Christmas 2009

Rescued images from a Flickr album. Also, some video. Click on image to see album:

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Posted December 25, 2009, under:
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¡Feliz Navidad!

Sophie participates in her Christmas program at The Oaks Church, where she attends “Mother’s Day Out.” Feliz Navidad:

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Jingle Bells:

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Posted December 16, 2009, under:
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The rest of our Pacific Northwest vacation, 2009

Fourth Day of our Pacific Northwest vacation, 2009

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Fifth Day of our Pacific Northwest vacation, 2009

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Sixth Day of our Pacific Northwest vacation, 2009

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Posted June 20, 2009, under:
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Third Day of our Pacific Northwest vacation

Washington deer

The third day began at the Kirk House, with breakfast at the place. We remembered that last year it was fairly yummy although this time around it seemed to be more on the exotic side. The breakfast parfait was still good — although not everybody got granola, in which case it just plain sucked (plain yogurt just plain sucks, I don’t know if anyone would care to disagree?).

We hit the road and made our way to the English Camp. Driving anywhere in the island is akin to perusing through a set of really cool postcards, and the drive to the camp was no exception. As we got close to the parking area we encountered deer grazing on grass by the camp site. Last year we visited the American Camp, which is the larger of the two. The English counterpart didn’t have all the historical markers the American camp has. While the American camp was full of how life hard was and how the soldiers and staff there had a miserable time, the British camp was all about trees and gardens.We walked about a bit and and saw most of it, but cut the trip short and got back on the road.

We made our way back to Lime Kiln Point Park. We had stopped there last year and actually got to see several killer whales from the coast. We didn’t expect to see any that day, and we didn’t. It was still a nice stop — we walked down a trail and visited the Lime Kiln lighthouse. We would later drive down the coast and got close to the other lighthouse on the island, but just like last year we couldn’t find out how to get to it. We spent some time catching the breeze on the rocks by the beach, and made our way back to town. We took the long way around on a less-traveled road and spotted some more deer and foxes.

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Approaching the English camp and getting greeted by one of the natives:

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Posted June 16, 2009, under:
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Second day of our Pacific Northwest vacation

pancakesOn the second day our body clocks were still tuned in to Central time so we took an early stroll in downtown Anacortes. We found our way to the Calico Cupboard Café, where we had eaten breakfast once last year during our overnight stay in the town. We remembered the awesome hot cakes they served, but forgot about their incredibly slow pace. It took a while to get our orders placed and delivered, but it was worth it once breakfast was served. Last year I got the Breakfast Sampler, which is served with only one flapjack, so this year we opted for the tall stack of hot cakes. I uploaded a Blackberry shot and a comment about this plate when I was first served it, which led my friend Tommy to comment: “That’s one of the most beautiful sentences you’ve ever crafted: ‘The sausage is as big as the flapjacks.’ ” And well, you can see for yourself.

We strolled downtown to walk off breakfast — which neither of us could finish — and noted what had changed since last year. Not much really, although it seemed as if a couple of shops had closed and maybe a couple more had opened. Traffic was slow but we weren’t in a hurry.

We checked out of the Fidalgo Country Inn and started thinking about heading to the ferry that would take us to Anacortes. We had some pizza at Village Pizza and made our way to the ferry dock entrance, where you have to park to get a place to load into the vessel. More than an hour later we boarded the ferry, and almost an hour later we were in Friday Harbor.

We checked in at the Kirk House, the same Bed and Breakfast where we stayed last year, and then made our way to the San Juan Island’s Museum of Art and Sculpture Park, where local artists display their pieces on what is basically a big yard. On the way over we stopped on the highway to watch a group of bald eagles competing with crows and a fox over some food. Or maybe the eagles were hunting the fox. Other motorists had stopped and in the end we couldn’t decide what the scene was. We continued to the park and got there in a few minutes. Last year we didn’t see all of the sculptures, so we thought we’d take a stroll to see what we missed. We found something new: mosquitos, which cut our visit short. We also spotted yet another fox carrying what might have been dinner.

We made our way back to Friday Harbor and to the Kirk House

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A single bald eagle takes flight across a highway on San Juan Island:

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A few Eagles criss-crossed over a highway on San Juan Island, competing with crows and a fox on the ground for food:

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One of many foxes we saw on San Juan Island. This one was running across the Museum of Art and Sculpture Park, apparently carrying lunch:

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Posted June 15, 2009, under:
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