Travel: Inunnguaq

Whistler, BC

You probably looked at the rock formations below and thought you were looking at Inuksuks. Sadly, you are among the many confused. Research tells me that a rock formation that looks similar to that of a human figure is actually called an Inunnguaq. A pile of rocks that are vaguely assembled in a somewhat strategic fashion that is not meant to imply the shape of a human? That is an Inuksuk. Two of the Inunnquaq's pictured below were constructed by professionals. The other two were built by the hands of amateur yet still very skilled builders. If you can tell which is which, I applaud you. If you cannot, it might be time to reevaluate the way you think critically.  

Travel: Whistler

There is a formula that exists that calculates the ratio of effort to view. By this I mean that it helps determine the best scenic views based on having to exert the least amount of effort to see them. Take for example the Space needle. Effort is very minimal, you take an elavator up all 604 feet. The view is amazing too. So plugging that into the formula and one could say the Space Needle does pretty well. Now take the Oyster Dome hike down off Chuckanut. Like the Needle, the view is great. The San Juans have never looked better than from the peak of the Oyster Dome. However, you have to put in a fair amount of energy to reach said view. Is it a hard hike? no. But is it more energy than going up the space needle elevator? No doubt. So plug that into the formula and unfortunately the Oyster Dome doesn't do so hot. Naturally, this all leads me to Whistler. While strolling about the peaks and ridges of this beautiful mountainous land, Ellen, my Father and I discussed said formula. As it turns out, Whistler does fantastic. The majority of the hiking to get up to the views is just riding a ski lift. The only weight you lose comes from handing over some doller bills in exchange for a lift ticket. You can basically put in no effort and end up at the peak of a very high mountain with 360 degree views of a plethora of Canadian mountains and natural beauty. Are there better views than that from the peak of Whistler? Maybe, I haven't seen them all. All i'm saying is you can be lazier than a football fan on a sunday afternoon in November and still find yourself staring at one of those views kids write home to tell their mothers about.  

Travel: Peak 2 Peak

Whistler, BC

There are a small minority of folks here in Bellingham who are upset with what is coined locally as, "the Canadian Shopper". If you are unfamiliar, hoards of Maple Leafers flea their overtaxed land to come south where the guns are distributed freely because that is our right. They come to spend, buy, purchase and secure. Costco is jammed, the mall is jammed, TJ Maxx is jammed, apparently Wal Mart is jammed. So much so that there was a Facebook page created to honor those shoppers by ridiculously pleading for an American only shopping hour at Costco.  As is the case with the internet, things regarding the site turned ugly. Words were thrown around, people commented in ways they never would face to face, issues that shouldn't be issues were brought up and eventually national news outlets picked up on the story and everything was blown way out of proportion. I say all this because I, unlike some of my red blooded bald eagle loving patriots, have no problems with "the Canadian Shopper". I don't go to the stores they say are overcrowded so I rarely have to deal with this so called nightmare. Instead, I get to live in a city that greatly benefits from the increased tax dollars that we wouldn't have otherwise. I appreciate that our little town is thriving economically when compared to the rest of the state. So, to say thank you, my family and I made a quest north. We wanted to go to this place they call Canada and give back a small portion of the tax revenues our county has been so richly blessed with. Turns out things are way too expensive. Like, Way-To-Expensive. So we altered our plans a bit and took a ride on the longest gondola the world has ever known. The Peak 2 Peak was 20 minutes of amazing. My mom hated it. To be more accurate, she didn't actually go on it. But she would have hated it. 

Travel: Greater Vancouver

Alex Fraser Bridge

Hear me when I say it is very difficult to take pictures out a car window when driving. It's also very unsafe.  I do not recommend doing so. Thankfully, i wasn't driving. I was just the copilot in a day long treck north of the 49th parallel. This treck included a stop at Ikea, an afternoon in the sun at Crescent Beach, a walk along the White Rock boardwalk, and a drive both there and back across the Alex Fraser bridge. This is what the Alex Fraser bridge looks like when leaning out the car window. 

Bellingham: The Backyard View

I threw a 5 megapixel iphone version of this up on Facebook/instagram yesterday. If you don't know what either or both of those are, how are you operating a computer right now? As much as I love the convenience and ease of iphone cameraing, the quality isn't quite there yet. Especially compared to a 60D (camera reference). So naturally I captured this colorful display with both photographic options. Here it is in all its 18 megapixel glory. A while back I talked about how difficult mornings used to be and sometimes still are for me. How one of the only things that could wrestle me free from the comforts of my sleeping quarters was the ever popular television hit, The Power Rangers. Turns out brilliantly superb sunrises have the same abilities to summon my alertness in the waking hours as a half hour program featuring those fictional fighters of evil. Interestingly, both sunrises and Power Rangers are well defined by the colorful attributes they posses and display.

If you're curious to read about how the Power Rangers made mornings less stupid then they should have been, click here:  It's Morphin Time!

Bellingham: Forest Ridge

Is it actually called forest ridge? I'm not sure, I may have made that name up. There is a park near by called Northridge Park. That's all I really know for sure. Well, aside from this. The view you see below is a satisfyingly sweet 5 minute walk from my new home. From atop this ridge, you can see most of Bellingham, some of the San Juan Islands, much of western Whatcom County and basically the entire sky. All of it. All of the sky. You may remember some pictures from this viewpoint posted a few months ago. I put those up when I was visiting some friends who lived in this neighborhood. More specifically, friends who lived in the house I currently live in. Those pictures were meant to highlight the crazy clouds that existed one evening. These pictures are meant to highlight the view of the sunset that exists form this point. As a fair warning, there may be some more pictures taken from this spot in the future. 

Northwest: Lummi Island

July 4th, 2012

If you ferry to Lummi Island on a perfectly sunny summer morning, bike around for a few hours, explore numerous beaches, stop at a party for some pulled pork sandwiches and bike around a little more, I guarantee you will have yourself a nice little day. On the 4th of July, Ellen and I decided to go join at least 800 of our closest island dwelling inhabitants and explore a quiet and beautiful island less than a 30 minute drive and ferry away from Bellingham. Lummi Island is definitely the little step child of the San Juan's. But no one has ever said being a little step child is such a bad thing. 

Lummi Island: The Ferry

The Whatcom Chief

July 4th

I've ridden plenty of ferries. Mostly to Bainbridge island, sometimes to San Juan Island, occasionally to Whidbey Island, a few times to Port Townsend, here and there on random other voyages and once from Italy to Greece and back. Based on these past experiences, I knew ferry trips take some time. Maybe a half hour, maybe a little longer. Perhaps even 23 hours if you're crossing the Mediterranean en route to one of Europe's most financially troubled countries.  So imagine my surprise when we successfully navigated the harsh waters between Gooseberry Point & Lummi Island in under 8 minutes. Seriously, imagine my surprise! Whatever you imagined, it's not as surprised as I really was. A jaw droppingly quick trip.  So quick in fact, the USADA is dropping their doping case against Lance Armstrong to instead go after the Whatcom Chief. See what I mean?!? The trip was so quick I didn't even have enough time to come up with a better punch line for that ill-fated attempt at a performance enhancing drug joke. 

Bellingham: Marine Park

Marine Park

This was a good evening.

Travel: Wenatchee

Hydro Park

Wenatchee, WA

It was mostly sunny and warm, our hotel was nice, we swam in a pool, lounged in a hot tub, ate good enough food and our little squadron of 13 year old baseball players won themselves a championship. We had a nice little weekend in Wenatchee, and I have a miniature bobble head trophy to prove it. 

Northwest: Little Towns

Anacortes / Mt Vernon / Arlington

May 10 . 2012

I've driven up and down I-5 more times than I can count. On each of those trips I passed freeway signs declaring the existence of the towns Arlington and Stanwood. Until this past thursday though, I had never set foot in either of these little populaces. I didn't willingly choose to spend my time visiting these towns, work forced my hand and sent me on an adventure. They weren't anything to write home about, but on this nice, mostly sunny spring day, they were something. 

Bellingham: Tyrell

Tyrell Johnson

Physical Specimen

"People are always saying he's deceptively quick, deceptively athletic, and I don't know if that's just because I'm Asian or what it is, but obviously there's going to be stereotypes that you have to fight." - Jeremy Lin

People undersell professional basketball player Jeremy Lins athleticism because of his race. Coincidentally, people undersell Tyrell's athleticism because he has the voice of an angel, the striking looks of a Gap Young Adults model and the comedic timing of someone who is funny because of their comedic timing. Make no mistake, Tyrell is athletic. He sprints like a graceful gazelle being chased by a ravenous mountain lion, jumps like a kangaroo out for his daily pounce-about, and throws objects of much mass and weight distances only steroid abusing meatheads achieve. And he does all this with the beard of a wise old man. The Olympics called and said "show us why Tyrell should be invited to London". Good luck turning this down, Olympics.

Northwest: Mount Vernon

Tulip Town

May 4 . 2012

It was a gray, drizzly day. Half the daffodils in this particular field were dead. My pants got dirty from the muddy fields. The ideal Tulip Town visit this was not. But I had neglected these flowery fields for almost 20 years, I didn't expect much hospitality.