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.