a whale of a fish story

My friend Jenn from Denver has been staying with us for the last couple of days. We have been all over the place taking photos. Yesterday we drove up to Edmonds to take the ferry across the sound to Kingston. One of her friends had told her about a lighthouse not too far from there at Point No Point. So we arrive at the lighthouse and decide to kind of scope things out before we pull out all the gear. We take a little walk on the beach and don't do much scoping...but Jenn found a handful of cool shells and I found a lot of sea glass. as we turn to head back for gear my phone rings. While in the process up answering my phone I look up and see 4 dark grey tales slip back into the water about 20 feet from the shore. At first because they are so close I think dolphins and then they pop back up with black and white heads. ORCAS! So instead of saying hello to my mom who has just called me I yell "WHALES! THERE ARE WHALES! WHALES!!!!! CALL ME BACK!" Two adult females and 2 calves. And it figures that all of the cameras are in my truck. So we rush to take a few shots with our phones and both got a lovely shot of them submerging that really doesn't show anything. We asked a few other people who did have cameras if they got any good shots; but in the excitement what they captured was a what looked like fins and with a hint of black and white. There were fishermen that had waded out about 10 feet from shore in hopes of catching salmon. The whales popped up about 10 feet from the end of one guy's pole and he nearly had a heart attack. Another told us that in 20 years of fishing that spot he had never seen anything like that. I would have to say that that was the coolest things I have ever seen. As much as I hate living up here I will venture to say it was worth the move just to see those whales. Now we have to get Roman to see some whales so that we can move away from here already.

Fiance plays baseball

And I think thats hot.

I just can't get enough

Nineteen years ago when I was 14 I saw Depeche Mode for the first time with my sister at Red Rocks. Last week we took my 13 year old niece to see Depeche Mode here in Seattle. I have seen close to a hundred different bands live and have seen some really good shows. I am going to have to say that this was one of my favorites because I got to see it through the eyes of my niece and it was like taking a step back in time. Very cool.

the best thing to happen to Forks, WA

I like a good vampire story as much as the next guy. I loved the movie Lost Boys and I own (yes own) all seven seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I never read any of the Anne Rice vampire books, but did see Interview with a Vampire. And even though I had not read the books I still could not buy Tom Cruise as Lestat. Brad Pitt as Louis on the other hand…now that is a hot vampire. The Twilight Saga was first brought to my attention a few years ago by my friend Theresa; the same person who got me hooked on Buffy. She had read the first two and was reading the third. She outlined the story for me and it sounded interesting. I thought maybe I would stop by the bookstore and pick up Twilight. When Theresa told me I would have to look for them in the young adult section I heard the squealing of breaks in my head and thought maybe not. As of this last spring I believe I was the only female I knew who had not read these books. Friend: “Have you read Twilight?” Me: “No”. Friend: “What? They are the best books EVER in the history of books. Such a romantic love story and they get pretty steamy”. Me: “Steamy…how can that be…they are books written for tweenagers…and isn’t Stephenie Meyer a Mormon”? Friend: “Oh…but they are soooooooooooooo good!!!” No matter how hard I was pressured I could not bring myself to read a bunch of books written for 13 year old girls. I was standing my ground firmly and was not going to give in to reading them. EVER! Then my sister Rebecca called and asked if I wanted to see Depeche Mode in August. What does seeing Depeche Mode have to do with Twilight you ask? Well nothing really. It just meant that the show was in Seattle, which is in Washington. You know what else is in Washington? Forks…the town in which the Twilight saga is based. My 13 year old niece Amarah would be accompanying my sister to Washington. She had read all the books, is Twilight crazy, she loves Edward Cullen and she wanted to go to Forks. My sister had also read them and was up for it. Hmmmm…maybe I would have to read at least the first book to see what all the craziness is about. Fiance and I went down to El Paso the next week to visit with family. My future sister in law Christy had just started reading Twilight and was discussing it with my future mother in law Lupe. Lupe had read all four books and had loved them. She offered them to me and at first I politely declined. But as the week wore on and the conversations continued my curiosity got the best of me. I picked up that first book and read the first hundred pages. It was okay, the story moved along slowly but it was keeping my interest. Upon my departure Lupe gave me the first 3 books. I would have to buy the fourth book as she had given that one to Christy, who could not check it out from the library at the school she taught at because of sexual content. So over the course of the next four weeks I read the four books of the Twilight saga. My official opinion of the books…MEH. Yeah that’s right I said MEH! I had been duped. I read 2560 pages waiting for it to get good. They all said it was good, when does it get good?!?!? Oh…and that steamy sexual content...it’s implied…no actual sex. Every time I would get frustrated with the story line I would have to remind myself that these books are written for 13 year old girls and not the adult women that are so ga-ga over them. But I digress. And because I am a good Auntie, this past Saturday we hopped into my SUV for the four hour drive to Forks. Amarah’s excitement started to build as we drove through Port Angeles, the town where Edward saves Bella from the near do well bad guys and takes her for mushroom ravioli. 54 miles and a scenic drive along Crescent Lake (very pretty) in the Olympic National Park later we rolled into Forks. We pulled along side the road with about 20 other vehicles to take pictures of the Welcome to Forks sign. As soon as Amarah was out of the truck she let out an excited, girlish squeal. We had to wait a short line before she was able to go up and stand in front of the sign. I took pictures for the teenage girls in front of us and upon seeing them they thanked me with a swirl or screams and giggles. This was just a small taste of what was to follow once we got into town. There is an actual Twilight tour that you can take out of Port Angeles for about $40 per person. We figured with Forks being such a small town that we could find our way around. Everyone in this town, and I mean everyone is finding a way to cash in on the whole Twilight mania. You cannot walk into a business without there being some sort of Twilight angle. The Ace Hardware for instance has a put up a sign that says Newton’s Sporting Goods and you can go inside to have your picture taken in Bella’s work smock. So we drove around town and hit some of the main attractions. Amarah did not want to see any of the houses that they were trying to pass off and the Swan’s and the Cullen’s because in her words they were ghetto. We started off at the visitor’s center where Bella’s truck is parked. While not the same make or model described in the book, it is red and that is enough for most Twihards. (yes that is Fiance you see in the back ground. I forced him to come along for this unique experience). Next stop was the High School... Then on to the police department… and the Hospital... We then walked up and down the main drag and wandered in and out of stores. There is one store that is dedicated to all things Twilight which was jam packed with fans and more Twilight crap than you could shake a stick at. Fiance and I did a quick look around and then sat back to watch the pandemonium. Amarah purchased a New Moon poster and some mints that said Mrs. Cullen. As they were checking Rebecca commented to the girl ringing them up how crazy it must be in town on the weekends. She replied by saying it was crazy in town all the time. It will die down a little once school starts but ramp up again once the New Moon movie is released. And you know what that means….more $$$!!! planter boxes outside the Twilight store By this point we were starving and had lunch at the Forks Coffee Shop. I wish I had taken pictures of this place…it was a hole. I don’t think that any repairs or updates have been made to this place in…well ever. Don’t let the pictures on the website fool you. While the food was good you can tell that the prices have gone up along with the number of people coming through town. After lunch we headed south to La Push home of the Quileute Tribe (and Jacob Black) to see First Beach. Once Crossing the Treaty Line (ha ha) the drive to the beach is beautiful. The weather was less than ideal for a day at the beach but it did not take away from the beauty of it. I would say that First Beach made the whole trip worth the drive. From La Push we headed the four hours home. It was an interesting experience to say the least. We had a good day and it way kind of cool to experience something that my niece is really into. Oh…and for the record…Team Jacob!!!

another boat, salmon, and blue angels

NOTE: This post was originally written on Aug 6th. I had spent an hour uploading photos, writing witty content, and cursing because I could not get the photos to space evenly. After much ado I got everything lined up to my liking and clicked publish. Instead of publishing the post that I had worked so hard on, blogger deleted 99.9% of my post and only the title appeared online. F*#@, F*#@, F*#@!!!!!! So after a bit of a cooling down period and 4 day visit from my sister and a 2 day visit from my mom and auntie I have decided to give it another go. (keeping my fingers crossed) Ever since we moved up here Fiance has been talking about going to be the Blue Angels at Seafair. Fiance will find any reason to see them perform and once flew us down to Dallas for that very reason. In the weeks leading up to Seafair he talked about it more and more and had staked out the location we would be watching them from. It would be crowded but would be good for viewing the show. The week before his birthday I was looking it to whale watching tours and was on the Argosy website and saw that they had a Blue Angels lunch cruise. Taking a boat ride to the middle of Lake Washington to watch the show seemed like a no brainer. So on Saturday we drove up to Kirkland to hop on the boat. We were shown to a nice table near the windows where we ordered a few mojitos and settled in for the 3 hour tour (no Gilligan jokes please). We set sail, sipped our cool drinks in the air conditioned cabin, and watched the speed boat racing to the middle of the lake to find a good viewing spot. Then it was time for lunch which consisted of several types of salads, three cheese ravioli, a chicken marsala-esque dish, and salmon. Yes…that is salmon on my plate. Anyone that knows me knows I am not a fan of salmon. That is usually something I keep to myself; because when you tell someone you don’t like salmon they look at you like you just said “I don’t like getting massages” or “I kick puppies”. I have tried to like salmon. I have had it grilled, smoked, poached, baked, and in sushi (I don’t mind it so much in sushi anymore). Every time Fiance orders it he puts a little on my plate in hopes that maybe just maybe I will like it this time. Nope…too fishy. So as I stood there hovering over the large plate of salmon fillets I decided that I would try it again for the last time. If I did not like it this go around I was done. I took the smallest piece I could find and returned to the table. Fiance was surprised to see that salmon on my plate and held his breath as I took that first bite. This time I did not hate it. Turns out in order for me to like salmon it has to be over cooked and flavorless. But I look at it this way…Fiance ate his steak well done when we met and after 3 years I have him eating it medium rare. So maybe in a few years I will be able to eat a properly cooked piece of salmon. Baby steps. After lunch we went up to the third deck to wait for the show to start. We were surrounded by hundreds of speed boats filled with bathing suit clad, sunburned drunk people. As always the performance started with Fat Albert. We did not get to see the jet -assisted takeoff (JATO) this time, but it was cool to see the C-130T Hercules. Then came the main attraction. (low altitude fly by...temprarily lost partial hearing in left ear from the roar of the engines) I think I got some pretty good shots considering I was standing on a rocking boat after having 4 heavily poured mojitos and a corona. The show lasted about 45 minutes and as soon as it ended all the speed boats turned and raced back to their docks. We returned to our table and had dessert on our way back to the dock. It was a good way to spend the afternoon. I know Fiance is already looking forward to seeing the Blue Angels again soon.