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Back to School

Well the stress of the first day is over. As we waited in the assembly hall, Tracy insisted that Harry looked like he was about to cry. I think it was more likely the other way round to be honest! Harry and Toby both went off to their respective classes like very brave boys and before you know it we are all back into the old routine. There are a few new routines as well including Harry coming home on the school bus (the #45):

A proper little American school experience!

Toby had a good time at pre-school too but hopefully in the next few weeks he will be joining his brother on the school bus! You may think he is too young for that but after one day at pre-school he has already asked if he can be dropped off at pre-school tomorrow and left to walk in by himself!

What an independent pair!

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Cannon Ball Splash

On Sunday as the weather was, once again, sweltering we decided to open one of the water slides we purchased at Walmart. The day was hot enough as it was however the slide needed inflating and with the electric pump refusing to work it meant some manual labor and the day got even hotter. After what felt like 4 hours on the hand pump but was probably only 40 minutes the slide was ready and the pool was full.

I don’t think there is any need to try and describe what happened next, this video does the job perfectly:

httpv://youtu.be/XJMLQc-yLeY

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Bob, Bob, Bobbing!

Day 3 of our vacation was a day on a boat! How exciting! We woke early and got all our stuff together ready for the day ahead. We had the drink, a cool box filled with ice, crisps, DS’s, towels, swimming shorts, cameras, driving licence, sun glasses and kindle. What else do you need for a day on the lake? Other than a boat. We went down to the boatyard, picked up our life jackets and had 5 minutes of instructions on how to start it, drive it, stop it exploding when refueling, empty the bilge, fasten the tube, avoid driftwood and other stuff that didn’t really sink in!

Lake Chelan is just over 55 miles long and we probably made it about a third of the way along across the day. Once we’d gone a little way up, and past the likes of Manson, we decided it was time to try the out the tube. I thought I’d have a go first. I shouldn’t have. I don’t think I am a water baby! As it eventually turned out, later in the day, the bit being dragged along behind a speeding boat holding onto a rubber tube is actually really easy. The bit getting into the tube is not so easy. In fact it’s almost impossible – for me. After belly flopping into the lake I swam over to the tube and tried to haul myself in. I couldn’t. I had another go and pulled the tube over on top of me. Under the water I went again. Oh dear. The life jacket which was helpfully keeping me afloat was, at the same time trying to climb off over my head. It was clearly embarrassed about the whole situation it was involved in. Never mind. I looked to the boat for encouragement and saw Tracy bent double having hysterics. At this point I decided that it would be much easier to get in the tube from off of the boat. I swam over, climbed the ladder and attempted to climb into the middle of the tube. One foot went into the middle, one foot stayed on the boat. The tube then started going one way and the boat the other. It wasn’t pretty. But apparently it was very funny.

I got fed up with the tube and decided not to bother! We moved the boat a bit further up the lake – just in case it was that particular piece of water that was the problem, rather than my flooping about like a floopy thing. After stopping the boat again Tracy decided to take a swim and clearly she is a lot more graceful (and fish like) than me:

httpv://youtu.be/1tg0ZaZfctE

After the short swim Tracy decided that she was going to try the tube. Fortunately the water was much less choppy here, the under currents a lot weaker, the driftwood wasn’t crashing in to her and the giant salmon few and far between. I’m not saying it was an easier set of conditions for Tracy to work with, I’m just highlighting a few differences!

Anyway, Tracy put me to shame and was in the tube within a couple of minutes and only a handful of squeals! And then we were off:

httpv://youtu.be/kj7oJFZJbqY

Basking in the glory of tubing success, Tracy asked Harry to join her on the tube. Although a little reluctant Harry plucked up the courage and climbed on board. With considerably more ease than his Dad. With them both settled in the tube, we were off again:

httpv://youtu.be/2SnsRPkKtTk

Now just at the end of that short clip you may have heard a cry along the lines of “stop the boat” and a bit of a squeal from Tracy. Maybe tubing wasn’t meant to be! Once the tears, coughing, shock and laughter from Toby had subsided the analysis began, including, “Mummy pushed me off”. “No I didn’t”. Anyway, similar to the snorkel incident a couple of days earlier, Harry wasn’t going tubing again! Although to be fair he did sit in it a couple of times a bob about.

I suppose I should point out that despite how it sounds, we were having a lovely time! The sun was hot, the lake was beautifully clear, and, the temperature of it didn’t cause any of us to reference Jesus Christ on the way in. As we all relaxed again and continued up the lake, the first wine bottle was opened at about 11:15am. I’ve no doubt the early start was due to the relaxing nature of the day rather than the stress of it.

After bobbing about for a bit Tracy suggested that I try the tube again. I’m sure this suggestion was made because she was sure I would enjoy it rather than anticipating more ridiculous escapades from me trying to get into it. So, with a change of life jacket and a wary step, I lowered myself across and into the middle of the tube. Hurrah! The technique is to lie across the top of the tube, holding onto the handles and letting your legs hang over the water at the back. Trouble is my legs were now stuck in the middle of the tube and I couldn’t get them to hang over the back for fear of falling out and having to start all over again. But with a bit of a wiggle and plenty of encouraging laughter from the boat I managed it and we were good to go. I clung on and hoped to god it was worth all this hassle!

Tracy steered the boat and increased speed. We went fast and slow, turned corners, bounced around in the wake, I knelt up, waved to the boys and generally turned into a tubing expert! Unbeknown to me as I enjoyed myself on the tube, Tracy was busy driving, trying to calm Toby down who was crying because we were going to fast with Daddy on the back and helping Harry wee into an empty wine bottle because he was bursting! God job I wasn’t on the boat with Tracy on the tube – it would have been a disaster!

Having moments earlier been an expert tuber, it suddenly all went wrong! My arms were beginning to ache and my body slipped a bit further back over the tube. The waves from the boat were starting to pound against my private areas and it hurt! Tracy looked back and checked I was still there, I shouted to her to slow down – forgetting that we had pre-arranged hand signals to communicate slow down, speed up and stop. The boat kept going. The water kept smashing into me and it was really starting to hurt! Tracy looked round again. I shouted “ssttttooooopppppp”. The boat carried on. At this point my shorts started falling down, (could this get any worse?!) and so I gave up and let go of the tube, hoping that someone on the boat would notice. I’m assuming someone did because once i’d finished cartwheeling through the water with my shorts round my ankles my head popped out from under the water and I saw the boat coming back towards me! I hooked my shorts on and swam over to the boat. Wow. Tubing was fun!

After lounging around in the sun drying off we started going back down the lake again. Harry and Toby took it in turns to drive the boat, which they both enjoyed:

httpv://youtu.be/qsyKch4-TlY

The rest of the afternoon was spent swimming, bobbing about, tubing and asking random swimmers to come on board and start the boat when it wouldn’t and was on the verge of crashing. Oh what fun we had. Harry filled up about 6 mini wine bottles worth of wee – check the photo’s out carefully! Toby refused to go on the tube – the only sensible one amongst us – but he did go for a swim in the lake at Willow Point. Tracy laughed herself silly at her ridiculous husband and I had a brilliant time.

I think I’d like a boat!

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Black or Blue?

The start of our Lake Chelan vacation involved a discussion between Tracy and I as to which bag should we pack. I said the blue one. Tracy said we haven’t got a blue one. I confirmed that we did and in fact we had a matching pair. Tracy corrected me and told me they were black bags. Clearly they are not. It’s as plain as something really plain that they are blue. I don’t know how she can possibly think they are black. Tracy doesn’t know how I can possibly think they are blue (other than that’s what color they are).

We asked Harry what color he thought the bags were. He replied with a “blackey, blue color”. Toby said they were blue. I can always count on Toby!

Clearly the straps are black but the main part is blue.

 

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Lake Chelan

I can’t remember the last time we went on vacation so it definitely felt like we were due one! Because we hadn’t been on vacation for so long we’d forgotten all about being prepared, so Wednesday morning involved getting up, having holiday haircuts (for Harry, Toby and I) and packing.

Fortunately the weather forecast was hot, hot, hot, so t-shirts and shorts were all that was required. With the car loaded we set off on our exciting adventure. I think it was exciting because we were finally going to see what was over the other side of the mountains that we look at everyday out of the bedroom window! There are rumours of deserts, vineyards, lakes and guaranteed sunshine! Everybody raves about Lake Chelan so here’s hoping.

Before the sunshine we have to drive up the mountains, into the cloud and past the ski resorts – all within the first 45 minutes of leaving home! The temperature dropped from the high 60’s back at home to a chilly 52 at the peak. We passed lakes up in the mountains and then came down the other side into rolling, little house on the prairie type countryside with little white churches surrounded by lush green grass.

As the miles passed the temperature rose, going from the low of 52 back up to 78. This is what we wanted. As we got closer to Chelan however the skies turned grey and the road turned wet! Puddles! What!? We drive over the mountains, leaving the sunshine of the last 3+ weeks and so called rainy Washington behind to find even hotter weather in the deserts of the East and we get rain!? What’s that all about? Don’t they know we’re on vacation?

Fortunately the rain had gone through ahead of us and by the time we arrived at Campbell’s Resort the sun was out again. We checked in, settled in and then, because we were all starving, went for something to eat. After lunch we walked through Chelan (one real street) and checked the shops out. Vacation or not some things never change! Harry decided that he really, really wanted a snorkel set for swimming in the lake so we got him one. After going back to our room and getting changed it was time to hit the pool. After much “oo’ing” and “aah’ing” the snorkel was finally in position on Harry’s head. After some brief instructions on how to use it Harry hit the pool. Despite some instructions and having the gift of knowing everything, Harry swam down under water and then got the shock of his tube filling up with water. He emerged from below very quickly, spluttering, choking and swimming to the side. The snorkel came off, and if I were a betting man, I would suggest it will never go on his head again!

After the trauma of the snorkel, it was decided that some plain old swimming was probably the best bet. And so, Day 1 of the vacation ended with a nice swim and some relaxing in the evening sun. A very well deserved holiday – even if I do say so myself!

Day 2 started with clear blue skies and bright sunshine. After breakfast we went to the boat rental yard next door to our resort and arranged to pick up a speed boat for the day at 9:30am the following day. We then decided to explore a little bit and went up the east side of the lake to the next town called Manson. There wasn’t a whole lot to see other than lots of orchards so we carried on through and arrived at a place called Willow Point. This was just a quiet beach area by the side of the lake and it was beautiful. The water looked amazing and we stopped for a quick paddle. The water had a slight chill to it which made Toby shout “oh Jesus Christ” every time he dipped his toes in and out. Fortunately no-one else was around – so classy. As none of us had our swimwear with us we decided we would bring the boat by here the next day to have a swim in the beautiful water.

Next stop was Walmart! We stocked up on drink for the boat, some of Harry’s school supplies which we hadn’t been able to find in Bellevue and purchased a couple of water slides for when we got home. Then it was back to Campbell’s for a the rest of the day down on the beach. It’s a tough life!

httpv://youtu.be/3h_IibxucGo

Check out the swimming, dragging out the water and jumping in the lake:

httpv://youtu.be/0vFSk3mrTyU

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Before dinner Toby took a quick power nap. The swimming, sunshine and fresh air had clearly worn him out. However, fully recovered, he set about his dinner in the restaurant pretending it was a “Man vs Food” challenge (this is one of our favorite TV programs over here). Both Harry and Toby completely demolished their food and left not a scrap on the plate. Drinks were also taken care off and “Man” was declared the winner! The waiter was very impressed and asked them if they wanted dessert. The insisted they didn’t but the waiter reckoned if he put a chocolate cookie mousse with cream in front of them they would eat it. They assured him they wouldn’t. He put one on the table. They ate it. Two little boys with barrel shaped bellies left the restaurant that night. Just like their father!

Day 3 of the vacation was spent on the boat. Possibly the most important thing to note from the day was that Tracy said she’d like a boat like this! There may have been some sort of “if we lived here permanently” caveat mentioned but I didn’t hear that!

After a long day on the boat food was required. We went to a lovely little Italian restaurant in town and demolished a plate load of pasta each. Just as we were waiting for the bill some friendly Americans sat down on the table next to us. As is their way, they started talking to us and before you know it they are 1) offering us a day on their boat the next day, and, 2) offering to talk to their friend at Campbell’s to see if we can stay an extra night. As nice as these offers were I signed the bill, grabbed Toby and started off out the restaurant just as the “woman” was asking Dean (I think) whether they had our cell phone number. They didn’t. And they weren’t getting it! It was bad enough that they intended to come down and get us the next day!

After an exhausting day we got back to our room and put TV on as the Seahawks were playing. Tracy fell asleep first, followed soon after by Toby. As it turns out, I was next and Harry last. He turned the TV off once the match had finished and put himself to bed!!

The final day of the vacation started with a mix of excitement because it was my birthday and a desire to pack up and check out before the people from last night arrived to take us out on the boat for the day. Now I’m sure they probably have a very nice boat to go with their house in Mukilteo (where you catch the ferry for Whidbey Island) and their other house in Chelan, however, I didn’t want to spend my birthday with them because I am anti-social! Fortunately Tracy is too. And the boys!

After opening all my lovely presents and cards, we loaded the car and set off for Leavenworth, which is about 45 minutes back towards the mountains. Leavenworth is a Bavarian town. Yes, you read that correctly, a Bavarian town. It used to be a logging town back in the day, but then that industry died a death and someone decided, quite logically, that what they should do is change the whole look of the town to a Bavarian one. So they did. Literally everything has been changed, the hotels, shops, restaurants, band stands, everything. It’s quite odd but rather nice!

Before hitting the shops, we went for a walk along (and in) the Wenatchee river. It was very beautiful – quite like a mini Yosemite in its own way. After managing to keep their shorts dry, we then went for a walk round the town. There were lots of sweet shops, crafty shops, Christmas shops and the odd horrible doll shop.

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Lunch was taken in a Mexican restaurant (what else would you have in a Bavarian town!?) and then we continued our journey home. The boys watched DVDs in the back while we drove through valleys, along side stunning rivers, up mountains, over Stevens Pass, past ski resorts and back down to civilization on the other side. Nothing is wasted on those two!

And so, by mid afternoon, we were home. Fully relaxed and happy in the knowledge that it was a bank holiday weekend so could relax in the sun for a little while longer.

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Estate Agents

They have a bad (well deserved) reputation for being some what selective about the truth. Our experience with them when trying to find a place to live here wasn’t the greatest but to be fair that was more a lack of response rather than creative property descriptions. Judging by this sign, on the way home from Lake Chelan, maybe they are slightly more honest in the US? Either way, it made us laugh:

 

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Happy Birthday!

A global treat of a birthday! My first in the US, we visited a Bavarian town, ate Mexican food and watched the UK X-factor! And then we had a wonderful rendition of Happy Birthday, with some bonus dancing and fighting!

httpv://youtu.be/KuY9InpV-BI

Thanks for all my cards and pressies!

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Chipmunk Returns!

One thing that I forgot to post while Sally was here was an update on the alien/chipmunk outbreak we had here in Washington a while back. The awful symptoms reappeared just briefly with some pretty scary results:

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School Days

This week is an open week at Spiritridge School so parents and children can view the new building. It is a very posh school, Harry and Toby are very lucky boys. Everything about the school is new and lovely although with a few hundred children charging around it in a couple of weeks time I don’t imagine it will stay that way for long!

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The Prize

Harry had been promised a prize if he won the Bainbridge Island Cup. As soon as presents are on offer Harry seems to find super human powers! The Monday after the tournament Tracy took the boys to Toys R Us to buy some scissors for Toby to practice his cutting with (apparently this could form part of his test to get into school early). Harry managed to hijack the visit though and claim his prize. Not sure what to say really!

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Bainbridge Island

Harry and his soccer. It’s proving an expensive combination. First there were the coaching fees for the year – it’s not like playing for Harrold – fifty quid and you’re sorted! Follow that up with the kit purchases (which do look very nice to be fair) but Nike doesn’t come cheap. Once the new pair of boots were sorted we thought we could sit back and enjoy and watch our investment perform without any further raids of the piggy bank. Silly us!

This weekend was Harry’s first tournament with the Issaquah Gunners. They were taking part in the Bainbridge Island Cup which is a 30 minute ferry ride from Seattle. We hadn’t been there before so it seemed like it would be fun. Then the fixtures were published. A minimum of three games – two on Saturday and one on Sunday. Saturday kicked off at 10am and Sunday 9:30am. Working backwards from the kick-off time, to the ferry time, to the ferry wait time, the leave home time and the time to get up we concluded that we would need to set the alarm both mornings for about 6am at the latest. Bainbridge Island had lost some of its appeal. Frantic emails and calls to hotels and B&B’s across the island left us fearing the worst and cursing soccer! Everywhere was fully booked.

Eventually, despite their website saying otherwise, a call to Best Western found us a room. The last in the hotel! So on a beautiful sunny, Friday afternoon we set off to Seattle to catch the ferry. For those of you wondering, I was working from home, the car, the ferry and a nice little restaurant in Winslow!

We were hoping to catch the 2:10 ferry but as luck would have it we managed to squeeze onto the 1:10 with a few cars to spare. This was just the start of a lucky weekend! As we pulled away from the Pier the views of Seattle were beautiful. Then as we walked along the length of the ferry to see what Bainbridge Island looked like we had our second stroke of luck. A sighting of Orcas! A pod of twenty had been reported on the local news that morning and although we only saw a couple it was pretty blooming exciting nontheless! I managed to get a couple of pictures but an amazing whale photo has now jumped to #1 on my must do list!

Our hotel was in Winslow, which is the town right by the ferry dock. As usual we were all absolutely starving so we went straight to a lovely little restaurant and had beautiful sandwiches, wine, fries and beer! The island of Bainbridge was starting to go up in our estimations! After checking out a few shops we then went to the hotel and checked in. Next stop was the beach. We were on an island so they couldn’t be that hard to find, or so we thought. After completing a tour of most of the Island we did finally manage to find a beach for the boys to play on. They managed to amuse themselves for some time with a lump of driftwood and some seaweed. You’ll also see how well they did with the instruction of “don’t get your shorts wet”:

httpv://youtu.be/4-OarSFibGs

httpv://youtu.be/BH1kmpABaM4

httpv://youtu.be/8RcVUPUc2b8

After drying them off as best we could we went back to the hotel and threw them in the bath. By now we were of course starving and it was time for some dinner. It was actually far too late for dinner considering Harry had an important football match early the next morning. Anyway stomachs ruled and we went for a short walk and a bite to eat down near the harbor. We then retired to bed and fell fast asleep in readiness for the day ahead.

Despite the late night, Harry was awake at 6:30am and in his usual quiet way, woke the rest of us up. After breakfast in the hotel we took the very short drive up the road to Bainbridge High School where the games were taking place today.

First up was a game at 10am against Cascades FC. I think it came as a bit of a shock to Harry but unlike with Harrold & Carlton Tigers he wasn’t starting the match. He was going to have to make an impression from the substitutes bench. He got his chance half way through the first half but was playing left side of defence which is far from ideal for our goal scoring super hero. Plus it meant running around a lot rather than just standing about letting everyone else do the work!

In the second half he came on as sub again but on the right side of midfield and then we saw an improvement. Despite this improvement the ball was not going to go in for the Gunners. They could have played all day and not scored. Fortunately they only had to play for 50 minutes without scoring. Unfortunately Cascades FC scored 4. One game, one defeat. The next match wasn’t until 4:15pm so it was off for a team lunch at the local Mexican restaurant.

Gatherings like these make you realize how well behaved Harry and Toby are. The rest were monsters! Well, some of them – not all! With lunch out the way and a couple of hours to go until the game, Harry and Toby got the pleasure of some more shopping in Winslow – which is a bit like Langley on Whidbey Island.

We went back to the fields for the second game and positioned our Tommy Bahama chairs on the halfway line. Tracy had found two pennies in the car park which we hoped meant we’d get luck for the rest of the day. It was a must win game against Crush FC. Their name sounded impressive however it turned out they were no match for the Gunners and the lucky penny. After hitting the crossbar a couple of times Harry finally managed to score his first goal for the club and they ran out 12 – 1 winners. Toby spent the afternoon with his new friend, Jake. They played football, on the DS, chase, and occasionally watched their brothers play football.

After a refreshing shower – it had been a very, very hot day – we went to the Island Grill and had a unusual set of meals, ranging from Singapore noodles, to nachos, to cheese sticks, pepperoni pizza and pot stickers. All fed, it was back to the hotel for another good sleep ahead of what we hoped would be three more games on Sunday.

After breakfast in the hotel we were back to the pitches for a 9:30 kick-off against the Crush FC A team (yesterday had been against the B team). A win was required to be sure of a place in the semi-finals and a win was duly delivered! The final score was 7-1 and Harry Stickman scored a lovely goal to help the team on his way.

After returning to the hotel to check out and to Safeway to get a light bite to eat ahead of next game we returned to the field and found another penny in the car park! These weren’t planted by superstitious parents just in case you’re wondering! Because of the penny, we had high hopes for the game against Harbor Barracudas – another scary sounding team. I was confident ahead of the game that the Gunners would win however as the team had shot after shot after shot I was starting to get a little bit worried! However, as we neared the mid point of the second half Harry scored a belter of a shot to give the Gunners the lead (with his left foot – just for the record). Controversy soon followed with an equalizer for the Barracudas and the prospect of penalties loomed large. Never fear though – the Stickman had been promised a present if they won the cup and he wasn’t going to let any team get in his way! With time running out, he conjured up another great strike and the Gunners were heading to the final with a 2-1 victory.

And so the team of exhausted boys went to Battle Point Park which was at the north of the island. We drove their with Harry’s sweaty socks flapping out the car window as we tried to dry them! It wasn’t pleasant but it worked – they were dry by the time we got there.

While the team sat in the shade waiting for the final to kick-off Toby played football with the coaches. He kept the crowd entertained by saving the coaches shots and tackling them. The final was against Cascades FC – the team that had beaten them 4-0 the day before. I wasn’t overly confident but the Gunners were superb! Harry scored another two goals (as his coach had apparently asked him too) and they won the cup 5-2. As nice as it was to win the cup for all the obvious reasons, it was extra special because the Cascade supporters had been very confident, very vocally before the game about winning. So in the words of Toby when he saw some Cascade players later in the queue for the ferry, “take that suckers!”. Such a classy 4 year old!

After collecting his medal and having team pictures with the trophy Harry announced he felt sick. Despite being told to keep out the sun, wear his hat and drink lots he clearly hadn’t, and so he celebrated his first ever tournament win by being sick in the car park and in a plastic bag as we drove to the ferry. Two classy boys!

By the time we reached the ferry, Harry felt better and started to enjoy his success with his brother:

httpv://youtu.be/ceo3XEzB5vg

On the ferry the boys sat together and spent the 30 minute journey eating popcorn, cookies, crisps and gummy bears! I don’t know where they got all their energy from. The parents had been exhausted just watching their efforts all weekend, never mind running around in the sun for hours!

And so that was our weekend on Bainbridge. It’s a lovely island, the weather was amazing, the football was a bit stressful (particularly for Tracy) but overall our luck held. We saw orcas, won the cup and caught our ferries on time. A last minute hashed together plan came together perfectly! Let’s hope his season gets a bit cheaper though!

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Orcinus Orca

So. Bald Eagles were where it was at. Then the Hummingbird came along and became the new Eagle. The Hummingbird is tricky though and may take some time. But the Hummingbird better be careful though because the Orca is already becoming the new Hummingbird!

The opportunity to snap a whale in Vancouver just didn’t quite happen, however, the first sightings have now been made. We had heard on the local news that a pod of 20 Orcas had been seen in Elliot Bay (just off Alki Beach) and as luck would have it we were going across to Bainbridge Island on the ferry that very same day.

As we parked the car on the ferry and went up on deck, I grabbed the Canon camera and zoom lens just in case. Good job I did. They may be small but they are the first steps on my whale hunt (purely photographic hunt I hasten to add). Next stop, the San Juans  – I’m going to take a fab picture!!

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