Hi all,
Sorry for the long silence, things got busy in July and so I have some catching up to do! I'll go ahead with the July update, which included a fun trip up to the great Pacifc Northwest, starting in Mt. Rainier National Park, then hitting Victoria and Vancouver British Columbia before ending up with friends in Seattle, Washington. We camped a few nights in Mt. Rainier first, testing out (successfully!) our tent against thunderstorms.
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| Rainier and Emmons Glacier |
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| Our mosquito-free campsite |
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| Crossing a swollen glacier-fed river |
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| Evening campfire talk by the ranger in White River Campground |
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| Spectacular view from the East |
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| Paradise visitor center |
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| Snowball fight at Paradise, all the trails under 4+ feet of snow! |
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| Beautiful rain forest ferns |
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| Roaring silver falls |
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| Cards back at camp |
After a couple of nights at Mt. Rainier, we drove across the Olympic peninsula to catch the ferry from Port Angeles to Victoria, BC.
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| View back from the ferry to snow-covered Hurricane Ridge |
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| Victoria inner harbour |
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| Banners for the Queen's Diamond jubilee! |
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| Sea Plane airport |
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| We took a water taxi across the harbour for dinner |
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| View from Victoria harbour across the San Juan de Fuca Straight to the Olympic mountains |
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| We spent the day at Butchart Gardens, an old landscaped cement quarry (see smoke stack) |
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| Flowers everywhere |
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| Smelling the roses |
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| Family self-portrait |
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| The Italian garden |
After a couple of nights exploring Victoria, we drove onto the next ferry to Vancouver, where we met up with Kim and stayed in the Sheraton in busy, noisy, downtown.
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| Crossing the islands to Vancouver |
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| Walking in Stanley Park with Kim |
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| The biggest sea-plane airport in the world! |
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| Granville Island Bridge |
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| Delicious berries and cherries at the market! |
The next day we headed over to Capilano park, which is a beautiful park on the north side of the bay which is a converted log flume, now built out with bridges, tree houses, and walkways along the gorge.
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| At the entrance |
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| Interesting totems in Capilano Park. |
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| A wobbly suspension foot bridge 200+ feet above the gorge. |
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| The walk among the old-growth firs, some 200+ feet tall! |
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| Testing our wingspan against local raptors |
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| We spent our last morning in Vancouver at the Granville water park |
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| Free and clean, too! |
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| Of course it's Carson v. Maggie |
After a nice couple of days in Vancouver, we headed south back to the US of A, where our first stop was the Boeing plant in Everett. We saw the production lines for the 747, 777, and 787 wide bodied jets. What an amazing place - no pictures allowed inside, unfortunately due to trade secrets, but we could have sat there for hours. Carson loved it!
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| The painting hangars, and the cargo jet that transports 787 fuselage sections. |
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| Brand new one off the line! |
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| The kids loved the visitor's center too - there were computers for designing your own plane, and an amazing souvenir shop! |
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| In Seattle, we met up with good friends of mine from high school, Liz and her family |
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| Liz works at the Gates Foundation so we stopped at the very-interesting and interactive visitor center |
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| Then across the street to the Space Needle, of course! |
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| View south to Safeco field, where we caught a Mariners game the next day |
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| But not before the girls played in the fountains in Centennial Park |
Overall we had a great time, good weather, and actually felt like we could have spent another week somewhere on a remote island, among the killer whales and bald eagles...so we will have to go back another time! Anyway, more to come from what has been an eventful and busy summer. Hope you all had a great summer, too!
