The Adventure Continues!

Off the island, I take a one day stop in Massachusetts with my family and then I'm off to Pennsylvania and the Geil Archive! I'll be working with a group of five other Beloiters to digitize the Geil Collection.

Come check out our progress--we'll be guest blogging on Professor Rob LaFleur's site, Round and Square.

See my guest posts!

Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island

Today I got a special treat. I got taken to Mt. Constitution on Orcas Island! Only having a bike, I wasn't looking forward to braving the mountain (still kinda out of shape here!), but my friend with a car took me on quite a ride.

We went over to Orcas Island via ferry. It was quite picturesque (Orcas Island is in the far off horizon in the center). I didn't quite grasp how many islands there are in the San Juans. There are more than quite a few, and that's not including the little half-rock islands.

The front of the ferry. The ground is the loading docks for the cars--there's several layers of garages where people can park and transport their cars

 One thing we saw but I didn't (gasp!) photograph was this little island with a house on it. That's all it was, a house in a grove of trees and (I'm guessing) a dock on the other side. On one hand, so pretty! On the other hand, I can't ever imagine living there. Maybe as a summer home, but living on an island alone means that you'd have to constantly be checking up on it. What a hassle for a summer home. What a lonely existence for a residential home. If I ever get rich, I will not be buying an island, that's for sure!

The first thing I noticed was how big the trees were. I'm not kidding--these things were HUGE. And everything was so green. I think some of it is the lichen and some of it is because this is a deep, primordial forest and I kept expecting to see dinosaurs come out of it or something, but this was the most beautiful forest I have ever seen. I was awestruck, though that didn't stop me from taking pictures.

Huge, I tell you!

 Our first stop in State Moran park was this look out. How gorgeous!

Can you tell how thrilled I am?

At the top of the mountain (2,409 feet) is an observatory looking tower that has a panoramic view of the islands, Washington, and Canada. So, obviously I had to go take pictures.

It's so steep to get up!

but the view is FANTASTIC

On our way down, I could not stop marveling at the trees and I had us stop for a bit of posing. These are seriously big. I almost can't conceive how big they are. Just take a look...

I am fascinated by this. Like I can't even begin to comprehend how big this tree is

On our way out, we saw this mother and faun couple. Aren't they cute?

And you can't go to Orcas Island without seeing the giant metal orca. You just can't!

Waiting for Whales

We heard that there were whales coming up around sunset. We didn't get to see the whales, but I enjoyed having a chat with my other marine naturalist friends! More of the Whale Museum staff added to our group as evening drew close, but we never did see any whales.

No whales...

...but good company!

A seal!

We did see gulls

On a sadder note, Cindy told me that the bird didn't make it. Poor thing....

From American Camp to South Beach and Back Again

I decided that while I was still here on San Juan, that I would do some touristy sight-seeing stuff. I hopped on the shuttle and headed to American Camp. American Camp is called this because it is where the Americans camped during the Pig War (there is a British Camp on the other side of the island). The Pig War was basically the result tensions over land between the British and the Americans in 1859 which culminated in a shot pig (who was rooting around in someone else's garden) which then turned into a war which (finally) ended around 1872.

Luckily, there were no pigs here today--and also no fort. It has disappeared to the ravages of time. The landscape, though, is breathtaking.

The scenery was amazing, but I got a chance to use my new skills as a marine naturalist as I discovered...

that's right--a tide pool!

Barnacles ahoy!

Here's some chitons

Can you see the fish hiding in the seaweed?

An anemone

Snail buddies!

Can you see the fish again? It's using camouflage!

It wasn't just all tidepools, though I did spend quite some time attempting to get the perfect lens angle that didn't have the water reflecting me. 

American Camp has a trail that leads into South Beach, which is...a southern beach. It's grasslands and coast line and absolutely breath-taking. 

 

The bottom of a Lion's Mane Jellyfish caught in the waves. Poor thing.

All in all, it was a good day and I had fun exploring.