just another one of the perks of living here on Hood Canal.