Monday, September 27, 2010

Tofino, BC


Tofino is a little more touristy than Ucluelet, where we stayed, but it's entertaining with lots of good restaurants.


Isn't this a lovely place for lunch?


I could hardly believe my eyes when the sun shone on this beautiful flower.


Of course there are many water-related activities in the area.


It was a marvelous mix of clouds and blue sky that day.


We headed off for another hike before a bear watching boat trip later in the day.


This trail was almost entirely made out of wood and stairs.


We found these at the bottom.  And yes, of course, we had to walk all the way back up!

That was My World not too long ago.

Saturday, September 25, 2010

Evening in Ucluelet and Morning on the Pacific Rim Beach

We played tourists for a day in Seattle and then the next day took the Victoria Clipper to Vancouver Island.  Rather than renting a car in Seattle, we used their excellent public transportation system.  Once we arrived in Victoria we picked up our rental car.  The agent there recommend a great place for lunch and we ate in a remodeled bus.  We visited the famous Butchart Gardens.  I had hoped to have endless, amazing pictures of it all, but unfortunately it was raining too hard that day to even consider hauling out the cameras.  The best I can do is suggest your visit their website, or better yet, plan to see it in person.

After a night in Victoria, we drove to the unusually economical cabin at Bird's Bay Retreat in Ucluelet, British Columbia.  It's about a five hour drive if you don't stop along the way, which we did, a lot.


As soon as we settled in we headed to the beach.  By then it was dusk.




Someone is very happy to be in the Pacific Rim Forest.  Truthfully I had never heard of it.  Gary said it was on his bucket list, so before I knew it was on mine, I was already there!


Most people know that the northwest is very damp and foggy.  It was.


The early riser in my life was up and ready to go the next day.  I lagged behind until we got a mocha espresso and pastry for breakfast.


Someone else explored the beach too.


There were signs on the beach warning visitors about large, dangerous waves.  They must be if they can move these huge logs up on the shore.


Tide pools are always fun to explore.


Who doesn't love waves crashing on the rocks?


So many scenic views there.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

A glimpse of Seattle


The moist environment in Seattle seems to be perfect for growing flowers.


I love being able to walk along the water.  We had a delicious fresh seafood meal at Elliott's the night before.  I had the most divine crab cakes ever!


This talented young woman was outside dancing with her hula hoop to earn money for nursing school.  She posed for me so I donated a few dollars to the cause.  


I fell in love with otters on our trip to Alaska and was intrigued by this carved chair.  This handsome young man just looked right at me when I pointed my camera at him and took the shot.


This gentleman was my traveling companion for the week we spent in the northwest.  He had been wanting to revisit the area for years so we decided pretty much on the spur of the moment to go.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

In a perfect world....

The Pike Street Market in Seattle would exist in my town too.  Can we clone it?


Fresh pepper wreaths are colorful, delicious and nutritious.


So many amazing fresh flowers to choose from.


Lots of fresh fish too.


It was such a treat to see all the marvelous displays.  I can only imagine how wonderful it would be to be able to shop here on a regular basis.


This was part of My World only a little over two weeks ago.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

The magical northwest

Last week my husband and I took a trip to Seattle, Victoria, British Columbia and the Pacific Rim Forest on Vancouver Island.  It was a trip without children so I called it Celebrating the Empty Nest trip to lessen the blow of both my girls being away at college.  I miss them but I'm excited that they are getting an education.

Anyway, I'm having a hard time keeping up with myself and catching up on everything.  I do have a minute to post some of the beautiful skies we saw in Tofino on a bear watching trip.  More details about this wonderful trip will be posted later but for now, enjoy the play of light in the clouds!





Don't forget to visit Skywatch Friday!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Empyrean




It means heavenly.  I needed a new word for these dramatic skies.



Sky Watch Friday, for all celestial gazers, meets here.