Skagit Valley Tulips

In April, 45 minutes north of Mom & Dad's on I-5 at the Conway exit, the agricultural landscape bursts into color!

People avoid the tulips because the traffic can be horrendous.  But we solved THAT problem.  Pick a day that's 45 degrees and raining off and on!  Never more than 3 cars in any one spot!  The daffodils were about gone, but the tulips were gorgeous. 

And of course, what's a trip to the tulips without a stop at Snow Goose for ice cream!  Most of us went with a regular cone, but Dad wanted a waffle cone.  They filled it with ice cream! 

A fun outing, rain and cold or not!

Seaside, Oregon

Today we braved the  weather forecast and stuffed 6 adult-sized people into the station wagon and headed to Seaside!  First stop!  Astoria.  It's called Bowpicker, and it really is a boat.  Originally a fishing boat in the early 1900's, it now serves wonderful fish and chips.  3 orders fed 5 of us. 

A really cute trolley (not in this picture) runs along the Columbia River, with a big ship in the background. 

Since it's Alexander's 15th birthday, he got to pick the sunken ship, Peter Iredale at Fort Stevens, as the next destination. 

Tide was low today, and it turns out there were some great "tidepools" caught in the iron ruins. 

Little acorn barnacles with their little black tongues sticking out.  Little black snails, that look like aquarium snails. 

A bigger pool inside the old mast had some tube worms with anemone looking heads.  Less than a quarter inch. 

Both Alexander and 

Anastasia thought it was better to freeze their feet barefoot than deal with sandy shoes. 

At Seaside we found candy stores, pop stores, ice cream stores,

a hat shop,

and a Tilt-a-Whirl.

We toured the aquarium, where Harbor Seals "perform" for sardines, Victor the 28-pound lobster is on display, along with live wolf eels, a big octopus, various rock fish, and a striped fish that got here in flotsam from Japan.

We rented a 6-person Grande surrey, and somebody let the birthday boy drive.  A hilarious experience.

 
Bruce had to help us out of a few tight spots. Anastasia's turn was much calmer.  After  coffee/smoothies and one more run to the candy & pop shop, we headed back to Longview.

We got cold a couple of times, especially inside the aquarium, but avoided rain until we stopped at Subway on the way home. 

Fake Out!

It's a bike ride!  Looks like sailing because trials are running for the Congressional Cup coming up April 13-14.  Might as well stop at the pier and watch for awhile.  Evenly matched Catalina 37's run 2 laps on a windward/leeward course. Tack up wind, fly the spinnaker down wind.   Repeat.  Lots of "accidental" bumps as they "dial in" 5 minutes before the race.  They race 2 at a time in a round robin scheme.

Our new helmets are way cool.  Besides being extremely visible, the little mirror lets us see what's behind us -- if we remember to adjust it before we take off.  It was a beautiful day, but brisk with the wind.  We found a warmer place behind the concession stand.  Stools and a windblock.

The destination was "Steamed Organic Vegetarian Cuisine" at 3rd and Alamitos Ave.  The challenge was to get there with the least amount of hills.  If we stay down on the beach, it's a huge hill up the bluff.  From the Belmont pier we stayed above the bluff, but there are "no bikes" signs everywhere.  So we crossed Ocean Blvd. and found 1st Street.  Beautiful residential street.  There are bike lanes all the way to our destination.

Funny camera story.  I tried to see what the picture of both of us looked like, so I set the camera to "review".  Of course I can't see it in the sunlight, so I just hope I got both of us. When we got to the restaurant, I couldn't get the camera to work.  Jerry says, the battery is dead.  The lens won't open, so oh well, guess the battery is dead.  Leaving, I tried one more time (without the meticulous composition), and it turns out that if you set the camera to review, the lens doesn't  come out.  Fun with old people.

So what would you think "Steamed Organic Vegetarian Cuisine" might be?  Besides the predictable, wonderful looking salads, they have a whole page of quesadilla and burritos.  We went with the Southern California Quesadilla.  Organic wheat tortilla, a bit of mozzarella, spinach, red onions, beans and rice, topped with guacamole AND pesto. Medium spicy.  Served with blue corn chips and orange quarters for dessert.  Perfect for 2!

Meanwhile, back at the house, a huge pot of beans perks with ham and ham hock, celery, carrot, onion, chiles, tomato and kale.  To be served with polenta for Friday night dinner!  Sure smells good.  Yum!

Whales!

 We started at the fuel dock at 8:30 a.m. to get the watery transmission fluid removed and replaced with good stuff.  Might as well change the oil and filters, too.  Oh, and 5 gals of diesel to keep onboard.

Once we were done at the dock, it seemed like a good idea to go for a sail.

Let's try whale watching again!  The GPS set a guide to "Whale Target", due south til we're past the restricted zone, then west out past San Pedro.

As we head out the channel,

the weather looks iffy where we're headed.

 The weather is beautiful where we're at...The marine forecast was:  "SE wind 5 to 10 kt becoming W in the afternoon.  Patchy fog before 11 a.m.  Mixed swell...W 2ft at 13 seconds and WSW 1 ft at 14 seconds.  Wind waves around 1 ft."

Jerry spotted a little whale spout before we even turned!

We motored straight out 240 degrees.  As we neared the "drop off zone" where depth goes over 700 feet, we put out the jib and turned off the motor.  Just  before the whale target waypoint, a BIG whale spouted just to our port side!  We tried to follow, but it went away from us directly into the wind, exactly where we couldn't go.  Ever try to chase a whale in a sailboat?

How about here?

We're about 3 miles south of San Pedro when we saw the whale.

Coming back the sun shines on Long Beach port.

Can you see a spout?

Come about, come about, come about, but no more whales.  2:00 p.m. we turned around, and sailed back through huge swells.  Jerry cut a corner off the restricted zone to ease the roll.  We hit 7 mph frequently.  Just a few puffy clouds.  Back to the dock by 5.  Nice dinner at Rosemary's.

31 miles
3 hours, 17 minutes
Avg. Speed:  5 kt
Max Speed:  9 kt

The pink route is the original plan.
The dark line is today.  
The light line is last time we looked for whales.