My Trip to Seattle and British Columbia
Our flight out to SeaTac
Walking in to my
Grandparent's house on
Bainbridge Island, WA
One of my first stops is always Mora Iced Creamery!!!
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This is the view of Seattle from my Grandparent's garden.
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My grandparents live on Blakley Harbor, and from their house, you can watch the
Bainbridge Island Ferry go back and forth across Puget Sound from Coleman Dock
to Winslow/Eagle Harbor. The Space Needle was built during Seattle's World's Fair.
The mountains behind Seattle are the Cascades. Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker are part
of the Cascades. The Olympic mountains are over here on the Olympic Peninsula.
You can see them from the Seattle side of Puget Sound.
Poulsbo Yacht Club. This is the day we left on our annual boat trip. We were loading my grandparent's boat, it is named Esperanza and is a Grand Banks.
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I met a snake when we went on a hike-- I took the wheel
chair for the hike because it would be too long of a walk
for me.
Boarding the Esperanza
We saw a Bald Eagle on our way to
Anacortes WA. He was fishing on a tidal flat.
The Lady Washington
On the flybridge near LaConner
Mom thought I should stay seated whenever we were
underway because my bones are really brittle from 14
rounds of chemo and 14 weeks of immobility from the spica
cast and brace. If I fall, I would break a bone. But it turned
out that getting around on the boat was no problem
because there are so many things to hold onto. I was even
able to walk around while we were underway, except in
heavy seas. When we crossed the Straights of Juan de
Fuca we had 7-8 foot waves, so I stayed in bed!
A Washington State Ferry off our stern. It runs between Anacortes and the San Juans.
Orcas Island in the San Juans. I love the San Juans!!!
Roche Harbor, San Juan Island, WA. We go to Roche
every year. These boats are anchored out past the harbor
because all the slips are full at the docks.
This is a really small ferry in Roche Harbor, it is called the Humpback.
Every night at sunset, Roche Harbor's Color Guard performs the flag lowering ceremony. They play the national anthems for England, Canada, and The United States before taking down each of those flags. At the end, there is a cannon fire and then a bugle plays taps. It is really neat because the whole harbor goes quiet for the ceremony and when the bugle plays taps, the sound just glides all over the water. But when Taps is done, tons of boaters honk their boat horns, and it gets a little crazy. Roche Harbor used to be a private company town. They made cement.
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I was watching Mr. Moulton chop Dungeness crabs in
half and wash them in the water before cooking them.
He told us that it is the best way to clean then cook
Dungeness crabs. So, I tried it too. Mr. Moulton is a
friend of my grandfathers and his boat was in the slip
next to ours. He uses a rusty old axe to chop the crabs.
This is my grandfather. He is Mom's dad. We were taking the dingy out to check the crab pots. We didn't set the pots in Roche though, we dingied around to English Camp to set the pots.
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We caught a bunch of Dungeness! You have to have a licence and you are only
allowed to crab Wednesday to Friday, unless you are a Native American Indian, then
you can crab whenever you want to. We try different stuff for bait each year. This
time we used a combination of turkey leg and salmon. It worked pretty well.
MY TURN TO DRIVE THE DINGY!!
The San Juan County Fair
The Moultons loaned us their car to drive to Friday harbor and go to
the County Fair. It was neat, they had Chicken Races, Zucchini
races, animals, shows, and lots of stuff. This guy was a Hula Hoop
performer and he did a hula with a 100 pound tractor tire!!!
Back on Esperanza for dinner. The shrimp
guy in Roche has the best Spot Prawns!!!!
They are awesome!
Time to halve and clean our crabs. I wanted to try it
out. So I had to get off the boat, with help. Then to
try out the axe! I think it is actually more humane to
chop them quickly than to boil them live in a pot of
hot water. Dad had to hold the crabs for me.
This is the Phecal Phreak at Roche Harbor. They are the holding tank
pump-out boat. Read their slogan! I think that says it all.
We left Roche and headed to Canada. This is on Johns Island, WA
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Johns Pass
We stopped in Poet's Cove, on South Pender Island to
clear customs in British Columbia, Canada. These boats
are "Courageous" and "Resolute." Pretty nice names.
This is the Customs Dock. Only the Captain of a vessel
is allowed to step foot off a boat until the vessel and
its passengers have cleared customs. Once you clear
customs, you have to put up a courtesy flag of the
country you are visiting. You fly it like a burgie on a
starboard side shroud.
This boat must have lost power in its engines because they came in by using their dingy as a tug
boat to push it into the slip. It was pretty funny to watch. Last time we were here, two bald Eagles
were diving down into the harbor to catch fish.
Has anyone got a lemon to clean the crab off my hands?
Otter Bay Marina, North Pender Island, B.C., Canada. For dinner on the fly bridge, my brothers Harry, James, and I ate our Dungeness crabs from Roche.
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Sunset from Otter Bay
Arriving Ganges Harbor, Salt Spring Island, B.C., Canada. We had a float plane on our stern.
My oldest brother, Harry
Vancouver, B.C. will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. We saw
olympics advertising on the B.C. ferries last year for the first time.
This was on the way to Victoria, B.C.
ORCA!
This is Sydney Spit. It is one of my favorite places to explore.
This is Mount Baker. It is actually in the U.S., but you can see it in B.C.
Those are the Olympic Mountains on the Olympic Peninsula. They are also in the U.S.
but you can see them across the Straits. The Straits don't look very wide from here,
but they are 18 miles across. They are the shipping Channel from the Pacific Ocean
to Seattle and Vancouver. The seas can be pretty bad in the Straits of Juan de Fuca.
we call them the "Straits of Juan de Puca!"
Another good boat name.
The Empress Hotel in Victoria's Inner Harbour. This is the marina we stayed in for two
days.
James and I were watching the street performers from the boat.
The marina and The Parliament House
We visited the B.C. Museum.
This is what The Empress looked like at night from our boat.
This is the Parliament House from our boat
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I still have my Broviac, which is the
central line into my heart. I flush it
every night with heprin so my blood
doesn't clot in the lines.
We left B.C. and crossed the Straits of Juan de Fuca. There
were 7-8 foot waves. Things were falling in all the cabins on
Esperanza. The lamps fell over too. With my brittle bones, I
didn't want to risk falling so I stayed in bed. It took several
hours to cross. Once we got to Puget Sound it calmed down.
We went to Port Townsend and stayed the night at Point Hudson
Marina after we clear U.S. Customs. This boat was coming into
Point Hudson from the Sound.
The tides change about 9 feet in
this area, so when the tide is out it
makes it harder to get up and down
the marina ramps.
Heading down the Sound to Seattle
Papa and Harry on the fly bridge. Papa let Harry drive the boat
from Puget Sound to Liberty Bay in Poulsbo. But he took the
helm to navigate into the yacht club.
These are some of the seals that use the
log boom at the yacht club as their
nursery.
My dad flew home to New Jersey on Saturday, then we took my
brother Harry to Lake Washington for his first float plane flying
lesson.
This is Harry landing the plane and coming back to the dock. He is
going to be a great pilot. My great grandfather, who was also named
Harry, was a pilot too.
I met a dog named "Blue"
during Harry's lesson. He
was a really cool looking
dog.
Bumble Bee! During Harry's lesson, I
found a car that looked just like
"Bumble Bee" from the Transformers
movie.
One last trip to Mora!! My favorite flavor
is Swiss Chocolate.
After Harry's flight, we went to a restaurant at Fisherman's Wharf. The tile floor by the kitchen was slippery, and my
crutch slipped out from under me. I fell onto the tile floor and screamed out in pain. It was really bad. The restaurant
called an ambulance, and I was taken to the ER of Seattle Children's Hospital. My femur was broken. I got a splint that
night and was admitted to the hospital. The next morning they took me to the OR for casting under sedation. I have to
have another spica cast for 6-8 weeks. It is the body cast like the one I had after surgery in March. It goes from my ribs
to my ankle. It means that I won't be able to go back to school in September.
Here is my x-ray from after the cast went on:
I stayed at Seattle Children's Hospital for the rest of my vacation. I was discharged
on Monday to go to the airport to fly home. I had to get back to New Jersey
because I wanted to get to CHOP to see Dr. Dormans and have him look at my leg, I
had tickets to go see B.B. King on Tuesday night in New Jersey, and wanted to be
back for my PET/CT scans to see if I am in remission.
It really wasn't too bad flying home in a spica cast. I got home at 2am on Tuesday,
went to CHOP in Philadelphia for the day, got back home at 7:00pm, and then went
to the B.B. King concert in North Jersey that night. I got permission to go back
stage after the show and met Mr. King AND Lucille!! I was really tired from not
having any sleep for the last three nights and had a lot of pain, but it was worth it to
be able to meet Mr. King. He is really nice, and funny too.
My trip to Seattle was pretty good until I broke my leg. I really wish that had not
happened. I was starting to work on getting down to just one crutch and looking
forward to going back to school since I really have not been to school since last
Thanksgiving. At least it is only for 6-8 weeks. I will be definitely be behind in PT
though.