Here we Go!: June 2015

Thursday, June 25, 2015

A bone yard for trees!

We made our way out of Seattle boarded a ferry bound for Kingston departing from the town of Edmonds. Once off the ferry, ( 35 min crossing) we took off for Forks. On our way we stopped and stamped my newley aquired National Park Pasport! Yes it's a passport for all the National Parks. It raises money for them!

When you buy a passport, and when you collect the stickers for each park

You visit.

So I have to date: the Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska official cancelation stamp as well as the printed sticker. On the journey to Forks WA, we stopped in to get the cancellation stamp for the Olympic National Park in Washington and its printed sticker. While there, the guides recommended a hike to Sol Duc falls. Just beautiful!

We loved this hike, not at all difficult, and all in all, a 1.5 hour hike. So many photos here. All make each photographer a happy camper.

Our accommodations in Forks were a "blast from the past" type of vibe. The "Hotel, Motel, Holiday Inn" kinda deal. Ha!

Super tidy and clean!!!! But plastic "shower stall in closure" and curtain...perfectly installed! Perfect lenolioum on the bath floor.. The carpet new...and not abnoxious. The bed spread (not comforter) not bad!!! White sheets and decent pillows...super clean tight paint job on the walls. All in all... Taking a Motel vibe to its absolute perfection!

Below is a pic of the Pacific Inn Motel and the the lovely Ford Edge we have for our trip.

We have a new term for our journey now, we like to Kyhike! (Ki-hike) If we don't Kayak we Hike or both! Ha! So we got up from our 1st night in Forks and met Anna a "local" who's parents and grandparents had lived and created business in the area for the last 3 generations. A Pharmacy, Cattle, Kyaking tours. She was so sweet and calm and knowledgeable. She got us into our own individual kyaks, made sure we understood how to maneuver right, left, reverse. Warned us that fallen trees floating are something to stay away from and that when you see one Elk.. stop... they travel in groups of 15 or more and will cross all at once in a panic...so stop your boat and just wait! Well sorry to say that didn't occur. :( .

We talked about every thing on our 8 mile trek down the Quillayute (La Push Washington) river towards the Pacific Ocean. Her very healthy 90 yr old grand parents, her parents, our lives...so sweet. This kyak trip was a..."so far best". The river meandered at a quiet speed. The depth of water went from 2.5 inches and bumpy to 4-8 feet and mellow. I got stuck on a rock sideways (something she warned us about) Anna said if that happens...lean into the rock and paddle! Well I stuck with that plan and couldn't wiggle free...

(no real cause for concern, the water was only 3 feet deep) but pride! She! (I noted imidiatly) never said a word just positioned her boat to watch and let me figure it out. So cute!

Again evidence of a drought was here too! Anna said the impact on salmon could be devastating.

This is a pic of the place we loaded the kayaks after our trip.

Below is the reason for the caption.

All the way down the coast the beaches are so beautifully littered with pure organic art!

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Paranormal...?

Okay, we went for it! The paranormal tour at 9:00 pm in the underground... Really the tour guides so far!!.... Had been so fun! We thought that it would be a Hooot! Kailee and Jordan were on board! Mike well that would be a "BiG NO" I think he jinxed it! The big hook on this tour... was the paraphernalia!. We had a vest, a electromagnetic device that would pick up an electric field of energy. Sure enough this young kid (cute) on the tour, had a high reading (105). We had (1.75). It came in on his devise when we were in the area of the underground known for prostitution. Hummm! Now another device we all had was a pair of headphones (you know the padded ones with a thick band across the top of your head) they were connected to a Recording device (sensitive)(EVP). I was ahead of the group...asking the spirits questions...out loud...when suddenly... my headphones across the top of my head took a sudden slap!...and fell

abruptly to the back of my neck. My first thought was I went under a low lying pipe and it knocked them backwards. Kailee saw me reaching up to feel for a pipe that may have knocked my headphones. No pipe!..or anything else! Kailee said she thought she bumped into a wall in the darkness in the underground.. When she shined her underground light (a red low light) to see the wall she bumped into, there was no wall! The guides were not so... Guideon (one of the guides) (a Santa Claus looking guy). Was a true believer! You could hardly find him he was in the underbelly of those streets. So where were the animated tour guides we had come to know? Not this time. Still fun though.

Monday, June 22, 2015

Geat tour! Underground!

The guide through the underground was super talented! Funny! with non stop stories! We rushed through the bookstore/museum, or else I would have looked for a book with as many pics of the period as possible. The way they chose to rebuild Seattle after a devastating fire leaves me befuddled! Briefly..upon the rebuild, post fire, they demanded all buildings be made from brick. I get that, but they wanted to raise the city streets up 15 feet cause they built the city in a tide zone. I get that. But they began building before they sleuthed the soil from the steep hillside behind the city. So all buildings had to have 2 front doors, one on the first old street

level, and one on the 2nd level for later when the sleuthing (10yr process) raised the streets. I guess the process had to be done that way or there would be no business, downtown, economy etc.

Pics below show those erie passageways

that were still used after the sleuthing was complete.

Photo below:

shows the Skylight built into new streets to shine light below into the underground, with the original glass still in place.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Seattle Chihuly Garden and glass, & Space Needle!

Beautiful, great exhibit. Video reveals how he assembles these pieces of art.

Mt Reinier in the backround on a day like today!

Friday, June 19, 2015

Leaving Alaska..interesting fact, Laura's favorite moment, Mikes favorite moment

Interesting:

Finding the locals saying that this ancient rainforest is in a bit of a drought. One of their worries is that some of the waterways the salmon use to swim up stream on, may actually be dry! So no spawning can occur. This is a parting shot of a slightly drought stricken rainforest from our plane.

Laura's favorite moment:

Although not a great photo, the majestic backround..and look closely.. a majestic Bald Eagle floating on a iceberg.

Mikes favorite moment:

Stepping past the shores of Plesant Island..working just a bit.. to poke into the lush old Forrest.

If your following our blog, don't know..

I don't know how to advise you to leave a comment..I think you may have to have a gmail? I can't figure it out. My friend did open a gmail account and wasn't sure her comment posted.. but I did see it. But email us any thoughts, suggestions and such! :)

Notable sad feeling present!

A 15 minute bike ride from our Inn...a 10 min hike into the Forrest led to a distinct sense of sadness. The cockpit crew found themselves in bad weather and circling for a landing spot. Story told to us... the local radio stations asking residents to turn their lights on..the cockpit crew was afraid to land and take out a house(s). I suspect there were less houses then ...and today it doesn't seem like there are that many. But there's so many trees here! Below is a link to a story about the crash.

http://m.utsandiego.com/news/2014/jun/27/national-guard-plane-crash-alaska-military-pavel/