Last and final day in the Pacific Northwest

The last and final day at the beach and the only thing that was most appealing was resting at the house.  I took lots of pictures and we all went back out to the beach to gather more beautiful shells.  Dan's cousin, Kaye, came by and actually spent the night.  She was super cool and hip.  The day went by so fast because that's the way it is on the last day of vacation.  Sad to leave.  ) :

Aniston had an Easter Egg hunt on the beach.  Except for a trip over a log on the beach, she had a great time hunting for eggs.

7th Day in the Pacific Northwest

On this day, we stayed at the beach house because my stepdad's family came to our place to visit.  It is so cute watching my stepdad and his sisters; he is the only boy...needless to say, I think this is where he gets a lot of his sensitive side.  We all enjoyed each other and had lots of laughs and fun.  Sweet family.

6th Day in the Pacific Northwest

We woke up and got ourselves ready to head out to spend the day in Seattle, Washington.  Because we're staying on an island, we had to catch the ferry to Mukilteo.  This was only a 25 min. ferry boat ride.  About another 40 min. drive and we approached Seattle.  Our first stop was to the Freemont Troll.  The troll under the bridge is a public sculpture that was created back in 1990.  The car that he has in his hand is a real volkswagon.  This sorda gives a little perspective of it's size.

Our second stop was at the Pike Place Market that overlooks Elliot Bay.  It was established in 1907 and is to this day the largest public Farmer's Market in the United States; only there aren't just farmers selling their fruits and vegetables, but also many different people selling different things from shirts to sculptures to seafood throughout the long stretch.  It is almost like a mall except outdoors.  One of the coolest sites are watching the guys that sell the seafood.  They will throw large 10-15 lb. fish to each other.  Lots of it is for show to the public.  Super cool to watch.  I have video and pictures of it all.  While at at the Public Market we got hungry so we ate at the Athenian which is one of the settings for Sleepless in Seattle with Tom Hanks. We all ate fish and chips and Aniston had cheeseburger sliders.  It was excellent!  Before leaving the market, we got a picture of Aniston on the pig.  The bronze pig is named Rachel and she is a mascot for the market.  She actually is a huge piggy bank.  All the money goes to Pike Place Social Services.

Our last stop was at the Space Needle, which was built in 1962.  The ride up is like riding in an elevator.  I wish the weather wasn't so rainy so we could enjoy the view of the city a little better, but then again, it is Seattle.  The top of the Space Needle rotates every 47 minutes which is pretty cool.  We got a couple of  pictures and souvenirs while there.  We had a toast to the city and then left.

The ride back to the ferry was a little tiring because we had traffic, but now we're back to the beach house in our jammies, listening music, and enjoying each other.  Again, life is good.

Just a tribute to Sydney Karla Redfield:  This is my stepdad's baby sister who died last year of cancer.  We went by the Fisherman's Terminal to the Fisherman's Memorial walkway to pay our respects to her.  Syd worked for Icicle Seafood on the Bering Sea as a Safety Inspector.  She is honored at the Fisherman's Terminal and has a sweet plague with her name.  RIP Syd...

5th Day in the Pacific Northwest

Aniston and I woke up and began looking for shells on the beach.  We had lots of fun!  We walked down to the pier and then came back because we felt some rain drops.  We went out a couple of more times to scope out shells, but today was mainly about resting and enjoying the beauty abroad.  Loving life!

News on the seal: (Aniston named him Tommy the Seal)  My stepfather called  the Marine Stranded Wildlife Control.  He called just to make sure that it was normal for the seal to be hanging on the shore instead of the side of the ocean.  It was strange because everytime the tide would come in, he/she would move away.  Anyway, the Marine Wildlife said to just leave the seal (pup) alone because his mommy is probably out hunting and will be back for him.  They also said that sometimes the mommy seals will drop off their babies on the shore so they can gain more blubber.  This was a relief to us because we were worried that the sweet pup wasn't going to make it.  So far he has been out on the shore for about 36 hours.

Mom and Dan went out to meet up with some old friends and Dwayne, Aniston, and I stayed back to relax and enjoy the beach.

                                                    Beach House that we're staying in (Notice how the backyard is sand)

4th Day in the Pacific Northwest

On the fourth day we had our breakfast in the hotel, went to a thrift store, and drove through China town.  We then headed to the ferry boat, went through customs, and then got on the boat.  Aniston napped through the whole ferry ride.  She was tired because we have been nonstop since we got here.  I did get some pictures of Mt. Baker while traveling across the Juan De Fuca Strait.  Once we got back to Anacortes, we had to go through US customs which is a little more difficult.  We had to wait in a line of cars.  Some cars would get checked and some cars would get questioned.  We were just asked a few questions and then we were back on our trip.  ( :  We drove on to Freeland, Washington which is part of Whidbey Island where Dan's niece met us at the beach house that we're staying in.  Dan's niece and family are part owners of this home.  The beauty of this place is unreal. The backyard is just sand and the water is literally 15 steps.  AMAZING!  Dan's niece and her son were staying here for the weekend.  They greeted us with a cocktail and then went back to their home.

We had another greeting as well.  A baby seal was behind the house.  At first, we were in awe because we had never been so close to seal before.  Turns out, it was just a pup, which is a baby seal.  He/she was so cute.  The face looked like it was sad which made you want to pick it up and hold it.  After a while, we began to wonder if the seal was okay because it just laid behind the house...sometimes no movement at all.  We decided because it was late to wait until the next day to see what we should do.

As far as the view...words can't describe.  As I write, I am looking out two huge windows and it feels like the ocean in right underneath.  It is super close.  Generally, I am used to looking at the ocean and not being able to see the end, but here, I can see the Olympic Mountains.  On the other side of these mountains is the Pacific Ocean.  Cool!

Also, Happy Birthday to my dear mother!  She is the absolute best!  We ended the evening with a celebratory cake.

3rd Day in Victoria B.C. Canada

On our 3rd day we awoke to beautiful Victoria.  As we drove around the area, we caught a wonderful view of the Olympic Mountains.  This view was so breathtaking that we had to pull over to have a camera moment.  The pictures below display these mountains; although I am not sure these images do it justice.

After our moment of being humbled, we drove over to the town of Victoria and just parked so we could walk.  We began our jaunt to the Parliament building....BEAUTIFUL!  The Parliament is home to the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia.  Needless to say, lots of decisions are made in this building.  The construction of this building began in 1893 and was completed I believe in 1897.  In front of the building is a statue of Queen Victoria.  She was the monarch of United Kingdom, Britain empire and Ireland.  She was given the thrown at the age of 18 (When she was born, she was 5th heir).  She ruled for 63 years which is the longest in history.  Wow!  

We headed over to the Fairmount Empress Resort, which has served many celebrities and royalties and is one of the oldest hotels in Victoria.  Authors such as Rudyard Kipling stayed here.  One of the most beautiful aspects of the hotel was the victorian style tea room.  You can just envision people from many years before having tea and talking about whatever may be going on in the world at the time.  It really takes you back for sure.  I also heard that Shirley Temple came to this resort many times.  Rumor has it that she ran away to stay here.  Who knows, just a rumor.  While here, Aniston got her first Porcelain mini tea set.

We walked along the water and then went back to the car. We took Aniston to Beacon Hill park, but on the way we saw another beautiful view (camera moment) of the Olympic Mountains. While at the park, Aniston went through petting zoo and she LOVED it.  She got to pet many different animals and she fell in love with the Pygmy goats.  Actually, I think we all fell in love with them.

  We then went to a bistro that was way expensive (not unusual for Canada) and had a nice lunch.  We went back to the hotel and put our feet up until dinner. 

At dinner, we went to the Flying Otter on the water.  This was a great meal along with great service.  At the end of the night, mom told Dwayne and I to go out and explore more of Victoria.  We did for about an hour, got Aniston and then went to bed.  Again, this jet lag thing is for real.