Sunset at Washington Park, Anacortes

North Cascades National Park

We took the (very) scenic route to Anacortes, WA today, by detouring through North Cascades National Park.  It's unusually hot and sunny here this week (go figure) which made for a nice drive.  Today there was a big earthquake in Vancouver Island (about 6.4).  We didn't feel it.  I have bad luck.

This is from one of the scenic overlooks at the Visitor Center.  Look at the crazy knob-like thing on the left!

This is part of the waterfall at Gorge Creek Falls.  I had my zoom lens on so I'm missing most of it.  Maybe I'll get a copy of mom's picture that will be better.

This is the view from the Washington Pass Overlook.  The mountains here are much more rugged (though not as high) compared to Colorado.  

Oooh look! It's a Fiat!

The rental car agency gave us a tiny, cute Fiat for our weekend.  It's a good thing we didn't bring more luggage, or it wouldn't fit in the back.  We've gotten comments all day (like the title) - and people asking if its fun to drive, if it gets good gas mileage, etc.  It is fun to drive, although it feels tiny compared to the big logging trucks on the highway, and it does get good gas mileage (about 30 mpg or so with the AC on in the mountains).  Actually, it's pretty funny - we filled it up but the gas nozzle stopped after only 7.5 gallons.  I thought "That can't be right, that's not much gas!" so I checked the manual and sure enough, the tank is only ten gallons! It's a 2012 and it only had 1000 miles on it when we picked it up. 

Today we left Seattle about 8 am and headed to North Cascades National Park.  I'll post pictures of  that later, but here's another car we saw that was turning heads! 

Sunset at the aqurarium

Last night there was a social at the Seattle Aquarium then the Maryland 'CBL' past and current students and professors were getting together at a local pub.  It was really busy at the aquarium, but it's a really nice place so it was still fun to explore a bit.  It overlooks the Puget Sound, so the sunset (and the temperature outside) were fabulous! It was REALLY fun to visit with everyone from CBL (the place I did my Masters).  Both of my advisers were there, along with several people who were students at the same time I was but have since scattered across the country. 

This is a river otter at the aquarium.  He's holding his tail in his paws - cute.

The Emerald City

 

I’m in Seattle this week for work – a fisheries conference.  It’s a huge meeting, by fisheries standards, with more than 4000 people registered.  Last night at the opening social it was an overwhelming number of bodies. I ran into lots of people I knew though, which was fun.

There is a fabulous view of the Space Needle from my room (above).  It’s odd being in a large city again – people everywhere, good public transportation options.  There were swarms of people out on the sidewalks yesterday afternoon.  We wandered down to Pike Place Market and it was packed, I think the holiday weekend contributes to that.

This is the view from the plane just before landing in Seattle.  I miss mountains.

Seca goes swimming

It's gorgeous tonight - mid 70s, low humidity, soft breeze - so we went to the beach with Seca.  She still drinks the salt water, although I can't image how she can stand it.  When we get her home it takes a long rinse in the yard to get all the sand out of her fur.

Baseball

Thursday night about 20 people from work went to see the Charleston Riverdogs play baseball.  I don't really like baseball, but if I'm going to see a game, it has to be live, not on TV.  It was our first time going to a game here, and it was a gorgeous night to be outside and enjoying $1 beer night.  The stadium is right on the banks of the Ashley River, and I suspect 2000 years from now some archaeologist is going to be scratching his head about the baseballs preserved in the mud of the marsh.  We also joked that they would find some hotdogs buried there too, looking as fresh as the day they were tossed over the railing.  We did far more socializing than game watching and we lost 5-4 (to the Asheville 'Tourists' - what kind of name is that for a team?). 

We had really great seats!  In a stadium this small, there's probably not a bad seat in the house.  This is definitely the closest I've ever been at a game though.

Charlie the Riverdog.

Tony the peanut vendor sells boiled peanuts (they're a southern thing, and an acquired taste if you ask me), cajun boiled peanuts, and 'Yankee' peanuts (the normal peanuts in a shell that you get at a baseball game).  He was hilarious.