Late Summer and Fall

It must be time to get ready for winter -

This is 'Silver' (sometimes we call him Houdini) munching on my nice flowers!!! We are very sure this rabbit is not one of the wild varieties - would someone really let their pet go???

He (or she) is so tame we can hand feed him.

And here is 'Unicorn', (one big long antler, one short stub) he and his friend enjoyed every last plum on our tree!!! 

all they left us were the pits.

 'Blackie' is hiding chestnuts (from a neighbours tree) all over the yard - hope he will remember where they all are when he gets really hungry later this winter.

Yup, it's time to prepare for winter.....wonder what we should do?

Summer 2013, sailing adventures with Puffin

The summer sailing started early with a trip to the San Juan Islands for a FOG (Fisher) rendezvous.  As usual we planned an extended trip along with the weekend......

We started of with a customs check in at Roche harbor then on to Garrison Bay.

Can't pass up an opportunity to add another 'island' to the list!

Next stop Jones island to meet with Dave & Jody ----

after trying for 3 years we finally make it to the same place at the same time!!

A few days later we meet our FOGGER friends at Friday Harbor - good times as always.

The following week we spent at a few of our old favorite spots - Shallow bay on Succia is by far the best for sunsets!

Full moon at Princess Cove, Wallace Island on the way home.









Back just in time to haul the boat, do routine maintenance on Puffin, yard work at home, etc. and get reorganized to head north this time - we start out with our friends Bob & Carol on Colibri (which is now sold, so we were lucky to spend some time cruising with them)

Colibri

Pirates Cove

Our time in Desolation sound was perfect, the weather couldn't have been better - the water clear and warm for swimming.  The photos following tell our story.

Peaceful anchorage

Pender Harbour, full moon rising

Sunset paddle

One of the most beautiful spots to anchor!  

Pendrell Sound  

Oyster spatz harvesting in Pendrell sound

Lucky us, one boat spot!

Busy marina at Refuge Cove - groceries, showers, fuel, wifi, restaurant......what more could you ask for?

Sunsets on the water

John takes a walk in the forest...

 and finds an beautiful lake at the end of the trail

Powell River Marina - the ferry dock is right here!

Wildlife viewing! Can you spot him? 

Reflections & Shadows

Low Tide

 The land of the Big Tides!!!

the same view from the boat in Smugglers Cove

High Tide

Full moon again....

More wildlife viewing

and one more island!!!

 Another favorite spot to anchor in the Copeland Islands - John scrambled up the bank to add another date to the sign.

Crowded Anchorage!!! 

Yikes

actually we pulled our boats together so we could enjoy Happy Hour together with our friends Dave and Linda

We met up with so many boating friends along the way - you already know us....

Steve & Nan

 Darch, John, Catherine, Dave, Linda

 Darch, John, Catherine, Dave, Deb

Carol, Bob, friend from Nanaimo, Deb

The Trip Home....

So many picture to choose from to depict our trip north.  We chose a route through Arizona and Utah before we headed north west to home.  We enjoyed our visits to the National Parks in the last few years it was an easy choice to visit another couple of parks again this year.

After leaving the beach we stopped at our usual spots along the way - the boulder fields of Catavinia are so beautiful ........

and of course the sand dunes and miles long beach at El Pableon (just south of San Quintin)

A stop overnight at Potrero county park in southern California then off to Arizona, a long driving day to Salome (a KOA park) for the night.  Daytime temperature was 30' C so the pool was a nice evening treat.

The next days were mostly traveling - we did spend a bit of time in Prescott Arizona, then through Jerome, Sedona, Flagstaff reaching Monument Valley for the night.

Monument Valley - Gouldings RV park - red rock everywhere!

We reach Moab on the first day of "Jeep Safari Week"!  we were lucky to get a RV spot for a few days.  The town was buzzing, excitement and action everywhere, and jeeps, jeeps, jeeps!!!

Arches National Park is on our agenda - so we spend our time exploring the park - red rocks everywhere and more natural arches than you can count.  This is just a small sample -

 

  Skyline Arch

 The Windows

 Double Arch

 Delicate Arch

Landscape Arch

The Wall

Balanced Rock

the full moon is rising just to the top left of this rock formation

There are over 2,000 natural arches and amazing formations all through the park. I won't go into history details - if you are interested you can check it out www.nps.gov/arch

Next we move 2,000 feet higher (=cold nights) to Horsethief campground where we are just minutes from Dead Horse Point State park and Canyonlands National Park. 

 We decide to 'bike' the trail -this is the real thing, not a ride in the park so to speak, quite a few sections are dismount and push the bike along, up, over, thru rocks, sand and....well, you get the picture...but so much fun and we did it!! the hour long trail ride took us about 2.5 hours, with lots of stops for pictures and just to take in the view - spectacular!

beautiful scenery

and dangers along the way - wouldn't want to fall into a clump of cactus

End of the ride for today.

 Canyonlands - Upheaval Dome

 The Confluence of the Colorado River and Green River

 from Canyonlands overlooking the Shafer trail road, if you look carefully you will see the 'jeeps' on the switchback and way down at the bottom of this canyon road.  John had a bout of 'Jeep Envy' watching the parade

Wildhorse Casino, Pendelton Oregon (actually in the truck stop because the parking lot was full) we were treated to a fantastic fireworks display for their 18th anniversary.

Poor planning made for a very long next day - all the way to Tulalip Casino where there was plenty of room for us. Now, since we are a day ahead of plan, we shop then head to Anacortes (where we find the Brew Pub of course).  Next morning we catch the ferry for home.  Whew, great trip yet again.