Coming this summer...

Today we had our first glimpse of our little baby!!! He or she should be arriving on or around June 11, 2008. We are so grateful and SO thrilled!!!

Now if only we could just have a stork deliver it ;)

Explore // Pacific Rim National Park (Day 4)

Our fourth day started out very foggy and misty. We got up early to catch our chartered boat out to Meares Island, which is where a natural hotsprings is located in an ancient Rainforest.

Everything looked so tranquil and calm, it was a quiet morning, a good-for-the-soul kind of morning...

Jacob found the beautifully misted home of Mrs. Spider.

The wooden planks on the hike out to Hot Springs Cove were all carved with the names of different ocean vessels.

We hiked about 30 minutes through the Rainforest before we got to Hot Springs Cove. We saw some beautiful trees, flora, and fauna along the way.

And then...the Hot Springs! All Natural and in the rocks! It was perfect!

Hot Springs Cove was worth the 2 and a half hour journey!

On the way back to Tofino in our boat, we saw some gray whales playing around in the water.

Also, some very big Sea Lions. These guys weigh around 2000 lbs!

Ah, and at last, we enjoyed our last evening by the campfire. We had a wonderful adventure and vacation. Our last night after we went to bed, it started raining again - and rained all day while we drove home. Someone was looking out for us, eh?

Explore // Pacific Rim National Park (Day 3)

Our third day, we spent almost the entire day doing the various hikes in the National Park. All of the hikes were relatively short and had wooden boardwalks as the trail. We started out in the bog.

The bog was kind of like a miniature forest (where trees as old as 300 years are sometimes no taller than 3 feet). With all the twisted trees, it would be a great setting for a scary movie, or a really haunted and spooky forest at Halloween time.

Here are some pretty little plants. Not sure what they're called...but we liked how they look like dainty little stars.

One of the beach hikes and exploring the rocks.

A quiet moment of reflection in the Rainforest.

After a long and wonderful day of hiking, we decided to shed our hiking boots (for flip-flops, of course!) and indulge in an evening away from the campfire for dinner. We drove up to a beautiful viewpoint before heading to dinner.

The viewpoint is called "Radar Hill." I guess during one of the World Wars, there was a radar on top of the hill. But we didn't see it. What we did see was an amazing sunset!

We ate at a place called "SOBO" which is short for "Sophisticated Bohemian". Gotta love it!

Instead of "no shirts, no shoes, no service", this is the kind of sign you find in Tofino. I told Jacob that I might be small enough to pass for a 12 year old so to keep an eye on me so I wasn't someone else's dinner!

Dinner was SOOOO good! Of course we had the freshest seafood. I have to admit, after sitting in such a great atmosphere and eating so well, going home to our tent and sleeping bags didn't sound as good as it had the previous night. SOBO was awesome! We recommend it if you're ever in Tofino!

Explore // Pacific Rim National Park (Day 2)

Our second day, we headed to the village of Ucluelet and began an all-day sea kayaking adventure! We have really fallen in love with kayaking! It is amazing to be so silent and serene on the water with nature all around (no noisy engines and minimal people involved). It was a sunny and beautiful morning when we met up with our group.

We helped load up the van and trailer, and then drove about 45 minutes to the spot where we put our kayaks in and began to paddle. We paddled for about 7 hours that day, all around Barclay Sound and among the many small islands in the Sound.

We had a double kayak. There was us, our guide (Silka, from White Rock, B.C.), Rachel (school teacher from Vancouver, B.C.), and John and Annah (from Portland, OR). We were a small group, in awe of our surroundings. As we paddled throughout the day, we saw several Bald Eagles (now off the extinction list!), seals, starfish, and various waterbirds (some that swim under the water!) We stopped on an island where we were the only people there! We ate a little lunch and then paddled until it was time to head back to town. What a day! Below is a little view from the beach on our little island that was our lunch spot. Can you say perfect?

Explore // Pacific Rim National Park (Day 1)

For our "family vacation" this summer, we packed up and headed north to Pacific Rim National Park, which is located on Vancouver Island in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It took a day to get there, and it rained the whole way and well into the night as we set up our campsite and tent. But Mother Nature was watching over us and for the next four days of activities we had brilliant and beautiful weather!

Our first day we spent most of the hiking various parts of the Wild Pacific Trail. We found a cool old lighthouse and even saw Orcas swimming near the shoreline! One family tried so hard to get a glimpse, we saw them almost get washed into the ocean! (We were glad we didn't have to make a rescue attempt!)

This part of the island lives up to it's name with a "wild" coast. It is interesting to see the contrast where the sea's stormy side cuts jagged rocks, as well some of the smooth and golden beaches - almost more like California beaches, but with everyone donning wetsuits because of the chilly water. We actually camped mostly with people who came to surf the area around Long Beach - many from B.C., but a lot from Alberta and other parts of the world as well.

We loved the combination of being by the ocean as well as among the trees - and the anticipation of looking for wildlife all around this beautiful part of the world. We met wonderful people from places near and far - always one of the favorite parts of travel!

Here, Jacob basked in the sun in a meadow by a beautiful inlet on one of our hikes. We found some black sand and left our "mark"...

It was a great first day...

Wonders of Nature // Olympic National Park

This past weekend we packed up our gear and headed to the Olympic Peninsula via the Kingston Ferry. We decided to relax on the beach and explore a bit of rain forest - both of which are part of Olympic National Park.What an incredible place! We took so many fun pictures of our explorations that I had to post a few (or more than a few!) to share.

We hiked down and camped at Second Beach, where we explored many tidepools and found many fun creatures. Lucky for us we didn't have any bears or racoons bug us (Note: Tysha is holding the bear cannister the rangers lent us just in case!) There, we set up camp for the night and thanks to a full moon and extra high tides, we heard the ocean waves not 15 feet from our tent during the middle of the night. Other beach campers woke to find that the water came only inches from their tents!

Of course, we had fair warning that this beach, an otherwise "wild" Pacific Coast beach, can at times be dangerous. Watch out for the log jams! (During summer and minus storms, most people find wading to be quite a joyous thing to do here!) The trail down to the beach had some pretty funky trees (and tree roots). We kind of felt like Tim Burton may have planted them there they were so cool!

Once we had set up camp, we headed off to explore the tidepools and cool off a bit. It had been a 6 hour drive (thanks to the 90 minute ferry wait!) We were ready to stretch our legs and explore! Here is what we found:

Tidepools

Sea Anemone

Starfish

and Crabs.

That night, just as were eating dinner, it began to mist. Not rain, not sprinkle (here in Seattle we have as many words for water falling from the sky as the Eskimo's have for snow.) Yes, it began to mist. It misted most of the night and early the next morning we woke up to a beautifully misted beach and the clouds clearing out for a marvelous new day. Though tides had been super-high the night before, in the morning they were almost as low as you can go. We walked out to explore this island before the waves came crashing back in to make it unaccessible. This was about 7am. Everything was glistening! We saw...

Plentiful sea life.

Starfish galore!

Such happy looking starfish! So colorful and bright!

Finally, the sun began to shine on a new day (about 8am) and scatter the clouds from the night before. We ate breakfast, broke camp, and went to church in a nearby town. And then we headed for the Hoh Rain Forest, another part of the park. There, we saw very large, old-growth trees in the forest.

We saw lots of moss and as many shades of green as you can ever imagine. I think it is the green-est place we have ever been! The Hoh is a temperate rain forest. We learned that while Seattle (& Chicago's) average annual rainfall is something like 37 inches, this here Rain Forest gets up to 167 inches! We decided to visit on a non-raining day (although I'm sure it misted the night before!) The Rain Forest is a magical place. We half expected to turn the bend and find the Garden of Eden! (We didn't) But we did come around the corner and find...

An Elk (there were actually two). She let us stand very close and watch her eat some of the foilage. She didn't even mind that we took her picture. She kinda looked at us, probably wondering what kind of strange creatures we are, and then went back to grazing. Not to make you think that the Rain Forest is so perfect it doesn't have it's pests as well... Tysha did get chased and stung by a wasp or two, which is another story...

We came home late on Sunday night and this is what we saw from the back of the ferry as we crossed the Puget Sound back to Seattle...a beautiful sunset to close our adventurous weekend. (Sigh) We HIGHLY RECOMMEND a visit to Olympic National Park!

6 months together

Jacob decided to take me on a special date on Saturday to celebrate our Six Month Anniversary. He's a generally awesome husband. What else can I say?

We started off by going down to the Agua Verde Paddle Club on Lake Union. We got geared up and set out for a perfect afternoon paddle.
We had a K-2 (that's a double) and promised each other not to flip (although the weather and water temp were so nice, I don't think either of us would have minded...although we would rather keep our camera than water-log it!)
Heading toward Union Bay in our kayak we spied...
An adorable little houseboat (think "Sleepless in Seattle" - it's in the neighborhood!)...
The University Bridge open up to let a tall and beautiful sailboat through...
This is the lovely sailboat...
People having picnics and fun in the water at Gasworks Park...
A pretty amazing view of the Seattle Skyline - we love our city home!
A friendly resident of a houseboat who smiled for the camera...he appeared to be accustomed to people paddling by his porch while he eats dinner...
And then, we headed to West Seattle's Beach Neighborhood for a dinner of our own. We got all dressed up and set out for a long evening of fine dining at "La Rustica", a quaint and beautiful Italian Restaurant.
As you can see, the food was excellent (tasted as good as it looks here with our Caprese Bruschetta appetizer). This little find also has great views of the Puget Sound. We highly recommend this little unhurried, romantic spot to anyone looking for a place to celebrate something special, or for a seriously nice evening out.