My Pacific Northwest: 2013

Today was a warm gray day but not raining and a perfect day for a beach walk. Cedar and I got on a ferry to Whidbey Island and headed for Double Bluff. I was hoping to see seals, sealions, eagles, herons and whales, and much to my surprise saw everything but the whales!
Walking for an hour along the bluff watching wildlife and beachcombing with the waves lapping the shore I didn't want to turn around and go back.

There was all sorts of interesting flotsam on the beach. Cedar and I had fun with the set of stairs we found. I dragged them over to a log and then he tried them out.

I'm not sure how many eagles we saw. At least 3. The most interesting thing was that one of them was carrying a stick in its talons. I guess they work on their nests in the winter!

There were a few sand dollars on the beach. I only saw live ones, so I left them where they were and just took pictures.

Herons always look so grumpy. haha They are beautiful and impressive birds though and remind me more of pterodactyls than any other avian.

Here is one of the many seals I saw! I love harbor seals.. they have such neat spotted fur. I saw a male sealion also, but my photo of the top of his head just isn't clear enough to post. I never would have seen him if I hadn't been balancing on a log into the water when he went by. Just another reason to get out there and don't just look.. play!

Speaking of playing.... Cedar and I added to someone's artwork stump on the beach. They had put little bits of wood in the cracks of the stump and then used those to hang shells. Very cute. Then I found a part of a frame and had to make some beach art also. Hahaha

I read that even at high tide that this beach is quite passable, but the tide was not all the way high when I was on my way back and this photo shows just how close the water was to the bluff, so if you go out there be careful and watch the tide tables!

ADVENTURE!

Last weekend Dave and I explored a lovely are of the Pacific Northwest outside of our usual territory. In fact, for this adventure we left the country entirely and took a train up into Canada. It was a weekend of gorgeous weather and fun times!

Our adventure started at the Everett Train Station.

Our train ride was in the dark, but we could still get glimpses of little places on the way up, and arrived at our final destination around midnight. We had our first skytrain experience and then took our luggage for a stroll along Robson Street. It was amazing that it was as full of people at that time of night as it would be at noon on a Saturday! What a wonderful diversity of humanity.

The next day we headed out on foot down Burrard Street. This sign caught my attention due to the homemakers in the "A."

Our destination for Saturday morning was the H R MacMillan Space Center. It was a really cool place! This crab statue was outside, full of both mettle and metal. haha

Dave is an astronaut!

I am an astronaut too!

I love cities that have old architecture because there is a lot of detail and beautiful lines in the old buildings. They are like functional art. Here are two newer buildings with the old buildings reflected in their glass.

More details... we should put cute trim on all our buildings!

Where were were walking, busing and ferrying to after the Space Center was across this bay and up on the hilltops above North Vancouver. We were trying to make it to Grouse Mountain. Luckily there is a deal on the weekends that traveling longer distances doesn't cost as much. All the areas (zones) are considered just 1 zone, so you buy just one ticket and can ride buses, sea buses (ferries) and sky trains on that 1 ticket for 90 minutes.

We got in a gondola at Grouse Mountain and headed up the hill. The day was mostly clear, so we had fantastic views.

Once up at the top, we checked out the views, a logger show for a bit, and then hopped on a ski lift and headed for the Eye of the Wind, which is an amazing windmill set at the top of a hill.

View of Mt Baker from the North... it looks different!

Here is the Eye of the Wind. I knew it would be scary to be up in that observation deck, but it was so worth it! We were already high up, and now we added about 217 ft to that. Not only were we way up in the sky, but the humungous blades going around case the windmill to wobble slightly. I don't think my Mom would have like it.

On Grouse Mountain they have 2 grizzly bears. You could really see them up close, as instead of huge moats and scratched up plexiglass windows, these guys were just on the other side of a large electric fence. They were playing together when we were there and swimming in their stream. They were mesmerizing!

Look! I'm a lumberjack! I cut down trees, I skip and jump, I like to press wildfl'wrs. I put on women's clothing and hang around in bars....

This gorgeous sunset was rapidly disappearing as we bused back toward the ferry and I was hoping so much that there would still be some color left when we reached the shore, so I could get some pictures. The only shore we could get to had high fences and light poles next to the ferry dock, so Dave climbed up on a dumpster for me to get these last streaks of sunset over downtown Vancouver.

Sunday we headed out toward Stanley Park and the aquarium. The walkways there are so awesome... both around the park and across Burrard Bridge the day before there are separate places for cars, bicycles and walkers. It was very well planned and just a beautiful place to be outside. As we walked past some of the boat basin areas, we saw this random floating wheelbarrow. Bon voyage little wheelbarrow!

There were black squirrels as well as gray in the park. So cute and fuzzy!

The jellyfish displays were very prominent at the aquarium, and it was cool to see so many different kinds.

I got up close and personal with some upside down jellies. These silly creatures appear to be trying to swim through the ground, through the glass, etc. They don't seem to realize they will get further if they aren't trying to go through obstacles.