Picasa Web Albums - Jon

Gmail Calendar Documents Reader Web more »

New Features | Help | Sign In | Sign up for Picasa Web Albums |

Explore

Jon's Gallery

Marcella fell asleep on the second leg of our flight. We made a stop in Boise.

We had a reservation for the ferry, and made it with about two minutes to spare.

Our first morning on the beach...this was at 5:50am. Kanien's got a better morning face than I do.

See?

Starfish at low tide

Rocks exposed from the tide. The only place I've seen bigger tides was in Alaska.

Our first breakfast

The living area of our cabin - Kristin slept on that couch.

After breakfast the rest of the family came down to the beach.

This was the Ucluelet Acquarium. It was probably smaller than our apartment, but was by far the best acquarium I've been to.

Marcella's reaction to touching the starfish

Here she was warming to the idea...

She started with this baby starfish.

Moved to this larger one...

...and finally touched this Sunflower Seastar, the largest species in the world.

OUr first of many trips to the park

I woke up around 4:30 each morning trying to capture a great sunrise, but never did. Consequently, I was always too tired to go trekking after a sunset, which took place around 10:00pm

Kristin and Marcella, at the start of our lighthouse hike

The lighthouse...

The lighthouse marked the start of the Wild Pacific Trail, a coastline hike of around 3 miles, I think.

Marcella was sneaking up on these two

They were doing construction on part of the trail, but we hiked it anyway. It was pretty slow going. I can't imagine how horrible it'd be to bushwack through a rainforest.

One of Marcella's favorite activities....1500 miles of travel to play at a park.

Marcella with one of the local's dogs

Kanien said, “Hold Marcella!” So I did.

I think this is more what she was talking about.

Rhododendrons are big in Ucluelet. A world-famous gardner, George Fraser, lived there for 50 years, creating many hybrid rhododendrons. This was during George Fraser Day's garden walk.

All the houses had awesome gardens. You can't tell how elaborate they are from my shoddy photography, but they were all beautiful.

If you want to raise vegetables, you've got to do it in a greenhouse. A large population of Colombian Black Tailed Deer and lack of soil nutrients make it impossible to grow edibles outdoors.

Ships stationary off someone's personal dock

Another garden picture

Dad was amazing with Marcella. When I'd say, “I can't carry you. I'm too tired,” he would immediately pick her up. What a great grandpa!

This was our first foray to the beach, a long stretch called Florencia Beach. It's inside Pacific Rim National Park. Florencia is probably the third largest of all the beaches there.

Marcella was excited about the beach. We never swam, as the water was about as cold as Big Springs or Lake of the Woods.

I've never been to beaches in a temperate zone before. It was really neat to see them lined with pine trees and rocks instead of tourists and palm trees.

Marcella had a blast. It was her first time at the seaside.

The wind made it chilly.

Sand castle construction

Dad joined in

I don't know if Marcella learned this from me or Lizzy, but she always wants to make funny faces for the camera.

Mom and Marcella

Beach writing

Marcella, cross-processed

Mussels and Barnacles

Partial family pic

Feet in the sand

Sand Angels

Stellar Jay

This is a Temperate Rainforest Bog. The small trees are actually lodgepole pines. They only grow in the bogs, and are called Shorepine here. Mom loved the bog walk. You'll have to ask her about all the exciting bog facts we learned.

We stopped at a waterfall on the way back from church. We had to drive from Ucluelet to Port Alberni, about 90 minutes on a hellish winding road.

We ate dinner at a member's house. They lived about 5 minutes from our cabin. From their kitchen we saw Bald Eagles, whales, and beautiful ocean vistas. Meeting them really made me want to move there.

Whale watching...leaving Ucluelet Inlet

Fledgeling Bald Eagle

Marcella thought the waves were great

None of us got seasick, but Kanien and Kristin got pretty sleepy from the Dramamine.

Our second beach trip was extremely windy. It was too cold to really do anything, let alone get in the water.

Mom in her full UV protection suit

This is Long Beach. Three days before we came they had a surfing competition here.

It was cold!

Marcella still tried to build a sandcastle

After our failed attempt at having fun at Long Beach, we decided to try Schooner Cove. It required a 1km hike, one of the most beautiful rainforest walks we did.

Most hikes were on boardwalks. I imagine it's tough to keep trails maintained due to all the rain and plants.

Marcella was intent on building a sand castle. The sprig of hemlock is for the castle's flag.

The wind wasn't as strong here, and Marcella really wanted to “squish her sand in the toes,” so Kanien relented and let her try it out.

She started having a lot of fun. The water was a bit warmer here than on the open beach.

Marcella loved picking up gross things off the beach. This is a slimy mussel shell.

I'm pretty sure that was a mussel shell, too.

She gradually went further into the water.

Her pants got pretty wet...

Pretty soon she abandoned any effort to stay dry.

wedgie

Washing the sand off her knees

Kristin was smart. She brought shorts.

Kristin and I had a beach race

We found a dead starfish.

Marcella wouldn't touch these at the start of the trip, but by this point she loved them.

By this time, Marcella was sad. She didn't want to take this last picture, but Kanien and I insisted.

I've never seen Dad so contemplative as he was at Schooner Cove. I'm not sure what he was thinking about, but he seemed lost in the ocean and scenery.

More tears

We shortsightedly forgot spare clothes for Marcella. She had to wear these wet pants on the hike back. She didn't do any hiking, though. I carried her the 1000m on my shoulders.

Marcella's bouquet - At this point she was no longer sad, but she inherited watery eyes from me. Her eyes (and Claire's eyes) water at the slightest hint of cold wind.