About 15 minutes into the flight at about 18,000 feet (almost 4,000 above Rainier's summit) we were able to see Mount Adams in the distance as well.
Showing posts with label Honeymoon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Honeymoon. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Project365: Day 211 - Heading Home
We left Seattle this morning to head back to Minneapolis. I did get one last opportunity to photograph Mount Rainier. The first photo was taken shortly after takeoff once we turned east.
About 15 minutes into the flight at about 18,000 feet (almost 4,000 above Rainier's summit) we were able to see Mount Adams in the distance as well.
About 15 minutes into the flight at about 18,000 feet (almost 4,000 above Rainier's summit) we were able to see Mount Adams in the distance as well.
Project365: Day 210 - Lake Union, Geocaching, and the Locks
Our last full day in Seattle, we ventured north of downtown to South Lake Union and the Center for Wooden Boats. The piers there are lined with beautiful handcrafted old boats, restored boats, and new boats.
A large variety of boats, most still in use, are on display here--hand-carved canoes, old weathered sailboats, and even a restored steam-launch boat called Puffin.
The Center for Wooden Boats also offers sailing classes on Lake Union. As we were walking through the park, a youth class was preparing to head out onto the water. The sailboats they use for teaching the youth classes are small and charming.
After the Center for Wooden Boats, we walked up towards Ballard for the afternoon. As a geocacher, I couldn't go to Seattle and not pay a visit the The Lilypad--the headquarters of Groundspeak, the parent organization of geocaching.
We got to meet a few of the Groundspeak "Lackeys", signed the log book for the official HQ geocache (that giant treasure chest on the floor), and had our photo taken in their photobooth and posted it on the wall. One of the coolest things to see during our visit was the TV screen on the wall above the cache. The screen displays a Google Map that jumps every 30 seconds to the last cache that was logged on Geocaching.com. It was very cool to watch it bounce all over the world as users logged caches.
From the Geocaching HQ, we walked (through a terribly romantic industrial area) up to the Chittenden Locks. The Locks are the point of access for boats traveling between Elliot Bay and Lake Union/Lake Washington. It was established and is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. When we arrived at the Locks, we first went into the viewing room underneath the dam. From there you can see into one stage of the salmon ladder that has been created to allow chinook, sockeye, coho, and steelhead salmon to migrate upstream in order to spawn in the small creeks the feed into Lake Union and Lake Washington.
Shortly after we came up from the viewing area on to the top of the lock and dam, a tugboat and a few other larger boats began filing into the larger of the two locks.
Here's a time-lapse that same tugboat making the transition from Lake Union to Elliot Bay:
We hopped on a city bus back to downtown, which completed our bingo card for modes of transportation used on our trip:
- Airplane (MSP to SEA and back)
- Light Rail (airport to downtown)
- Ferry (SEA to Victoria)
- Monorail (Downtown to Seattle Center)
- Automobile (Seattle to Rainier)
- Streetcar (Downtown to South Lake Union)
- Bus (Chittenden to Downtown)
- Walking (absolutely freaking everywhere)
One more night in Seattle, then back to Minneapolis and "real life" once again.
A large variety of boats, most still in use, are on display here--hand-carved canoes, old weathered sailboats, and even a restored steam-launch boat called Puffin.
The Center for Wooden Boats also offers sailing classes on Lake Union. As we were walking through the park, a youth class was preparing to head out onto the water. The sailboats they use for teaching the youth classes are small and charming.
After the Center for Wooden Boats, we walked up towards Ballard for the afternoon. As a geocacher, I couldn't go to Seattle and not pay a visit the The Lilypad--the headquarters of Groundspeak, the parent organization of geocaching.
We got to meet a few of the Groundspeak "Lackeys", signed the log book for the official HQ geocache (that giant treasure chest on the floor), and had our photo taken in their photobooth and posted it on the wall. One of the coolest things to see during our visit was the TV screen on the wall above the cache. The screen displays a Google Map that jumps every 30 seconds to the last cache that was logged on Geocaching.com. It was very cool to watch it bounce all over the world as users logged caches.
From the Geocaching HQ, we walked (through a terribly romantic industrial area) up to the Chittenden Locks. The Locks are the point of access for boats traveling between Elliot Bay and Lake Union/Lake Washington. It was established and is managed by the Army Corps of Engineers. When we arrived at the Locks, we first went into the viewing room underneath the dam. From there you can see into one stage of the salmon ladder that has been created to allow chinook, sockeye, coho, and steelhead salmon to migrate upstream in order to spawn in the small creeks the feed into Lake Union and Lake Washington.
Shortly after we came up from the viewing area on to the top of the lock and dam, a tugboat and a few other larger boats began filing into the larger of the two locks.
Here's a time-lapse that same tugboat making the transition from Lake Union to Elliot Bay:
We hopped on a city bus back to downtown, which completed our bingo card for modes of transportation used on our trip:
- Airplane (MSP to SEA and back)
- Light Rail (airport to downtown)
- Ferry (SEA to Victoria)
- Monorail (Downtown to Seattle Center)
- Automobile (Seattle to Rainier)
- Streetcar (Downtown to South Lake Union)
- Bus (Chittenden to Downtown)
- Walking (absolutely freaking everywhere)
One more night in Seattle, then back to Minneapolis and "real life" once again.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Project365: Day 209 - Mount Rainier National Park
Day 4 of our honeymoon was another chance to get out of the city, this time to head to the wilderness. We rented a car for the day and drove out to Mount Rainier National Park. It's about a two hour drive to the Paradise/Longmire park entrance in Ashford, Washington. It took us just a little bit longer because we slowed down to share the road with bicyclists--we were at Mount Rainier on the same day as the annual RAMROD (Ride Around Mount Rainier in One Day) bicycle race. The race is a 152 mile loop with over 10,000 total feet of climb on the route. It follows the National Park Highway all the way around Mount Rainier. As one volunteer told us, "The fastest riders can do it in about 8.5 hours." Averaging almost 18 mph through a windy, steep mountain road?! THAT is impressive. In Iowa on the same day, RAGBRAI riders were rolling on Day 5 from Altoona to Grinnell (57.5 miles, 3200 feet of climbing).
On the drive from Seattle to Enumclaw, we could see Rainier almost the entire time. Once we got closer to the park, however, the towering trees of the thickening forest obscured the mountain. We stopped at Kautz Creek, the first marked scenic viewpoint in the park, and were immediately reunited with an amazing view of Rainier.
Brittany made sure we got plenty of photos of the two of us throughout the day, starting right away at our first stop.
Kautz Creek is known for being a severe flooding hazard and routinely changing its course through debris flows, sometimes violently. Previous flows have changed the entire river path, destroyed trails, and even covered the main park road in deep piles of debris. Today it looked pretty innocent and tame.
We continued further into the park to the Nisqually River. The fast-flowing Nisqually River is comprised of the meltwater from the Nisqually Glacier on Mount Rainier's south face. The milky color of the water is due to "glacial flour"--sediment that was picked up by the glacier during its movement. The glacial flour is a sign that the glacier itself, and not just the snowpack on top of it, is indeed melting.
At a narrow point in the river, a rough bridge had been placed to allow hikers to cross. A split log with a handrail on one side only and the water rushing underneath, this bridge was exciting to cross. Luckily it was very stable.
Another photo of us in front of Mount Rainier after successfully crossing the rustic bridge.
Paradise is the busiest and most crowded area of the park for a few reasons: it is easily accessible by car, it is the most developed area of the park, and it offers some of the best views of the mountain without considerable hiking effort. It gets so busy on weekends that the park offers a shuttle service from Ashford (outside the park) up to Paradise because the parking lots fill so fast. For this reason, we made a point of going to Rainier on a weekday and planned to arrive early enough to beat the crowds.
The visitor center at Paradise is relatively new (it replaced an older, smaller visitor center here), but is still a stunning example of the great architecture found in many of our National Parks. The large windows on the ground level each have large reinforced doors that close over them on the exterior to protect the building from the extremely deep snow that can fall here in the winter.
At Paradise, we had decided to hike on the Nisqually Vista Trail, one of the most popular warm-weather trails in the park. This trail is paved, relatively flat, and usually by late July is surrounded by a lush wildflower meadow. Because of above average snowfalls and below average temperatures this past year, the Nisqually Vista Trail was still snow-covered, but we walked it anyway!
The bamboo trail markers in the snow indicated that we were standing on anywhere from 6 to 10 feet of snow at this viewpoint. As you can see, we didn't wear jackets on the hike. Yes there was still plenty of snow, but the temperature was 75 degrees. We both got a little sunburned on the trail from the bright sun reflecting off of the snow.
We arrived back at the Paradise visitor center just as the crowds were getting crazy, and in time to head down the road ahead of them again. Just outside Paradise is the Reflection Lakes area, which is pretty self-explanatory.
And pretty awesome. I slid down a snowbank and actually put my tripod into the shallow water at the edge of the lake for my photos there.
After Reflection Lakes, we started to go down in elevation as we entered Stevens Canyon. This elevation drop brought us below the snow line and into the wildflowers.
The Stevens Canyon Road was one of my favorite parts of the park to drive, though Brittany definitely did not care for the very long and steep drop off to her side of the car.
We stopped a periodically at some overlooks and waterfalls on the next leg of the road, but our next destination was the Ohanapecosh area. Ohanapecosh is the lowest part of the park at 1900' above sea level. The area is home to natural hot springs, a large camping area, and the Grove of the Patriarchs--an isolated island full of towering douglas firs, western hemlocks, and western red cedars. Many of the trees on the island are over 1,000 years old.
The entire loop trail in the Grove of the Patriarchs was beautiful and humbling. Even the single-file suspension bridge over the Ohanapecosh River out to the island was picturesque.
From Ohanapecosh there are two routes back towards Seattle. Doubling back the way we came into the park meant seeing the same sights in reverse and (worse) possibly having to drive in traffic with clueless tourists. Continuing in the same direction on the loop highway, around to the east and north faces of Rainier, gave us a full tour of the park. It also brought us to the Naches Tavern, a hole-in-the-wall bar and grill in Greenwood, for a tasty dinner before heading back to Seattle.
On the drive from Seattle to Enumclaw, we could see Rainier almost the entire time. Once we got closer to the park, however, the towering trees of the thickening forest obscured the mountain. We stopped at Kautz Creek, the first marked scenic viewpoint in the park, and were immediately reunited with an amazing view of Rainier.
Brittany made sure we got plenty of photos of the two of us throughout the day, starting right away at our first stop.
Kautz Creek is known for being a severe flooding hazard and routinely changing its course through debris flows, sometimes violently. Previous flows have changed the entire river path, destroyed trails, and even covered the main park road in deep piles of debris. Today it looked pretty innocent and tame.
We continued further into the park to the Nisqually River. The fast-flowing Nisqually River is comprised of the meltwater from the Nisqually Glacier on Mount Rainier's south face. The milky color of the water is due to "glacial flour"--sediment that was picked up by the glacier during its movement. The glacial flour is a sign that the glacier itself, and not just the snowpack on top of it, is indeed melting.
At a narrow point in the river, a rough bridge had been placed to allow hikers to cross. A split log with a handrail on one side only and the water rushing underneath, this bridge was exciting to cross. Luckily it was very stable.
Another photo of us in front of Mount Rainier after successfully crossing the rustic bridge.
Paradise is the busiest and most crowded area of the park for a few reasons: it is easily accessible by car, it is the most developed area of the park, and it offers some of the best views of the mountain without considerable hiking effort. It gets so busy on weekends that the park offers a shuttle service from Ashford (outside the park) up to Paradise because the parking lots fill so fast. For this reason, we made a point of going to Rainier on a weekday and planned to arrive early enough to beat the crowds.
The visitor center at Paradise is relatively new (it replaced an older, smaller visitor center here), but is still a stunning example of the great architecture found in many of our National Parks. The large windows on the ground level each have large reinforced doors that close over them on the exterior to protect the building from the extremely deep snow that can fall here in the winter.
At Paradise, we had decided to hike on the Nisqually Vista Trail, one of the most popular warm-weather trails in the park. This trail is paved, relatively flat, and usually by late July is surrounded by a lush wildflower meadow. Because of above average snowfalls and below average temperatures this past year, the Nisqually Vista Trail was still snow-covered, but we walked it anyway!
The bamboo trail markers in the snow indicated that we were standing on anywhere from 6 to 10 feet of snow at this viewpoint. As you can see, we didn't wear jackets on the hike. Yes there was still plenty of snow, but the temperature was 75 degrees. We both got a little sunburned on the trail from the bright sun reflecting off of the snow.
We arrived back at the Paradise visitor center just as the crowds were getting crazy, and in time to head down the road ahead of them again. Just outside Paradise is the Reflection Lakes area, which is pretty self-explanatory.
And pretty awesome. I slid down a snowbank and actually put my tripod into the shallow water at the edge of the lake for my photos there.
After Reflection Lakes, we started to go down in elevation as we entered Stevens Canyon. This elevation drop brought us below the snow line and into the wildflowers.
The Stevens Canyon Road was one of my favorite parts of the park to drive, though Brittany definitely did not care for the very long and steep drop off to her side of the car.
We stopped a periodically at some overlooks and waterfalls on the next leg of the road, but our next destination was the Ohanapecosh area. Ohanapecosh is the lowest part of the park at 1900' above sea level. The area is home to natural hot springs, a large camping area, and the Grove of the Patriarchs--an isolated island full of towering douglas firs, western hemlocks, and western red cedars. Many of the trees on the island are over 1,000 years old.
The entire loop trail in the Grove of the Patriarchs was beautiful and humbling. Even the single-file suspension bridge over the Ohanapecosh River out to the island was picturesque.
From Ohanapecosh there are two routes back towards Seattle. Doubling back the way we came into the park meant seeing the same sights in reverse and (worse) possibly having to drive in traffic with clueless tourists. Continuing in the same direction on the loop highway, around to the east and north faces of Rainier, gave us a full tour of the park. It also brought us to the Naches Tavern, a hole-in-the-wall bar and grill in Greenwood, for a tasty dinner before heading back to Seattle.
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Project365: Day 208 - Books, Architecture, More Books, Art, and the 1962 World's Fair
My wife likes loves flat-out adores and devours books. She is always reading something, always planning what she is going to read next, and her desire to read is never really satiated. She doesn't just read books. She also collects them. LOTS of them. When we moved MY large bookshelf into our new apartment, she quickly filled it up with HER books. "But I left you space for your archi-dork books on the bottom shelf!"
If you haven't figured it out from my Project365 photos to date, Ilove am addicted to architecture. I especially enjoy artful, creative, and superbly functional architecture regardless of the building's style or age.
Given our individual idiosyncratic joys, what better compromise for Day 3 of our honeymoon than to spend some time enjoying the architecture of books? The first stop of the day was a spacious and beautiful independent bookstore in the Capitol Hill neighborhood called the Elliot Bay Book Company.
I love the warm colors and textures of the wood floor, the cedar shelving, and the large timber structure. I can't seem to find the right words to describe it, but the feeling and experience of being in this bookstore was so much more uplifting than any of the big-box booksellers we've frequented. The best word for it may be authentic. Des Moines needs a bookstore like Elliot Bay Books. In fact, EVERY city should have a bookstore that is as helpful, welcoming, and comfortable as this one.
We left the Capitol Hill neighborhood and made our way back towards downtown by way of Freeway Park. The name gives it away--it's greenbelt-type park on top of the freeway cutting through downtown. The center of the park features a series of fountains and waterfalls made of heavily textured concrete (Brutalism, for you architectural style-junkies out there).
Though it was popular during the time period when the park was completed (1966), I felt that the rough, brutalist concrete was a strange contrast to the lush greenery and winding pathways found in the rest of the park. The guidebook to Seattle architecture that I had with me provided some clarity--apparently Lawrence Halprin (the same landscape architect who designed Nicollet Mall and the FDR Memorial) intended for the juxtaposition of the rough texture and simple geometric forms to mimic the relationship of Mt. Rainier (rough and jagged) with the City of Seattle (geometric and ordered).
As we got to the end of Freeway Park there was a giant game of chess set up, just waiting for people to play it. We would have stopped to play, but we were moving on to our next destination--the Seattle Public Library. And Brittany says she doesn't know how to play chess.
I'm not usually a fan of giant, super-modern, deconstructionist-type public buildings (ahemFRANKGHERYahem). The Seattle Public Library, however, definitely won me over. As an architect, the building's elegant combination of simple detailing, open floor plans, and easy wayfinding made it hard not to love. As an amateur photographer, the sightlines, bold colors, and open atrium made it seem easy to make some of my favorite photographs.
Some of the colors may have been a little TOO bold for my taste. All of the hallway walls, floors, and ceiling on the 3rd Level (conference rooms) are red. And not just a little bit red--they are RED.
Brittany's reaction to the very spacious, open stacks area was funny:
Her: "There aren't enough books in the library."
Me: "What do you mean 'not enough'? The brochure says there are 1.4 million here."
Her: "It feels...empty. Libraries should feel full and packed with books."
Me: "They designed it to hold 2 million, so there is some space left to fill in the future."
Her: "Not enough books."
There are NEVER enough books for her. :D
We found a nice spot to have lunch on the waterfront with a nice view of the bay.
Then we hopped on the Seattle Monorail to go up towards Seattle Center.
The centerpiece of Seattle Center is the Space Needle...
...but there will be more on that later. We walked from Seattle Center to the Olympic Sculpture Park at the waterfront. The sculpture park was wonderfully landscaped and had some really fantastic pieces, including a 300-ton steel piece called "Wake" by Richard Serra, one of my favorite artists.
We walked through the entire park and even found a few places to sit and relax for a while.
Soon it was time to head back to the Space Needle and check in for dinner. They sent us up to the observation deck (one level above the restaurant) before our reservation time. The weather and sunlight were perfect to be able to see Mount Rainier in the distance to the south of the city skyline.
The hostess at in the restaurant apparently felt bad that we had to wait longer than normal to be seated (didn't seem abnormally long to us...) so she made sure that we were seated at a table right along the outside windows.
The timing of our seating was perfect--when we were seated we were looking southeast towards the edge of downtown, but we rotated around to the western view just as the sun was setting over the bay and the mountains, filling the dining room with golden light. After dinner and dessert (which was all fantastically delicious) we went back up one level to the observation deck to enjoy the nighttime view of Seattle before heading home for the night.
If you haven't figured it out from my Project365 photos to date, I
Given our individual idiosyncratic joys, what better compromise for Day 3 of our honeymoon than to spend some time enjoying the architecture of books? The first stop of the day was a spacious and beautiful independent bookstore in the Capitol Hill neighborhood called the Elliot Bay Book Company.
I love the warm colors and textures of the wood floor, the cedar shelving, and the large timber structure. I can't seem to find the right words to describe it, but the feeling and experience of being in this bookstore was so much more uplifting than any of the big-box booksellers we've frequented. The best word for it may be authentic. Des Moines needs a bookstore like Elliot Bay Books. In fact, EVERY city should have a bookstore that is as helpful, welcoming, and comfortable as this one.
We left the Capitol Hill neighborhood and made our way back towards downtown by way of Freeway Park. The name gives it away--it's greenbelt-type park on top of the freeway cutting through downtown. The center of the park features a series of fountains and waterfalls made of heavily textured concrete (Brutalism, for you architectural style-junkies out there).
Though it was popular during the time period when the park was completed (1966), I felt that the rough, brutalist concrete was a strange contrast to the lush greenery and winding pathways found in the rest of the park. The guidebook to Seattle architecture that I had with me provided some clarity--apparently Lawrence Halprin (the same landscape architect who designed Nicollet Mall and the FDR Memorial) intended for the juxtaposition of the rough texture and simple geometric forms to mimic the relationship of Mt. Rainier (rough and jagged) with the City of Seattle (geometric and ordered).
As we got to the end of Freeway Park there was a giant game of chess set up, just waiting for people to play it. We would have stopped to play, but we were moving on to our next destination--the Seattle Public Library. And Brittany says she doesn't know how to play chess.
I'm not usually a fan of giant, super-modern, deconstructionist-type public buildings (ahemFRANKGHERYahem). The Seattle Public Library, however, definitely won me over. As an architect, the building's elegant combination of simple detailing, open floor plans, and easy wayfinding made it hard not to love. As an amateur photographer, the sightlines, bold colors, and open atrium made it seem easy to make some of my favorite photographs.
Some of the colors may have been a little TOO bold for my taste. All of the hallway walls, floors, and ceiling on the 3rd Level (conference rooms) are red. And not just a little bit red--they are RED.
Brittany's reaction to the very spacious, open stacks area was funny:
Her: "There aren't enough books in the library."
Me: "What do you mean 'not enough'? The brochure says there are 1.4 million here."
Her: "It feels...empty. Libraries should feel full and packed with books."
Me: "They designed it to hold 2 million, so there is some space left to fill in the future."
Her: "Not enough books."
There are NEVER enough books for her. :D
We found a nice spot to have lunch on the waterfront with a nice view of the bay.
Then we hopped on the Seattle Monorail to go up towards Seattle Center.
The centerpiece of Seattle Center is the Space Needle...
...but there will be more on that later. We walked from Seattle Center to the Olympic Sculpture Park at the waterfront. The sculpture park was wonderfully landscaped and had some really fantastic pieces, including a 300-ton steel piece called "Wake" by Richard Serra, one of my favorite artists.
We walked through the entire park and even found a few places to sit and relax for a while.
Soon it was time to head back to the Space Needle and check in for dinner. They sent us up to the observation deck (one level above the restaurant) before our reservation time. The weather and sunlight were perfect to be able to see Mount Rainier in the distance to the south of the city skyline.
The hostess at in the restaurant apparently felt bad that we had to wait longer than normal to be seated (didn't seem abnormally long to us...) so she made sure that we were seated at a table right along the outside windows.
The timing of our seating was perfect--when we were seated we were looking southeast towards the edge of downtown, but we rotated around to the western view just as the sun was setting over the bay and the mountains, filling the dining room with golden light. After dinner and dessert (which was all fantastically delicious) we went back up one level to the observation deck to enjoy the nighttime view of Seattle before heading home for the night.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Project365: Day 207 - Victoria, British Columbia
On the second day of our honeymoon in the Pacific Northwest, we made plans to invade Canada for the day. By "invade" I clearly mean "get on a passenger ferry and visit Victoria, British Columbia."
From the ferry we got a very different view of Seattle and Elliot Bay as we departed.
Our ferry left through the Seattle fog at 8:30am. The cruise from Seattle to Victoria takes just under 3 hours and passes through Elliot Bay, Puget Sound, and the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The Victoria Clipper claims to be among the fastest passenger ferry boats in the world. I the wake and spray from our boat as we sped through Puget Sound is any indication, then I believe it.
As we entered Canadian waters, the clouds dissipated and the sun came out for the first time on our trip. We soon passed in sight of Victoria and rounded the end of the breakwater to enter the harbor.
Oh, Canada!
The harbor town area of Victoria is full of activity. From the crowds of well-dressed people coming in and out of high tea at the Empress Hotel (first below) to the throngs of tourists filing into fishing boats, water taxis, and float planes (second below) for harbor tours, the waterfront was packed on this sunny day.
I tried to convince Brittany that we should take an aerial tour of Victoria, but she was content to keep her feet on the ground. Small planes are not her thing. (In addition, the flights were REALLY expensive for a half hour tour.)
We walked out to the end of one of the docks to get a closer look at two beautiful tall ships in port: the schooners Pacific Grace and Pacific Swift.
The placard on the ships said that the vessels are operated by a Christian youth organization called SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society). We didn't have the opportunity to go aboard the ships, but seeing these beautiful vessels from the dock was still fun.
The most prominent landmark in Victoria is the Parliament of British Columbia, which overlooks the harbor area. The Neo-Baroque style building was built in 1893. When parliament is not in session, the building is open to the public. We went on one of the free guided tours of the interior.
After our tour, we decided to leave the harbor area and walk southwest across the point to the beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We walked on the rocky beach and in the (really freaking cold) water.
Large pieces of driftwood (whole trees, really) had piled up on one of the smaller points of rock, which allowed for some nice photo opportunities.
We walked all the way around the northeast end of the point on our way back to the harbor area. As we came around to the end of the point, we were able to walk all the way out to the end of the breakwater.
The waves were crashing against the breakwater wall, so I leaned out over the edge to make a photo, which made Brittany very nervous. "You can't fall in. I'm not ready to be a widow yet."
When we got back to the harbor it was time to board the ferry for our trip back to Seattle. The timing of the trip back was perfect to get a bunch of different late day and sunset photos. Click any of the photos in my blog to see them on Flickr. If you click it again on Flickr you can see it on black.
The lighthouse in this last photo is located on Point No Point, one of my favorite place names we encountered on our entire trip.
From the ferry we got a very different view of Seattle and Elliot Bay as we departed.
Our ferry left through the Seattle fog at 8:30am. The cruise from Seattle to Victoria takes just under 3 hours and passes through Elliot Bay, Puget Sound, and the Straight of Juan de Fuca. The Victoria Clipper claims to be among the fastest passenger ferry boats in the world. I the wake and spray from our boat as we sped through Puget Sound is any indication, then I believe it.
As we entered Canadian waters, the clouds dissipated and the sun came out for the first time on our trip. We soon passed in sight of Victoria and rounded the end of the breakwater to enter the harbor.
Oh, Canada!
The harbor town area of Victoria is full of activity. From the crowds of well-dressed people coming in and out of high tea at the Empress Hotel (first below) to the throngs of tourists filing into fishing boats, water taxis, and float planes (second below) for harbor tours, the waterfront was packed on this sunny day.
I tried to convince Brittany that we should take an aerial tour of Victoria, but she was content to keep her feet on the ground. Small planes are not her thing. (In addition, the flights were REALLY expensive for a half hour tour.)
We walked out to the end of one of the docks to get a closer look at two beautiful tall ships in port: the schooners Pacific Grace and Pacific Swift.
The placard on the ships said that the vessels are operated by a Christian youth organization called SALTS (Sail and Life Training Society). We didn't have the opportunity to go aboard the ships, but seeing these beautiful vessels from the dock was still fun.
The most prominent landmark in Victoria is the Parliament of British Columbia, which overlooks the harbor area. The Neo-Baroque style building was built in 1893. When parliament is not in session, the building is open to the public. We went on one of the free guided tours of the interior.
After our tour, we decided to leave the harbor area and walk southwest across the point to the beach on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We walked on the rocky beach and in the (really freaking cold) water.
Large pieces of driftwood (whole trees, really) had piled up on one of the smaller points of rock, which allowed for some nice photo opportunities.
We walked all the way around the northeast end of the point on our way back to the harbor area. As we came around to the end of the point, we were able to walk all the way out to the end of the breakwater.
The waves were crashing against the breakwater wall, so I leaned out over the edge to make a photo, which made Brittany very nervous. "You can't fall in. I'm not ready to be a widow yet."
When we got back to the harbor it was time to board the ferry for our trip back to Seattle. The timing of the trip back was perfect to get a bunch of different late day and sunset photos. Click any of the photos in my blog to see them on Flickr. If you click it again on Flickr you can see it on black.
The lighthouse in this last photo is located on Point No Point, one of my favorite place names we encountered on our entire trip.
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