Skagit Bay paddle

The weather in Washington has been unreal this past week!  Last weekend I had a cold and had to sit on the couch and watch the sun (at least with a cat on my chest). So I'm thrilled to be outside this weekend! Actually, I'm going to make this a quick post so Jay and I can go for a hike in the Anacortes Community Forest Lands and soak up more sun. Yippee!

Yesterday we went for a day paddle around Skagit Bay, which is basically where I work....but I spend my work time on beaches and rarely on the water. We launched from Sneeoosh Road and paddled over to Hope Island for lunch - where the above photo was taken.

On our way north to Skagit Island we spotted these sea stars waiting for the tide to come back up on Hope Island.

Look closely in the water and you will see lots of little brown dots - those are the recruits of Nereocystis, or bull kelp. So cute! That will be a large kelp bed toward the end of summer.

O.K. - it is a crappy photo. But long-necked grebes are such a treat to see. There are actually four in this photo - but only one was close to us. This grebe was chatting.... gorgeous.

I was thrilled to find alpine lilies blooming on Skagit Island. First of all, I associate them with ummm...alpine areas. But on an island in Puget Sound? Random. This was a real treat.

Alpine lilies and Kiket Island (where I do a lot of clam surveys) in the background.

10 year celebration in Whistler, B.C.

Can you believe it? Jay and I have been together for 10 years now! We decided to celebrate in style with a ski in/ski out room on Blackcomb Mountain (part of Whistler) that we got for almost half the price with an online deal. I'll show the ski photos in a few, but first shall we start with a trip down memory lane? Awhhhh....why not!?

I believe this is the first photo ever taken of Jay and I - we are in the freezing house I rented with three other awesome women when we were in grad school together. Bayberry Lane, Narragansett, RI - 2003. I miss those girls!

Our first vacation together in the summer of 2003! Jay came to visit me while I was working for Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska. We went up bay with our friends on a magical five-day paddle filled with wild strawberries, orcas right next to our kayaks, glacial calvings, beer, and laughter. Someone snapped this shot of Jay and I in a double kayak in front of Johns Hopkins Glacier.

 Once we finished graduate school we moved to Cape Cod and soaked up summer!

After three years in great jobs, we left our positions on good terms, packed tiny little backpacks, and hit the road for a 13-month trip abroad.  This was taken during the first week of travel in Moorea, French Polynesia - 2007.

 Jay impressed me with his ability to get out of sticky situations in New Zealand

 South Island wanderings, New Zealand

 After leaving New Zealand we headed to the equator and spent a ton of time underwater (or snorkeling) throughout SE Asia.

 Angkor Wat - Cambodia

 Engaged in Vietnam! 2008

 

After arriving back in the States in November of 2008, we moved west to stunning Washington State and got hitched in September 2009.

 WOW! Mt. St. Helens. We have a ton of fun living in the playground of Washington. It seems we are never around on weekends because we can't sit inside when there are views like this to explore!

And finally, what lives are complete without the love of pets? We adopted kitties - something we wanted to do for a long time. Darwin and Lester are the best cats in the world.

And here we are today! We love being together, we love snow, and we love to ski - so going north to Whistler, B.C. seemed like a great way to celebrate! The snow conditions were O.K. on Saturday but fantastic on Sunday. I took this photo from the lift on the way to the top of Whistler Peak. In the past we haven't gone to the top because of poor weather or because the conditions were too sketchy for wimps like me. Sunday, however, was perfect with a bunch of fresh powder on the peaks ad even in the village. We even dragged our asses out of bed early to try and get first tracks!

Here is Jay at the top of Whistler Peak about to drag me into the very steep and snowy Whistler Bowl. I made it down alive! It was kinda fun but I had to convince myself to turn each time! You can just barely see the B.C. Olympic man sculpture thingy behind Jay.

 Frozen tree sculptures at the peak

 A sooty grouse decided to go for a stroll up the trail that I was coming down. Fun sighting! I made grouse mating sounds to it and it stared back at me like I was totally nuts.

 Sunday was St. Patty's Day so we stopped for a Guinness at lunch time. Yummy.

https://picasaweb.google.com/111221596171793333099/March2013?authkey=Gv1sRgCMyH1o-miY2ttgE&noredirect=1

Barbers united!

I love it when my parents visit!  It doesn't matter what time of year they come, we always have fun.  This time they came at the very end of February, which means soggy rain and little chance of sun.  But the sun did visit us shortly - especially on the day we were in Vancouver, B.C. Here we all are at the viewpoint on Cypress Mountain.

The next day the weather didn't cooperate as well in Vancouver, so we went to the aquarium which was mostly covered or inside. I'm a bit of an aquarium snob, having visited many during my scholarship year back in 1999. But this aquarium was one I had never been to and it had fantastic exhibits - especially of the local marine life. I was impressed. Here is a close-up of one of the coolest nudibranchs in the world, Melibe sp. Don't know what a nudibranch is? Well...look it up! You should know...

 Those are some suckers

After the aquarium visit we hit the Steamworks Brewery and discovered that Canadians can brew beer! Whoops - did I just imply that Canadian beer isn't that great? Well, not all Canadian beer is water folks - the Steamworks porter was tasty!

Back in the good ol' USA, my parents joined my coworker, Sarah, and me for a quick walk on the Reservation beaches to check on the survival and growth of our native Olympia oyster babies.

Sarah and Julie pulling up bags of oyster shell with baby native oysters on the shell. They survived the winter (winter is over in WA by this point, flowers are blooming). 

 Could they be cuter?? Awhhh.... love...

Mom and Dad checking out the Kiket Island lagoon

I took the next day off and we wandered around Anacortes - hitting the pool for some exercise and then playing in the parks. This involved the tradition of a drive (or sometimes walk) around Washington Park right in Anacortes. Here we are with a view of Lopez Island in the background.

 Dad and Darwin

On the last full day of their visit we took the ferry over to Port Townsend. It was so warm at first that we wandered around the cute town without our jackets. Then, after lunch, a storm front blew in and it was back to the Washington winter! We checked out this state park and got sand blasted!

 Experiencing the sand blast. Eke! 

Normally we are super sad to see my parents go because we never know when our next visit will be - but this time the goodbye was slightly easier (still sucked) because we will be back east in April for a friends wedding, to see family, and to go to the annual Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society gathering. The scholarship is like a second family to me and I'm looking forward to seeing my old and dear friends from that fantastic year of mine back in 1999-2000.  And there is an additional bonus - the guy that just got the scholarship for 2013-2014 found out about the scholarship through me and Jay! That is the second person we've told about the scholarship that has gotten it.... I'm pretty stoked.

Jan/Feb pictures, including the Barber family visit:

https://plus.google.com/photos/111221596171793333099/albums/5830188521595006481

Olympia oyster photos:

https://plus.google.com/photos/111221596171793333099/albums/5849409191175143377