Washington State - Page 1
In July of 2004 Felicia, Kendra, Larry, Susie, and I flew to Seattle for a 2-week tour of the NW part of Washington State. The girls had found us cabins at various places (some quite remote). As usual, Felicia decided we need to move there immediately and started looking for jobs for me at Boeing. We went south through Tacoma to stay at Mt. Rainier National Park for a few days, but the parts that we liked the most were staying in the San Juan Islands on Whidbey Island and staying in the very far northwest corner of Washington where the Pacific and the Strait of Juan de Fuca meet – our view across the strait was the shores of Vancouver Island in Canada.
We went whale watching and saw several pods of Orca Whales, hiked through the Olympic and the Hoh Rain Forests and along the beautiful Pacific coastline, went all over several of the San Juan Islands, saw Mt. Rainier and Mt. Olympus, looked at these strange animals called slugs (none in Texas), enjoyed the very cool weather and met some nice people. We also spent the 4th of July freezing our butts off while watching the fireworks on Whidbey Island.
Click on any photo to see a larger view
Mt. Rainier was visible almost everywhere we went and there are some beautiful views of the snow-covered mountains from out on the San Juan Islands.
In the rain forests, one of the most interesting sights for Texans to see were the slugs. Hundreds of slugs, about 5 inches long and very slimy. They were light brown, light green, bright yellow, orange, spotted (see above) and striped. Kendra touched them, I did not.
We did a very long and hard hike from an Indian Reservation to the Shi Shi Beach on the Pacific Coast. We all went hiking and Felicia took a short nap there. When she woke up, she could not see a human and got scared, thought she was at the end of the world – that reminds me of a Planet of the Apes movie.
Picture of the Stone family, I pulled down this tree and we sat on it to hold it down. We used this for a Christmas card as it was the only picture that we took all year with the three of us in it.
Susie and Larry on our whale watching tour. Larry looks really smug in this picture – I wonder if he was thinking about eating a big fish?
All the girls just outside of Mt. Rainier National Park. We stayed our first night in Washington in a Bed & Breakfast just outside of the park entrance. It had a really good breakfast in the restaurant downstairs.
Felicia is smiling as we went between the San Juan Islands looking for whales. She was thinking about how fast she could pack up and move us to Washington. She still talks about moving to Whidbey Island. She said that I will have to take a ferry boat to work every day.
This really looks like a Planet of the Apes movie! We stopped at a store before we went hiking in the Hoh Rain Forest on the Olympic Peninsula. Larry really needed to shave.
A pod of Orca Whales. We sailed for miles, but the captain knew right where to look for the whales. We saw several different pods and they were all but impossible to take pictures of. They would go underwater, and a few would come up for air, some jumping up very high. You had to be lucky to get a good picture. They were very beautiful and did not seem to be afraid of us.
Our cabin on Whidbey Island was 10 acres of large pine trees, horses, interesting buildings, and a very relaxing porch. The owner bought us a good breakfast each morning. He was an ex-Texan.
Group picture of us on a log bridge in Mt. Rainier National Park. We did a lot of hiking in the gigantic trees. The snow from the mountain kept the water ice cold, even in July.
Good picture of Susie and Larry on a ferry boat ride or on our whale tour. We spent a lot of time on the water, much of it shivering.
Posing for pictures while whale watching. I had to buy that very stylish sweatshirt at Walmart when I figured out it is always cold near the ocean. We tried to use Kendra to keep us warm by blocking the wind off us.
I am not complaining – I would rather be cool in July than suffering in the Dallas heat.