Anniversary Trip: Seaplanes & Orcas

Actually, our anniversary isn't for a couple of weeks, but last weekend was good weather for a day trip, and I've been plotting this for a while. Jenny knew that Saturday was a surprise day-trip, but otherwise I played my cards close to the vest.

Me: You should wear long pants, and bring a raincoat. It might be cold. Bring your camera. It's not dress up, but there is a meal involved. Oh, and it might be slippery. And we're not going to exercise at all. Oh no--I've said too much!

Jenny: ??

Luckily that was not enough information to go on, and my secret was safe until we rolled up to the Kenmore Air terminal at South Lake Union. Needless to say, the flight was amazing. We were about a hundred feet off the water the whole time.

Below is the route we took. The squiggle out by Friday Harbor is our jaunt in the whale-watching ship.


That picture pretty much sums up why I love the Northwest. We are surrounded by mountains.

Right when we got to Friday Harbor we passed the Ferry from Anacortes and I caught the fly-by on video.


We had a nice brunch in town, sipped mimosas by the water, and then headed back out on the water. We caught up with L pod, one of three resident pods, on the other side of San Juan Island. The whales were very close at times, and we saw several of them breach.

While we were checking them out, L pod headed offshore to meet up with K pod. (The naturalist thought there may have been some inter-pod mating going on.) Based on the sizes of the pods, there may have been more than 60 animals in the water. They put a hydrophone in to listen and it sounded like an Orca cocktail party.

Apparently pods don't meet up all that much, so we were really lucky to see that. The flight back was at higher elevation so not as thrilling, but we had great views of Mt. Baker and Mt. Rainier. Like any good Seattlite I salivate at the sight of Rainier, so this more or less put me in a Northwest-loving coma. A perfect sight to come home to.


All told, it was a perfect day. I can't think of a better way to celebrate a great two years together, or a better person to spend it with.

Shi Shi Beach

Memorial-day weekend Bob, Joy, John, Jenny and I hit up the Olympic Peninsula for some beach camping.

Three months later, I uploaded the pictures:

It's a short hike, but when we got there a ranger hassled us about not having a bear barrel. (He also carded us because we brought wine.) John volunteered to go back to town and get one as long as someone came with him, so we did the hike three times that day. We're basically world-experts on the Shi Shi Beach trail now. (It's pronounced shy shy.)

So that was an important lesson, bring something to keep out bears, like this fine TrueValue paint bucket, pictured here.

I think the bucket would have slowed the bear down by maybe two minutes, but it seemed to make the ranger happy.

The other thing we learned was that Bob hasn't figured out s'mores yet:Hang in there, buddy!

On our way out we went to Cape Flattery, one of the Northwesternmost points of the continental U.S. It's about a 10-minute "hike," and very pretty. If you're in the neighborhood, definitely check it out.

Storybook minute: Dube vs. Dube

A few weeks ago I got to see my good buddy Matt "Doobie" Dube in Seattle and Whistler. There were a lot of highlights, but by far the most-photographed was his run-in with Dave "Doobie" Dube at the Japanese Steakhouse.

Dave took it upon himself to steal Matt's wallet just before we left, and string him along all through dinner until the bill came, when he sneakily paid for Matt's dinner using Matt's credit card. Matt stared at the card in disbelief, and then went and sat by himself for a while to show his appreciation for his older brother's trickery.

After we left, Matt challenged Dave to a fight.

Actually he pretty much just went for it--

--and was subdued by his less-intoxicated bro.

All-in all it was a great weekend--wish you were back here already Doob.

Valentine's Pics

We've been doing quite a bit of salsa lately. We went out dancing both New Year's and Valentines day at the Century Ballroom. I have to say, I'm getting way more mileage out of my suit than I ever imagined. Salsa is tons of fun, all the more so now that I know more than 3 moves. I highly recommend it. You can see more of Jenny and me in all my besuited glory here.