Tag Archives: vacation

Stanley Park Totem Poles

The native heritage is strong in the Pacific Northwest.  Stanley Park has an area at Brockton Point that displays a variety of totem poles.  I am not sure of the age of these poles but they are kept in good condition and look great.  I understand many are replicas as the originals have been sent for preservation but others are more recent additions to the park.  Getting pictures of them is slightly tricky.  Something tall and thin does not necessarily make for a dynamic picture.  Instead, I focused on some of the details of the poles rather than the whole thing although getting a view of how many of them there were did seem to make sense.

Aside from the poles, there are portals to the park that welcome the visitors.  These caught my eye quite a bit but seemed to get less attention from the other visitors.  I guess the totem poles are iconic and so are likely to get the most interest.  Supposedly this area is the most visited tourist attraction in British Columbia.  I certainly have no reason to doubt that given how many people were there while we were.

Lime Kiln State Park

B11I8501.jpgFurther up the coast from Grandma’s Cove was Lime Kiln State Park.  The area used to be a hive of lime production – hence the name of the park – but now the focus was on the lovely shoreline and the great views.  The inclusion of a lighthouse certainly did nothing to harm the view.  There were also the remains of a fortification of some sort on a headland which we had seen from further away when traveling towards to the park up the coast road.

B11I8489.jpgThe lighthouse provided a base for a volunteer group that was tracking the wildlife in the area.  They had some signs identifying which whales had been seen in the area and when.  We did not time our visit there well to see the whales although we did catch some later in the day further up the coast.  The volunteers had binoculars to lend out to visitors if they needed them but, with no whales to be seen, we didn’t require them this time.

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Grandma’s Cove

B11I8462.jpgTake a walk from Americas Camp on San Juan Island and you are quickly down by the water.  One of the trails leads to a lovely little bay called Grandma’s Cove.  I don’t know who Grandma was or even whose grandma she was.  Why the cove was hers is a mystery to me too.  However, she obviously had pretty good taste because it is an idyllic spot.  Almost no one was there when I visited.  Unfortunately, a couple of guys were down on the beach and were interested in making art in the sand.  This disrupted my vision of the shots a touch but, when you are somewhere so lovely, it is hard to be upset about anything for long.

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Friday Harbor

AE7I9618-Pano.jpgDespite spending quite a few days in Friday Harbor, I didn’t actually take many pictures of the town itself.  However, when arriving and departing, we had a better view of the town laid out around the harbor.  The waterfront is prime real estate and, as you come in on the ferry, you get to see some very nice places on the island in the middle of the harbor.  The area surrounding the harbor is more accessible for development and so there are a lot of places that are considerably closer together that the really pricey places.

IMG_4190.jpgOur hotel was a little up the hill and so had a nice view across the harbor.  The construction activity below us means a slight distraction from the picturesque ideal but it really was a fantastic spot to hang out for a drink in the evening or for breakfast first thing (or as close to first thing as we could manage while on vacation!).

Big Boat in Anacortes

IMG_4184.jpgWe took a ferry from Anacortes as part of our vacation.  We had some time in hand so stopped for lunch in the town and then took a wander around afterwards.  The center of town is right near the shipyards and they seemed to be pretty busy.  What particularly caught my eye was this huge boat that appeared to have undergone a process to stretch it and add some new structure.  Seeing something this size sitting up on the ground is impressive when you are level with the bottom of the hull!

Port Townsend

B11I8274.jpgThe great thing about old towns is that they have interesting buildings.  (They sometimes have interesting people too but that is a separate issue.)  Port Townsend was a funky little town to look around.  As a port, it has been around for a while and obviously was quite a thriving location.  The grand design features of the buildings show that there was plenty of cash around when they were built.  If you head up the hill you come to the town hall which is pretty impressive itself so the town has obviously been a center of things for a while.

B11I8296.jpgIn the heart of the town, the buildings are of a similar style but are showing their individuality.  Getting shots of them is a little inhibited by the excessive number of power lines that are strung along the streets.  It would be nice to not have those there but nothing much I can do about that.  I imagine plenty of people wouldn’t notice them but they are the sort of thing that really catches my eye.  Perhaps I shouldn’t have mentioned it.  You might not have noticed them but now I have said something, they will be conspicuous to you too!

B11I8264.jpgThere seemed to be plenty of activity in Port Townsend.  Lots of shops and restaurants with plenty of variety so I assume that the area is going to be okay.  Having lots going on means that a cool town center is likely to survive and thrive.  That is good news.

Crescent Lake

B11I7854.jpgThe drive to the rain forest from Port Angeles took us alongside Crescent Lake.  I suspect I don’t need to tell you roughly what shape the lake is but, if you don’t know, check it out on a map!  It was a pretty overcast morning when we drove by but this provided some soft lighting on the surrounding hills and also gave some interesting clouds to sit in some of the valleys and near the hill tops.

B11I7827.jpgThere were plenty of pull off locations along the road that skirts the south side of the lake.  It appears that the north side is pretty inaccessible by vehicle when looking at the maps of the area.  Only when you get to the west end of the lake do you start to see properties on the other side so I guess the road access up there does not go too far.  The water in the lake was very calm and the whole thing had a very ethereal feel about it.

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Lion’s Gate

B11I8691-Pano.jpgStanley Park may be a great place to explore but it is also bisected by a major road.  It cuts up through the park before getting on to a bridge to head across to North Vancouver.  This is called Lions Gate.  We stopped to check out the bridge as we were making our way around the park.  There is a viewing area just west of the bridge which we took a look at.  There were several viewing levels down the side of the hill.  It was amazing how many people never bothered to go down the steps from the top level to check out the different views.

B11I8699.jpgWe also wandered back along the road to the bridge that passes over the main highway.  Not only was there a view along the bridge but there were also some little sculptures of lions.  These seemed to mirror the larger ones down near the entrance to the suspension bridge but I kind of liked the little versions.  I met a couple of photographers at this location.  I had some thoughts about experimenting with a shot here but that will be another post.

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Alpaca Farming

AE7I9701.jpgSan Juan Island is home to some varied creatures.  I swear that, as we drove down one road, we went past a camel.  We also saw an alpaca farm.  There was a shop that sold all sorts of alpaca related stuff.  Plenty of yarn (which was pretty pricey) and various alpaca gifts were available.  I wasn’t too keen on any of this, though.  Outside, you could take a walk around and see the animals themselves.

AE7I9693.jpgThere were many fields with the alpacas in them.  They were well spread out and didn’t seem terribly bothered by the presence of the visitors (of which there were plenty considering how quiet things were generally).  They came in a variety of colors.  Food seemed to be their primary concern but occasionally they would look around to see what we were doing.  Mostly, though, they were more bothered about each other than us.

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Orcas Close But Still Elusive

AE7I9737.jpgWe have had some good opportunities recently to see orcas up close.  That didn’t stop us looking for them while we were on San Juan Island.  The west side of the island has regular whale activity of a few species.  When we showed up at the good spots, we met people telling us what had been passing by earlier.  We even just missed a humpback (or gray depending on who you talked to) that had come into Friday Harbor.  We did get a bit luckier when we got to San Juan State Park.

AE7I9921.jpgA bunch of orcas were off the coast a bit north of the area we visited.  They seemed to be hanging around in one area so may have been feeding.  There are two distinct groups of orcas in the area.  The resident group feed on salmon while the transient group like mammals such as seals.  This was the resident group apparently.  Eventually they headed north away from us but, in the mean time, another part of the group came into view from the south.  They transited north although sadly a bit far out for a good view.

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