Shrayen and Dhilan visit Part 4 - San Juan Island

We woke up bright and early to leave Seattle and head north to catch the ferry to San Juan Island. It was pretty socked in with fog at the ferry terminal and continued that way onto the ferry:

We went in and out of the fog the whole ride, sometimes realizing we were pretty close to another boat only as the fog lifted:

About 20 minutes from Friday Harbor, the fog lifted completely and we had a clear landing at the dock:

It didn't take long for Sona to get into the water. I didn't have a tennis ball at the time and couldn't find a stick. So, she got to chase a large piece of bull kelp. Ami rounded up the kids for a picture:

While Priya and Dhilan try to get their boat off of the ground, Shrayen practiced some Yoga poses. We stopped for lunch at a campground/park I camped at a couple of years ago. While I was camping, a pod of 5-10 Orcas passed right by the campground. Apparently, they had been seen the day before we all arrived this time.

After giving Dhilan a few minutes to spot a whale, we moved on to Lime Kiln State Park. This is also a great spot for whale watching. Again, we were out of luck. But, we did check out the cool lighthouse:

The final stop on San Juan Island was Cattle Point, where this great small beach is located. No one was brave enough to get in the water though. After a quick stop at the beach, it was back to the ferry terminal to catch our next ferry to Orcas Island....

Wallace Family on the Coast

I still have one more post on the Patel family whirlwind tour of the NW. But, I thought I would switch it up with some pictures of the Wallace family get together along the Oregon and Southern Washington Coast.

My parents came out to see what the summer was like at the Oregon coast with the possibility of leaving their current summer locale of Summit County, Colorado (near Keystone and Breckenridge). Let's just say it isn't going to work out. While there was a record heat wave in Portland, an inversion settled in at the coast and they were fogged in all week:

We managed to still find some fun to be had. As I mentioned in a previous post, Pappy took Priya on her first carousel ride. She had a blast as did Pappy:

I decided to take her on the adjacent car ride. I think Priya had more fun than I did:

These pictures are from Astoria, Oregon. They filmed "Goonies" here. A tall column is perched on a hill above town, with amazing views. I was the only one to climb the tower. I was amazed that Priya could recognize me all the way at the top of the tower. The picture below shows her looking up at me at the top of the tower:

The picture above shows one of the great views from the Astoria Column. The picture below is from Cape Disappointment near Long Beach, WA. This is Deadman's Cove. Certainly nothing disappointing about that beach!

While I don't think my parents will be moving to the NW anytime soon, I think they had a good time.

Shrayen and Dhilan visit Part 3 - Seattle

We all headed north to visit Seattle for a few days on our way to the San Juan Islands. Ami's family packed it all in while we took a more leisurely approach, mostly motivated by Priya's napping schedule. Our paths did cross a few times though.

First stop - Olympic Sculpture Park. Priya looks as though she has an opinion on the Calder sculpture behind her:

Shrayen and Sona compete in the funniest picture pose contest.

Shrayen and Priya took a frame worthy picture (get it?) on the way to see the Fremont Troll. That is a real VW bug under it's left hand.

Last stop - Gasworks Park. Ami's favorite park. We met up with a friend of Rosy's and her family. The kids had a blast running around the park and enjoying the views.

Notice the float plane coming in for a landing just below Priya's hand in the picture above.

We even got to spend some time with Eduardo who was in town for a conference. Next post...San Juan Islands.

Shrayen and Dhilan visit Part 2 - Portland stuff

I never got around to more posts about Shrayen, Dhilan, Rosy, and Ashish's visit to Portland. They managed to see just about everything there is to see in the NW. So much, that they barely spent anytime in Portland.

But, they did manage to see a few things. We took them out to my friend Aaron's boathouse. The kids loved the boat but nobody was willing to give wakeboarding or tubing a shot.

Priya loves being on the boat. She can't wait to grow out of or into this life vest though.

I am not sure, but I think Dhilan had a good time:

Shrayen had so much fun at Jamison park last visit, we had to go back.:

Both jumped right in and went beserk! They also took time to show Priya how to climb the rocks.

Good times in Portland. Part 3 - San Juan Islands and Seattle coming soon....

Canada Roadtrip

It is raining pretty good right now. What a way to start Labor Day weekend. It is supposed to rain all day today and tomorrow. So, I am gonna use this opportunity to try and catch everyone up with what we did this summer.

I will start with our most recent roadtrip, which took us up through the Olympic Peninsula where we stayed at a great resort on the Hood Canal. Priya got us up nice and early so we wouldn't miss the view in the calm morning:

From Port Angeles, WA we barely made the ferry to Victoria, BC where my Aunt and Uncle live. We were lucky that my cousin and her family were visiting at the same time. Ben tried to show me up in ladder golf and remote control cars:

Priya had a blast riding the plasma car with Mary and Ben:

We took Priya down to Victoria Harbour and she had a great time checking out the beautiful buildings and huge yachts. Aunt Marg had a wonderful dinner for us that evening:

Uncle Rodger was encouraging Priya to keep walking. After a short stay, we caught another ferry early in the morning back to the mainland for a drive to Whistler. I still love the ferry rides in the Pacific NW. The scenery never gets old:

Whistler was in full Olympics mode. The winter games are only 6 months away. Priya got to know the mascots. The big one on the right is our favorite - Quatchi. She got a much smaller size one to take home. Her first stuffed animal souvenir! She also got a beautiful Build-a-Bear rabbit and stroller from Aunt Marg and Uncle Rodger.

In Whistler, Ami and I went ziplining! It was a blast. They have the longest zipline in N. America. I don't know if Ami was more excited about the zipline itself or the fact that the "Bachelorette" went on the same zipline last year?

That is Ami ziplining upside down! We had a great trip. It was fun relaxing with family in Victoria. Hopefully we can get up there again soon.

A quick post before the road trip.

You thought I forgot about you huh? Sorry. Summer. Beautiful. I have been avoiding the blog and trying to get outside as much as possible. We have been super busy and we continue the trend this weekend with a road trip up through the Olympic Peninsula to Victoria, BC and Whistler. Stopping in Vancouver and Seattle on the way back.

Here a few pictures to let you know we are all still alive. Below is Priya ready to head to the Temple last Sunday:

A couple of pictures from our trip to Mt. St. Helens last week.

Pappy took Priya on her first carousel ride at Long Beach on the Southern Washington Coast. She had a blast...and so did Pappy.

Will try to update more often after we get back, but no promises.