Snowy owls at Boundary Bay

Two weekends ago, we drove up to British Columbia to accomplish multiple fun tasks. Our first "tough" job was to find the snowy owls we had heard about through a friend. I've always wanted to see snowy owls and never have!  I know there is a place where you can try to see them back east near Cape Cod, but I was a slacker and never went looking when I lived there. But now I know! They also like Canada and Boundary Bay (which is south of Vancouver). Yeah! We followed directions from another blog we found and wham - parked in the lot, walked a strenuous 200 ft. on a flat path, and the owls were sitting right there! Not just one, lots of them! We think we counted at least 12, and those were the ones we could see without walking far, so surely there were more.

 There are three owls in this shot.

This photo may not seem super exciting - but it is if you look closer! The owl has blood stains on its feathers....good dinner the night before perhaps?!

Again, not the world's best photograph - but it isn't often you see a snowy owl fluffing its feathers. Cute!

 After we left the snowy owls we swung into Vancouver to pick up an old friend, Katie. She just recently finished her PhD at FSU and got a postdoc at U.B.C. - we were thrilled to welcome her to the Pacific Northwest, although she's already been here a long time since her research was based out of Vancouver Island's Bamfield Marine Station. We decided to spend the afternoon cross-country skiing at Cypress Mountain (just north of Vancouver and the site of some competitions for the Olympics).

You may remember that back in June our friends Steve and Catie visited....and I took them up to Vancouver to drop them off for their friend's wedding. We also went to Cypress Mountain - but we went for a hike not a ski! I took a photo of Jay on x-country skis standing next to a snow pole at Cypress. This is the same snow pole that Steve and Catie are standing next to in June (and there was still snow at that time as well). But look at how much more snow there is in the winter! Steve and Catie would have been buried!

After we got our butts kicked by the terrain at Cypress (it was more like x-country uphill walking and downhill falling), we drove north to the town of Squamish to crash for the night. Squamish is where the cheap folks stay that can't afford to spend the night at Whistler during spring break season. We had big plans to hit the mountain the next morning! But, this was St. Patty's Day, so we went out and grabbed a beer and dinner. Back at the swanky hotel we had Pricelined, we hit the hot tub and got fried. Literally. It was the hottest tub I've ever been in. I didn't make it past my butt. I know I am a wimp, but in this case....no one was having luck getting in.
Oh well - it wasn't relaxing. It was more like an assault on my cells. I know how lobsters feel now and it isn't pleasant.

 Nice view from Cypress Mountain.

Our day of downhill skiing at Whistler was epic.  Katie went x-country skiing, so we didn't play with her in the snow on the big mountain, but it sounded like she had a great day too. But the snow! There was so much snow, the trails were in great shape, and Jay and I had a fantastic day. I wanted to stay for the whole week! Too bad we had this thing called work to head back to. After a day of skiing hard, we drove Katie back to her place in Vancouver, and headed back to the USA (sigh).

This past weekend the kayaks took a splash back into the water! We went in search of gray whales (no luck) and enjoyed the views of the mountains from Port Susan.

On the way home we were treated to a big flock of snow geese in Skagit Valley....they liked the view of Mt. Baker. We love it here!

Photos are here - scroll to the bottom to see videos of owls and goofy ski shots: https://plus.google.com/photos/111221596171793333099/albums/5706279656925012145?banner=pwa