Brad Hanson on the Whale Trail

On November 10th, Wednesday, Dad and I took his Corolla down to the Duwamish Longhouse in west Seattle for another one of the Whale Trail's presentations, this one on "Welcome the Orcas" . The last time we went to a Whale Trail convention, we managed to take a wrong turn on the intersection on the way (an easy thing to do on that particular intersection). But this time we came prepared, with our keen eyes and Dad's Droid Motorola with built-in G.P.S., and made the turn with no mishaps this time. On arrival we went to right to work, setting up the sound system, turning on the microphones, and connecting the computer to the projector, and making very sure to deactivate the screen saver (unlike last time). The speaker was Brad Hanson who's a member of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, and researches orcas by collecting samples of their scat, mucus, and regurgitation for analysis. His presentation was on the new findings about the resident orca's diet, complete with a power-point slide show. Brad also had placed a critter-cam on one orca in hopes that he would be able to observe its food choices and displayed it for us to see.Unfortunately the orca didn't actually go foraging, instead it went to the kelp beds and socialized with its pod.

Fall Fun DANCE Party

The Fall Fun Party at our church was different from last year. Instead of going around playing games to get candy they handed out goodie bags with silly bands and candy in them and then we all headed into the main sanctuary to first do Game Zone ( in witch at one point I got to be on the big screen walking on my hands ) and then they had a concert, Kickn' It Old School, with the Go Fish Guys, witch was why they called it the Fall Fun DANCE Party this year. Rilla went as a princess ( wearing a blue dress with yellow tights and MAKE-UP!!), Cian was a gymnast ( wearing his gym uniform) and I went as a One-Person-Piggy-Back-Ride ( shown below).

-Emma

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today, was Mom's much anticipated birthday, and children of all ages were bustling about blithely, with the pleasant thoughts of their self-bought or self made gifts, which one and all were thoroughly appetent to bestow upon our dear mother. All that is to say, except one alpine, eldest child, who had no gift to give yet.

Our disconcerted Caleb, at the moment, could see no way to purchase a gift and to still conserve its stature as a surprise, or how to make one which could still be venerated through the years.

Caleb was still pondering these things in his consciousness when Mom and the other siblings left for swimming. Unanticipatedly, vaguely around twenty minuets later, the doorbell rang. When answered the doorway greeted him with the sight of a FedEx pulling away from the front driveway. And a very big package sitting on the porch.

After bringing this bulky box into the living room, I scratched my head over who would be sending my Mom a Hoover SteamVac MaxExtract. While I was puzzling over this, a more significant notion came to mind. To wrap it. With time and rapping paper running short I barely managed to finish the job before the van pulled in.

Boy were they surprised to find a three foot high birthday present sitting by the front door! And special thanks goes to Papa Ray for sending that gift at such a convenient time.

Fall Sail

The fog lifted just after noon and the day turned into a bright blue-sky gift. So we called Jack's cousin Rich and all went down to the boat for a quick sail in the bay. There was a nice breeze and not too much chop. With the Staysail, Main, & Mizzen all up we even were pushing four knots (which is remarkable for our boat)! Straight out and back in for a two hour tour. Here is a shot that Colin took from the deck looking up at the Main (notice the top of the Staysail in the shot too).

Freewind's Main (10/16/10) by Colin

The Whale Trail update

The Whale Trail team has been busy over the past month! Here are just a few of the accomplishments:

1. Four Whale Trail signs installed along Highway 112 on the Olympic Peninsula. See the picture below from Freshwater Bay in Clallam County.
2. Today the newest sign was dedicated at the Salt Creek Recreation Area just outside of Port Angeles, WA.
3. The website has been updated. Check it out at: www.thewhaletrail.org!

All of this is pretty amazing - this concept was a dream that a friend and co-worker (now former co-worker) Donna Sandstrom had for years. When she 'retired' and then asked me to be a part of the Board of Directors a year and half ago I was sold on the idea but dubious that things would be able to execute so quickly. This is a real testament to Donna's perseverance, on the job project management training at Adobe, and a deep passion for a cause she believes in. Congratulations Donna!

Whale Trail signage
Freshwater Bay, Clallam County, WA

2010 Boat Trip Journal Entries

Here are some journal entries from the kids during our 2010 boat trip:

Caleb (14)

8/15/10

This morning we started off normally, with eating breakfast, Dad starting the engine, and me and mom raising the anchor (where I got to remove a crab clinging to a strip of seaweed stuck on the chain), and waking everybody up. After we left Nanaimo I drove the boat for about an hour,then Emma got to drive. Afterwords we did some filming with the digital camera,in Emma and Colin (act out) arguing about cushions, bed and such. Now that we have crossed the Canadian border, all signs are written in English and the in French, and the same goes for the weather radio.We have just anchored in quiet bay of Grace harbor. The stream on the map in the head of the bay had dried up, apparently it's been a dry month here. This was disappointing as we were planing on playing in the freshwater. Luckily there were other things there instead. Jellyfish from 1-5 inches wide were floating around, one was close to shore, so I got to test the "Tops Won't Sting You" theory. But the best part was the snakes. The snakes were about a foot and a half long, had two yellow stripes down it's back, which was colored black. They would slither around the rocks and then slide into the water, skim around the surface then dive down until we couldn't see them anymore. Most surprising of all was when we figured out that they were ordinary Gardener Snakes!!(of course Rilla and Cian still freaked out when one came towards them.)

Emma (12)
Day 13 Sunday the 22 Nanaimo Harbor 8:45 p.m.
Since today was Cian's birthday he opened some presents before we started the day. After taking a walk to the park we went to two bookstores and a bakery. At the bakery I got a cinnamon bun that was very good. After leaving the bakery we hiked to the Nanaimo Museum and had a Blast! There was a cave exhibit with "rock" walls and a mine cart. There was also a Education exibit with a classroom and very old books that were lying around for you to read. After leaving the museum we went to a suviniershop called "Newfoundland to Nanaimo" to buy t-shirts for our christmas photo and gifts for friends. After heading back to the boat we went to the library again for wifi but we was only there for a little while before it closed. For dinner we went out for burgers at a resterant called Mrs. Ritchies diner. After eating we headed back to the park to play. Back at the boat we let Cian open the rest of his presents after having cupcakes and wishing him a Happy Birthday. -Emma

Colin (10)
My favorite things I did were seeing Orcas and swimming in the bays and lakes. Next, was seeing a false killer whale, and staying in Nanaimo, One time, we ate at a buffet. I also liked playing at a park in Nanaimo, and my grandpa gave me a camera, so I go a lot of pictures too. I had fun sailing on the Freewinds.

(This is a picture of the false killer whale)

Rilla (7)
Here is a picture that Rilla drew of the killer whales:

Boat Trip 2010

Freewinds 8.10.10

This year the goal for our annual boat trip was to explore Desolation Sound which is about a 150 kilometers north of Vancouver. Since our boat is slow it took us five days just to get there - we were out for eighteen days total! Here is the link to last year's account which was only ten days.

Here was our 2010 itinerary starting from Everett, WA:
8/10/10 Port Townsend, WA
8/11/10 Bedwell Harbor, BC
8/12/10 Nanaimo, BC
8/14/10 Pender Harbour, BC
8/15/10 Grace Harbour, Desolation Sound, BC
8/16/10 Squirrel Cove, Desolation Sound, BC
8/17/10 Tenedos Bay, Desolation Sound, BC
8/18/10 Gorge Harbour, Desolation Sound, BC
8/19/10 Secret Cove, BC
8/20/10 Nanaimo, BC
8/23/10 Montague Harbour, Galiano Island, BC
8/24/10 American Camp, San Juan Island, WA
8/25/10 Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, WA
8/27/10 Everett, WA

Here are the stopping points on GoogleMaps.

Click here for some highlights from the kid's journals.