Part III- The Return of the King... Whale.

***Spoiler Alert***
This post is picking up where part II ended. This is a spoiler alert if you have not yet read part's I and II. We return to your favorite expeditionaries Schaefer and Rob as they search the San Juan Islands for.... KILLER WHALES!


We were lucky to get some good shots of these guys. We saw at least 7 in this pod.

Here you can see the whole family out for a swim. Notice the last guy to the left as we caught the spray from the spout just right.

Same here with these two. They got the closest to us. We even had to cut the engine for a moment and let them pass.

Capt. Carli told us the males have the larger and more sharp looking dorsal fin, while the females have a curved shorter fin. Female here.

This is one of our best shots! We got it just right as this guy breached.
We have about 100 photos of just fins  poking out of the water trying to time it just right, but this one was one of the best! (think of the view these people in their homes have every May-Sept as the whales play in these waters).

These two came right past our boat and surfaced with a big loud spray from their blowholes! Notice the male and female. Doesn't seem that close, but they were likely 50 ft at most when they surfaced. It was awesome!

The departing shot of our whales! We really lucked out and had a wonderful time following these guys around. I'll go again with anyone that wants to come see the whales!

The Kirk House B&B in Friday Harbor

This place was AWESOME!! Can you see my excitement? Once again Schaefer finds the gem of  B&B's. This was one of the best places I've ever stayed. Cozy, fancy, pleasant, and the breakfast was like eating dessert for breakfast.

Old Victorian-style harbor in the north part of the island. Only the multi-million sort come this way. You don't dare moor anywhere else. There were plenty of yuppie sailors around here.

 
At Roche harbor with my incredibly cute wife of 1 whole year!

Lighthouse shot. Couldn't go this trip without getting a lighthouse picture on the island coast.

Another day of great sunshine! We went to a park called Whale Watch Park where you of course watch for whales. We had lots to do, plus we're whale experts by now, so we had to move on. Don't we look good?!

Overlooking Friday Harbor as we prepare to leave. We spent most of the day exploring the island and window shopping. It was a beautiful day!

Again overlooking the harbor while we wait for our ferry ride home.

These are dedicated to Dennis. We can't pass a sailboat without thinking about you.
A few sailboat shots with an incredible backdrop. The water and landscape are really spectacular!

Mt. Baker. One of many volcanoes along the Cascade Mountain Range

 
Cruising on the ferry. These are the outdoor seats. It's a bit windy as you can tell, but we had a great time on them. Nothing like wearing our coats in May!

I love all the different blues in this shot. This one turned out great! Can't you see yourself out there on that boat?!

This is called Deception Pass. This bridge connects some smaller islands we crossed on our way home. It in itself was a spectacular view!

At Deception Pass with the eagles. This bald eagle was perched in plain view. He was one large eagle. 

The passage between islands leading to the pacific. Our last great view as we head home.

This concludes the trilogy. 

Happy Anniversary Schaef! The best is yet to come as they say. One in the books, forever to go. Love you!

Part II- The Two Islands (Towers)

I really don't know why I'm doing this Lord of the Ring theme, but that is what happens when I think of trilogies (which this is). So part II- The Two Islands. Orcas Island to Friday Harbor.


The ocean shore as it comes up to town

After waking from our soggy camping morning, we packed up and headed into town of Orcas Island to explore.

Morning after camping... Not our best. But the scenery is great :)

Schaefer did a fabulous job of B&B selections! This cozy place is called The Blue Heron. The host was Bogdan Kulminski (which is a very Eastern European name), but he only had the name, no Romanian or Polish connection.

Our favorite part was this cute little patio just out of our room. As you can see it has a great view of the ocean and surrounding area.

Now, that's better. All cleaned up and off to see the sights.

If you read the previous post you will know of our disappointment at the top of Mt. Constitution when we were encompassed in complete fog. So, with some extra time and some blue sky peaking through we decided to drive to top (yes, you can drive but we opted for the hike) to see if we could catch the so-called views. As you can see, they are incredible!! You can see so much, in all directions.

The views did not disappoint! They built a tower (more Lord of the Rings) at the top of the Mt to get above the tree line. Pictures of course cannot express the grandeur of the views!

Panoramic
Canada, Washington, Mt. Baker, and many islands in between.

The clouds are still rolling in/breaking open, so every few mins we captured a picture with an open view.

Really like how the clouds look in this one. Looking north to Vancouver, BC.
 

There are some 750 islands included in the San Juans...
 

This little Mexican restaurant has fabulous food! Mijitas. We lucked out and had great food everywhere we went. Thank you TripAdvisor. Schaefer has the touch when it comes to choosing the best places to eat. Perfect record thus far! She has some kind of quinoa burgers with mashed sweet potato candy/goodness/delight (yes, at a Mexican place) and I had fish tacos. Both dishes were delicious. Mine had me sweating a little bit. Not because of price, but because we all know I don't handle spice so well. (picture me with a stack of napkins wiping my forehead).
 

Our view from the van while on the ferry. Front row as we head to the next island.
 

Friday harbor is an absolutely gorgeous harbor on the main island of San Juan. This is taken as we drove off the ferry.
 

This is the yacht we were on for the next two nights! OK, not really. But we had to take a picture of it. We looked it up online later and it is ridiculous inside. You should look up "After Eight" and search for pictures. When comparing boats in the harbor this yacht looks like it swallowed four yachts and made a ship.
 

On board with Captain Carli- The beginning of our whale watching trip.
 

Me checking out the views from the boat :) There was another couple on the boat from Germany and about all they could say in English was, "OK." They were really nice though.
 

Trying to stay warm in the crisp air. Very glad for some sunshine though! It was quite welcome. Capt. Carli was great and treated us well. Fun to talk to and a good connection for the future as far as vacations go. He got us as close as they let you get to the whales!
 

Aren't they awesome!! They are so cool to see in the wild. I'm not going all free-willy on you guys, I'm just saying how cool these animals are!
 

This is unfortunate that it is not in complete focus because if you look carefully you can see the whale is jumping! It was hard to get great shots because in the boat you're rocking and bouncing around a bunch- Anyway, stay tuned for more in the next post. We really have some great photos.

1 year!! (Part I)

Welcome to our 1 year anniversary trip! Let's be honest, nothing will ever beat our honeymoon to Antigua,  but the next best thing is a different kind of island. The San Juan Islands. Quite different from the warm, white sandy beaches of the caribbean, we opted for beaches of another kind. Welcome, to the San Juan Islands.

This is a trilogy (3 part series) of posts, so don't miss out on the others. This first one is named: "The Fellowship of the (wedding) Ring."


Early morning sunrise in Anacortes, WA as we wait for the ferry that is going to take us, and our car to the islands!

Inside the ferry. We really enjoyed the ferry rides. It's Schaefer's new preferred way of travel. Complete with indoor and outdoor seating. Being pretty early in the morning, we opted for indoor seating.

That is until the captain of the ferry announced over the PA system that we are stopping to let a pod of orcas go by, then we, and everyone else went outside. Who knew there was an orca crossing right here? 30 mins into our trip and we had already seen 6-7 killer whales!

This is at the beginning of our hike to Mt. Constitution. We read about the spectacular views at the peak of this hike, so we decided on this one. I love the stillness and morning fog in this picture.

 
The old age and the color of the forest was amazing! Green stuff was growing on green stuff! This was on our way to Bag End to see the hobbits.

Cozy little stream along our trail...

In case some of you are still unsure, we are headed to Mt. Constitution. I'ts to the right.  It's where they signed the constitution. (1.5 mi down, 2 more to go)



We reached the top! Wet and raining, we made it there.

And just take a look at this spectacular.....amount of fog. Fog in every direction. I was so mad. Thankfully, Schaefer reminded me of the beauty in the journey and not the destination. Life Lessons on your Anniversary: by Schaefer Bell.


One of many mountain lakes along the hike. We were the only ones there and it truly felt like "getting away." Peaceful.

The lakes had a beautiful turquoise color. It was especially so against the green backdrop.

Near the end of our hike at Mountain Lake. About to head to our campsite.

This picture is long into the process of making a fire. This is attempt number 5-6 and I'm not very excited. In Utah you can just about look at some wood and make it start burning. Here in the soggy NW, not so much. I prepared ahead and got some good freshly chopped wood from our church neighbors who keep their wood covered, so I was ready! Each fire burned about 30 secs and then.... nothing. The only thing I heard was the wood laughing at me.

This is attempt 7-8, maybe 9. I knew this would work. I took a bunch of TP from the camp restroom and stuffed it inside my kindling and wrapped it around my teepee. I aptly named this my, TP teepee.
Without fail, it burned...... for about 2 mins, then extinguished. Something had to happen. It was time...

Poor girl had to wait a while in the rain to get warm by the fire.

"Insta-flame!" When we (and by we, I mean me), came to grips that this wasn't going to happen, we drove off into town and took necessary measures. The gas station had log fire-starters. So we bought 2! Just in case. I had to force a smile in this picture because I was brought down to using a log fire-starter. Shamed...
Of note, it is important to mention here that I went our full camping trip using a hatchet without incident.

Our tent suite complete with a lakeside view.
(We saved money by avoiding the balcony suites)

-Dinner for two-
Waiting for our tinfoil dinners to finish cooking, then onto marshmallows and s'mores.

As evening turned to night we were given a beautiful sunset over Cascade Lake.

I love this picture. Great ending to our day as we watch the sunset from our campsite.

Continue on to part two of our trilogy...