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Friday, July 03, 2009
Long Beach Part 1
After Cathedral Grove it was on to Long Beach. The road out to
Tofino/Ucluelet is a winding, narrow and hilly road. Some of the scenery
along the way.
We stopped at the Pacific
Rim National Park Reserve Visitor Centre and paid our fee. The day
pass was $19.60 for the family and it was good until 4:00 PM the next
day.
Our first stop was the Wickaninnish Beach. This is part of Long Beach
which is 16 km long. The weather was perfect.
There was alot of dead crabs on the beach.
There were quite a few surfers in the water trying to catch a wave.
The water was a little cold. The only ones in the ocean were the ones
with wet suits. The girls enjoying the beach.
Angela with one of the crabs she found.
Gillian with jelly remains.
Angela and Claudia heading to wash off.
After a couple of hours on the beach we headed over to the Interpretive
Centre.
Angela and Claudia found a tide pool with some sea anemone.
One more shot before heading inside.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Long Beach Part 3
After Second Beach it was off to Radar Hill, it was a Pinetree Line
Radar installation back during the Cold War.
We saw a pair of bald eagles while we were there. If you look closely
you can see them, they came right over top of us and kept going.
In case of Tsunami go this way.
Our last stop for the day was at Combers Beach, we hit it at low tide.
This is the view as we came out of the trail.
Way out on the rocks you can see the outline of sea lions.
Even though it was kind of a long weekend, the beaches certainly were
not busy, although all the campgrounds had no vancancy signs up.
That's the amazing thing about tides, it can make the same beach look so
different. Gillian had scratched her name in the sand, only to have the
incoming tides wash it away.
Coombs Country Market
After the beach we headed over to the Coombs Old Country Market. First
we stopped at the Thrifty Foods to take a picture with the giant
shopping cart.
The cart next to our car.
This is the place where they have the goats on the roof.
Claudia and Angela watching our for goat poop.
A green roof.
There are a lot of little shops as well as the main market store.
We went next door to the market where there were more shops.
Claudia bought a new hat.
It's always a fun place to visit.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Steveston
Today we headed down to Steveston Village.
Steveston is on the southwestern shore of Richmond, it was a
once-boisterous frontier seaport and principal port on the Fraser River,
founded in 1880 by William Herbert Steves.
At the turn of the twentieth century, Steveston was the busiest fishing
port in the world, with fifteen salmon canneries, six hotels, numerous
saloons and gambling dens, and up to fourteen windjammers simultaneously
loading canned salmon for world markets. On a Saturday night, 10,000
people thronged the boardwalks, including Native Indians, Japanese,
Chinese, European immigrants, and sailors from the seven seas.
We watched some fishermen selling fish off their boat. Here he is with
some Lingcod.
Cutting the heads off.
A halibut. There was a lady there who bought over $500 worth of fish.
This halibut was $130.
There were all kinds of fishing boats.
Today's prices written in chalk on the side of the boat.
Lots of fish for sale.
We had fish and chips for lunch. We ordered from PaJo's, the food is
served in newsprint shaped like a cone. The fries were at the bottom and
the fish on top. We managed to get a picnic table and it has holes cut
out so you can put your cone in.
We watched a number of big boats go by.
After lunch we walked further down towards the Britannia Heritage
Shipyard.
Britannia is one of the few surviving examples from Steveston's rich
past, when a mix of canneries, net lofts, boatyards, residences, and
stores defined the neighbourhood. Restoration of the site is in the
development stage, and over the coming years much of its former glory is
slated to be restored.
A memorial statue dedicated to the Japanese.
Low tide?
This guy's dogs were living the easy life. His wheel barrow reminded me
of the kind Jiichan had.
There were a couple of swans. They were both sleeping on the shore, but
one swam away.
Another eagle outside the Starbuck's in Steveston.
We found a toy shop before we headed back to base camp.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Granville Island
We headed downtown today to walk around Granville Market and near the
waterfront. We parked at Lonsdale Quay and took the seabus over and then
the bus to Granville Island.
Coming into the seabus port. There were two cruise ships in port at
Canada Place.
Waiting for the bus at Howe and Robson. It took us awhile to figure out
which bus we should take and where to catch it. Granville street was all
ripped up for construction.
Walking onto Granville Island.
We walked around the market.
There is a lot of colour in the market wherever you go.
We enjoyed our trip down to the market.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Birch Bay
It is on to Washington State today, our first stop is in Blaine, WA.
Pat, Mo and Jodi and Sally and their families are staying at a cottage
in Birch Bay. It is just across the border. Pat invited us to stop by
for lunch on our way to Seattle. Here is Claudia outside the Lion's Den,
this was our base camp while we were in the Vancouver area.
The border wait was only about 20 minutes.
The girls with Nicholas, he followed Claudia around like her shadow.
After lunch we headed down to the beach.
Here is Jodi and Justin. Jodi is my first cousin once removed.
Mo had purchased a clamming licence.
The kids enjoyed all the creatures on the beach and under the rocks.
This is Jodi and Justin's oldest son, Jeremy, he is the girls second
cousin once removed.
Dad with the boys.
Claudia holding a big crab they found.
Clamming wasn't going so well at first. Note the empty frisbee.
But things got better, Shanna discovered that the key was to dig shallow
and dig out, rather than dig down. Sally holding the clams.
Mo with his grandson Nicholas.
As the official licence holder, Mo had to carry the tools and the catch.
Everyone washing the sand off their feet.
A few pictures before we left. The girls with Grandpa and Pat.
Mo with the kids and Tucker.
Shanna, Mo and I (first cousins).
Us with Mo and his girls, Jodi and Sally.
Claudia with Tucker.
On the way down to Seattle we stopped in Tulalip to do some shopping at
the Premium Outlets.
Some happy shoppers.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Downtown Seattle
We took the bus downtown from Woodinville, it was the express bus, but
it was still a long ride. It was a bendy bus, whenever the bus turned a
corner the kids would swivel around.
The space needle from the I-5.
A parking enforcement vehicle.
There were a bunch of these vehicles driving through the downtown area.
A walking clam.
Our first stop was the Pike Place Market.
The girls and Jesse posing on the pig.
Some of the sights from the market.
We found the very first Starbucks.
Gillian and Angela all excited about ordering from the first Startbucks.
It was crowded.
Waiting for their order to be called out.
Angela carried her empty cup around the whole day because she wanted to
save it.
Angela outside a bookstore
Pike Place and Pike Street.
The gum wall down one of the alleys near Pike Place Market.
Close-up gum shot.
This wall is just covered with ABC (already been chewed) gum. And people
just keep adding to the collection.
We marked ours with some Canadian gum.
It was back up to the fish market to watch them throw around some salmon
(just under the sign).
They were trying to find a 14-15 lb fish, so they would throw one up and
weigh it, but it was too small so it was thrown back.
Big tongue sticking out
Shanna bought some crab for dinner, in the middle of the picture is the
crab being tossed.
Another pig towards the waterfront.
We walked along the waterfront for awhile and then we took the bus up to
Chinatown.
Angela and Claudia with Christopher Columbus.
A pirate in one of the stores.
How big of fish could you catch with this lure?
A giant stuffed penguin, good thing it wasn't for sale.
The dragons wrapped around the light poles in Chinatown.
Our last stop was Uwajimaya.
San Juan Island
We headed from Seattle to Anacortes to catch the ferry over to San Juan
Island. We are spending a few days at Nikki and Richard's cottage. We
stopped for some groceries. This is the entrance to the store, wide open
no doors. Not sure what they do in the winter.
The morning sailings were delayed due to fog, so our 3:10 ferry was
delayed about 30 minutes.
Approaching the ferry terminal.
On board the ferry waiting for it to leave.
Mount Baker.
Angela on the outside looking in.
It was good weather for sailing as we passed many sailboats with their
full sails up.
The ferry arrives in Friday Harbor, here is the movie theatre. It was
playing Harry Potter, the girls are going to see it with their cousin
Melissa when they get back.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Roche Harbor
We headed into Roche Harbor on our way to Lime Kiln State Park.
We saw a Humdinger.
One of the guests of this hotel was John Wayne.
The yellow brick road in front on the hotel is made from the fire bricks
which lined kilns one thru eight.
As there was no local source of brick when the kilns were built, bricks
were purchased in Canada from Vancouver Island and shipped to Roche
Harbor.
Many of the boats docked were ginormous.
We came across the Humdinger, modelled after the Hummer, a quick search
of the internet shows that these things retail for $15,900 USD.
At one time the largest Lime works west of the Mississippi.
Not too many people take crap for a living.
There are still a couple of Lime kilns standing.
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