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:
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