If you want to get to the mainland from the Cowes area, Red Funnel are your main option. They have two services to Southampton. The car ferry operates from East Cowes while a fast catamaran provides a passenger only service from West Cowes. Both types of ferry came by while I was on the seafront. The car ferry headed out while the cat waited outside the harbor. I guess the strong winds meant they were looking for a bit more space. Once the ferry was gone, the cat came in to the harbor.
Erickson’s facility at Medford was the home for this Skycrane while I was there. A team were working on it and, I imagine, they were getting it ready for the coming fire season. At this point, though, it was still in need of a few parts. It looked a bit lacking but I suspect the process of adding the remaining elements to get it back into an airworthy condition was not going to take that long. Hopefully by now she is back in the air and working hard.
The floatplanes may have been my main focus when I was at Brockton Point in Stanley Park but they certainly weren’t the only activity in the harbor. Plenty of boat traffic was on the move. The Vancouver Police were also on patrol. They had a RIB that they were zipping about on. I watched them head out towards Lion’s Gate Bridge without getting a shot but, when they returned, I figured they deserved my attention. A speeding RIB is a cool way to travel and this one looked like it had enough power for plenty of speed!
Boeing breathed a big, if perhaps temporary, sigh of relief when UPS signed up for a bunch of 747-8F freighters. These jets are now starting to come off the line and, before they get allocated to the long runs across the oceans, I figured I would try and catch one at Everett. Conditions were a little gloomier than I had hoped for but the timing was driven by luck, so I had to make do with what I could get. The 747 may be disappearing from operators around the world but the freighters will continue for a long time and the 8F is the better of the most recent versions in my mind. The extended upper deck of the 8I is a little too long for my tastes. UPS colors are not bad either. Hopefully I shall see more of them in service.
A short drive north of Whistler brings you to a town called Pemberton. It is a little town and right in the center is a public barn structure. It is a modern structure and it has been built to provide a venue for the community to use. It has open sides so anyone can walk in from any direction. An event was being set up while we were there. It looked like it might have been a wedding. The wooden structure is very attractive and it appears that it gets a lot of use. What a great focus for the community.
A trip to Green Lake, a short distance from Whistler, was a chance to see the floatplane base. We had heard a few aircraft in the area so I was keen to see what was going on. We started out at the base where a Beaver and an Otter were both just getting ready to leave. I didn’t realize the direction of the wind so I didn’t make any effort to get out to the lake. I thought that they would be long gone. In fact, they taxied down the lake to take off back in our direction. I would have had plenty of time to get out to see the departure if I had left when they headed out.
Instead, I was walking through the trees when both planes took off. I got a couple of shots through the trees but missed the main opportunity. I understand that Whistler Air is a subsidiary of Harbour Air in Vancouver. They are clearly locally branded though. There was a bit more movement before we left with planes making their approach along the lake. They tended to land a little away from us but then keep up on the step as close in as possible to minimize taxi time. This meant they were still moving well as they got to us.
The route across the Cascades via Stevens Pass takes you right past a small town called Index. It is tucked in amongst the mountains and alongside the river so it is no shock to find it is a popular space for outdoor activities. The mountains provide plenty of climbing options including Index Wall. The river is good for rafting and kayaking.
The mountains around the town are the thing you can’t help but notice. There is an old hotel in the center which, judging by the signage on the outside, is targeting the outdoor adventurers. It has been there since the late 1800s so I imagine it has changed its clientele over the years. The railroad also runs through the town so I suspect it once used to have more railroad business.
The river was flowing well but not too high when we were there. It has some pretty substantial rocks in the river bed so the water must flow with some force – I suspect during the spring when the melt is coming off the mountains in volume. The bridge into the town across the river is a modern construction and is worthy of its own post so don’t be surprised when that shows up.
NAS Whidbey Island is the home for all of the Growlers in the fleet. It is a fair chance that you will get a bit of Growler activity on a visit and we were not disappointed. What was really pleasing was to see a bunch of the CAG aircraft in action. The first glimpses were as they taxied out for departure and you could see the planes coming up the taxiway. Unfortunately, the heat haze was a bit of a problem while they were on the ground.
Naturally, if they were launching, they were likely to be coming back at some point. Sure enough, we got them come into the overhead and down the approach. Even when airborne, the heat haze was a bit of a problem. Better than on the ground but still an issue. In a time of gray jets, it is certainly welcome to get something a bit more colorful, even if for some of them that is only black and white.
I suspect that every town has a hospital that was known as being the place that people went with mental health issues. Where I grew up, it was called Whitecroft Hospital but the hospital was always dropped in common usage. The original buildings were Victorian, and I suspect in its early days the place was called an asylum. In common with many similar places in the UK, a change in policy meant that it was closed down and patients were to be cared for in the community. The outcome of that is a topic for a different day.
Whitecroft is now entering a new phase in its existence. It is being redeveloped as a housing project. We decided to visit it and see how things were looking. Whitecroft is not close to any other population so it has a remote feel to it. Even the road access is a bit narrow. The redevelopment is still underway, so some parts are blocked off. Some of the houses are new builds but they weren’t particularly interesting looking properties. Other developments are in the old buildings. Given the things that must have happened in those buildings over the decades, I’m not in the least interested in living in such a place!
The setting is attractive though. As we drove down towards it, the sun was lighting up the buildings and they looked great. The old clock tower provides a focal point and the old chimney from the boiler house is still standing. On the way back out, I wanted to get a shot with the sun on the buildings, but the clouds had rolled in. The wind was strong, though, and I figured a gap in the clouds was bound to come along before too long. Less than five minutes was all it took but the gap only lasted 30 seconds. I got the shot and moved on.
Within the space of a few minutes, two Bombardier Global Expresses took off from Boeing Field. This type is a regular feature at BFI so this is not unusual. What did catch my eye was that they appeared to have the same color scheme. If they were NetJets aircraft, that would make sense. However, they didn’t look like a fleet operator I know (not that I know them all). Is this just a standard scheme that Bombardier will finish the jet in if you don’t have a preference or were they connected? If so, was a group of people taking two jets at the same time to go to the same place? Who knows?
