We took a trip up to the Pacific Northwest to travel with the Beardmores. We were super lucky to have some sunshine amongst the rain and clouds, specifically on my birthday!
We also went out to a private park with this suspensino bridge and a bunch of walkways. They'd done a superb job and the kids loved it.Next stop Vancouver Island>. Jules and I hopped onto a seaplane for the trip and were treated to some spectacular views.Our luggage being unloaded from one of the floats!The hike began in the forest. There had clearly been a ton of rain so there was a lot of mud to traverse. Slow going, but fun for everyone.After a while we popped out onto the coast where we were treated to a truly spectacular scene.The beach itself was beautiful and made all the more spectacular by this waterfall.After the hike we headed over to a sport we'd seen with pizzas and beers (more bday treats). As Jules and I were arriving we saw this bear!Another interesting outing was to this spot. We walked up this spiral walkway to a stunning view at the top. And could take the spiral slide in the center back down. Slide was surprisingly fun.
The rest of the crew left Vancouver Island a day before us. Jules and put together another absolutely incredible day together, with the last of the good weather.
Things started with this absolutely breathtaking hike along the coastlike in Sooke. We seemed to get there just ahead of the rush, so we had the place largely to ourselves going out.
After brunch at our hotel we set off on what proved to be another lifetime experience.
We set off on a whale watching tour. We'ed booked it ages before, but go so lucky. The ocean was absolutely calm – apparently quite rate. And while it was quite cold, we were easily able to sit outside most of the time.We saw several interesting animals. River otters (in the ocean!), seals, sea lions, dolphins, deer, bald eagles.But the highlight by far, was this pod of eight orcas that we were able to spend about an hour with.They had three calves with them, including a tiny thing that was about a month old. It still had an orange coloration, which I'd not heard of before.The ultimately hunted a seal, although from the surface we could fortunately not see much of it. The upside was that they stayed in the area and we could see a ton of them.
And finally, we headed to Seattle for a couple of days
Jules and I were again booked on a seaplane, but they cancelled at the last minute. We scrambled and were able to get ourselves onto a ferry within 45 minutes and had a very comfortable, if much longer trip over.
