What NOT to do with a baby

June 16th, 2015 is the day my sister gave birth to my nephew!  Congrats to Marlene to the new addition family.  So not being fully experienced with how to handle babies, here's a picture list of what I know NOT to do.

Whales and Lobsters

On our last day on the peninsula, we decided to forgo going into the Hoh Rain Forest, instead to go whalewatching.  Tradeoffs.  This is Port Angeles from the water as we sailed into the Strait of Juan De Fuca.

We borrowed some binoculars, but they weren't really needed.

As we were leaving port going west, we saw a humpback whale.  The thing to look for is the blowhole and the water coming out of the hole.

This picture was taken off the company website blog.  Island Adventures Whale Watching

Then we sailed west for an hour to follow a pod of orca whales.  They were all around us.  It was great.

They were so close and it turns out that you don't have to be quiet as the whales will just swim wherever...sometimes right up to the boat.  One time, it surprised us and came right behind the boat within 20 feet.

The highlight was seeing a mother orca and her recently born baby orca. 

One of my favorite parts of living in the Pacific Northwest...the ferry system.

So here are some funny stories about Onions on this trip.  One of the first was the morning we were eating breakfast at the hotel.  He asks me to make waffles with the waffle maker.  But the picture showing the waffles has butter and syrup.  He asks me why I didn't put ice cream on it, thinking the butter in the picture is ice cream.  Then he went up looking for the maple syrup, but when he came back he had actually put more raw batter on the waffles!  He didn't know what maple syrup was.  Then we were walking along Port Angeles he saw something called "Pink Up" which I explained was the movement where pink ribbons being worn symbolizes support for cancer awareness and support.  Then the next day, we were out hiking out to Cape Alava and he saw one of the trees along the trail had a pink ribbon on it and he asked me why the trees were associated with cancer.  Hahahah.  We were at the hotel watching television and he saw an advertisement for the restaurant chain "Red Lobster" and was entranced by what he saw.  Turns out lobster is incredibly expensive in China.  So on our way home from the Edmonds ferry, we headed over to Lynnwood to the restaurant. 

RED LOBSTER!!!!!

Lobster happiness.

A couple funny things happened there.  We got seats at the bar and he got carded.  So he had to go get his passport.  He thought he was being singled out because he was Chinese.  Then second, he was wondering why he got TWO forks, not understanding that there is a salad fork and a dinner fork.  I love seeing America through his eyes.

Olympic National Park

Onions was looking out on the view from our house in Seattle and asked about the Olympic Mountains, so I thought..."WHY NOT, let's go."  So off we went.  First stop, Hurricane Ridge.

I guess the deer are habituated to people as they walked right by us without even any sense of fright.

Blue skies.....

....fluffy clouds.

Just a few miles west of Port Angeles is the Elwha River and the major site there now is the site of the former Glines Canyon Dam.  Built in the early 1900's for power generation the final portion was removed August 2014.

This is looking upstream at the former lake that was created by the damn.  Slowly returning back to its natural state.

And downstream.

My first raccoon upclose and personal.

In my parents tradition, Onions wanted to eat Chinese food in a small town and so we walked about 3 miles roundtrip in Port Angeles for Chinese food at "Fresh Wok." First off, he said he liked it (I think to spite me) and second, I can't believe we both PUT AWAY that much food.  Portion control.....wow.

Lake Crescent

The second day of our trip was a coastal day.  First stop was out to Cape Alava.  Back in 7th grade, we did this as a beach hike and stayed two nights.

I remember it back then being this LONG hike, but Onions and I did it in an hour and fifteen minutes.

Cape Alava is the westernmost point in the continental United States.  Here we are!

Our golden hour was spent watching the waves and the sun go down at Rialto Beach by the town of LaPush.

Looking out at the waves...and way in the distance...Asia.

Sleepyhead

Was scrolling through the photos on my phone and saw a bunch of these pictures with the same theme......