We've worked the Troutdale day camps for eight years now, and we've managed to escape rain on our annual "Summerfest" parade day for seven of them. I do remember two parade mornings that drizzled just a bit, but ultimately the rain held off in both cases. Admittedly, we usually only have to worry about Saturday rain during parade week because we're always horribly far behind on constructing the floats that carry our campers. We spent early mornings and late evenings all week working on various parts of the floats, and on the night before the parade, we would work until dark trying to put everything together.
This year, for various reasons (not all of them discernible), we managed not to spend any extra time working on the floats. We planned carefully and worked a little bit every day, and by Friday, we were ready to build both floats. Our campers helped us staple and glue everything on, and before lunchtime, the rickety old trailers from the Parks Department had been transformed into a cars-and-trucks exhibition and a planes-and-boats display, both bright and colorful and cheery.
We'd been watching the weather forecast carefully all week, and no one could really be sure if we'd end up with rain or shine. Monday's forecast was rain on Friday, sun on Saturday. Tuesday's forecast was rain on Thursday and Sunday, sun on Saturday. By Wednesday, the rain was expected to hit on Saturday. (Try to keep up... here's where it gets confusing.) On Friday, we were supposed to have rain. Instead, it was beautiful and sunny with a cloudless blue sky. This made us question the rain predicted for Saturday. Would it really rain? Would it be sunny like Friday? Would the rain hold off until the afternoon, at least?
It was too risky... So we sent one of our staff to Home Depot to buy painters' plastic drop cloths. Then we draped them over the sides of the floats, covering the pictures. The campers had painted them on cardboard and paper using tempera paint, which is, as the name suggests, temporary (water-soluble). I confess that when I went home Friday night, I never expected it to rain at all... but if it did, the floats would be drippy, soggy messes, and the floats were going to be stored outside all night, so we had to take precautions.
On Saturday morning, when I got up at 6:30 a.m., it was POURING down rain. I figured we would be able to remove the plastic when the rain stopped, but it never actually did stop raining. So we kept the plastic on. Our kids rode down Main Street on plastic-wrapped floats. You could see the pictures nicely through the plastic, and the paint didn't run, so it was obviously a good choice on our part. Several of the by-standers seemed to think it was funny, so I would consider it another successful parade.
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Thursday, July 7, 2011
A REAL VACATION! Part 6: Fun Stuff
Only one more post about our vacation, and then I'll return to normal life. I promise. We have this weird knack for finding the strange, especially while on vacation. (For more strange finds, refer to my previous vacation posts.)
This is a picture of Canada. (I took the picture because I like Canada.)
The estate where our cottage was located has a small guardhouse at the end of driveway. Inside the guardhouse is this weird, giant nutcracker statue.
On our last day, as we were leaving the island, we passed this guy. He had decorated his car for the 4th of July parade later that day.
In the forest on the estate where we stayed, we ran into ferns the size of Buicks. I made Mr. Chandler stand next to one of them so that you could see how large it was.
This is the ferry that was docked at the terminal as our ferry approached Anacortes. Notice the puffs of smoke coming out of the ferry? Yeah, that's because OUR boat was supposed to be docking there at that time and the ferry in the picture had to hustle out of the way for us!
On the ferry ride, this huge yacht, owned by someone richer than me (obviously), sailed in front of our ferry. This doesn't seem particularly safe to me, but then, yacht owners probably have their own set of rules. (Maritime Rule #24: The captain with the highest gross personal income has the right of way.)
Several years ago, when we vacationed on Orcas Island, we spotted this field of port-a-potties from the highway as we were traveling home. Sadly, we did not get a picture at that time (partly because we didn't own a camera -- but only partly). This time, we got the picture! In fact, we were engaged in an intense conversation about something serious when we spotted them, and I derailed the discussion completely by shouting, "Port-a-potties! Port-a-potties!!!" (Horribly geeky, I know... but how often do you see something like this?)
This is a barn we passed several times on our way to and from the island, and it is notable because it sparked a discussion about barn fractions. In fact, after taking this picture of the half-barn, we saw three quarters of a barn down the road. (No picture, though.)
Finally, this last one is quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Midway between the northern harbor and the ferry terminal to the south, the road that connects the two ends of Anacortes travels past a shipyard full of old boats and partial boats. The boundaries of the shipyard were marked out with logs and docks and one very large old cargo ship. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the cargo ship was being used as a gigantic planter with trees and shrubs growing out of it. It's seriously the most amazing planter I've ever seen. I'm afraid it's too big for my yard...
This is a picture of Canada. (I took the picture because I like Canada.)
The estate where our cottage was located has a small guardhouse at the end of driveway. Inside the guardhouse is this weird, giant nutcracker statue.
On our last day, as we were leaving the island, we passed this guy. He had decorated his car for the 4th of July parade later that day.
In the forest on the estate where we stayed, we ran into ferns the size of Buicks. I made Mr. Chandler stand next to one of them so that you could see how large it was.
This is the ferry that was docked at the terminal as our ferry approached Anacortes. Notice the puffs of smoke coming out of the ferry? Yeah, that's because OUR boat was supposed to be docking there at that time and the ferry in the picture had to hustle out of the way for us!
On the ferry ride, this huge yacht, owned by someone richer than me (obviously), sailed in front of our ferry. This doesn't seem particularly safe to me, but then, yacht owners probably have their own set of rules. (Maritime Rule #24: The captain with the highest gross personal income has the right of way.)
Several years ago, when we vacationed on Orcas Island, we spotted this field of port-a-potties from the highway as we were traveling home. Sadly, we did not get a picture at that time (partly because we didn't own a camera -- but only partly). This time, we got the picture! In fact, we were engaged in an intense conversation about something serious when we spotted them, and I derailed the discussion completely by shouting, "Port-a-potties! Port-a-potties!!!" (Horribly geeky, I know... but how often do you see something like this?)
This is a barn we passed several times on our way to and from the island, and it is notable because it sparked a discussion about barn fractions. In fact, after taking this picture of the half-barn, we saw three quarters of a barn down the road. (No picture, though.)
Finally, this last one is quite possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen in my life. Midway between the northern harbor and the ferry terminal to the south, the road that connects the two ends of Anacortes travels past a shipyard full of old boats and partial boats. The boundaries of the shipyard were marked out with logs and docks and one very large old cargo ship. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the cargo ship was being used as a gigantic planter with trees and shrubs growing out of it. It's seriously the most amazing planter I've ever seen. I'm afraid it's too big for my yard...
Monday, July 4, 2011
A REAL VACATION! Part 5: International Drug Lords
Situated as it was on the northern coastline of Samish Island, our cottage and its grounds looked out over Samish Bay, a quiet part of Puget Sound where very little happens. We discovered on our first night there that a large cargo ship of some kind was anchored out in the bay. It seemed odd to us at that point, but it was to become stranger still as the weekend went on. Why would a huge boat like that be sitting around in a little bay that doesn't go anywhere, doesn't connect to any port or industrial area of the Sound?
You should know that this story is far more interesting if you imagine the craziest explanation possible. (Most things in life are like that.) We chose to believe that the large cargo ship was waiting for some sort of huge drug deal.
Here is the boat on our first day. Notice how suspicious it looks? (Try harder to see the suspicious nature of the boat. Seriously, try harder.)
When we returned to our cottage on the second day, a sailboat had anchored very close to the bank by our cottage. The cargo ship was still there. It seems obvious that the suspicious lingering of the ship had attracted the attention of others besides us. The sailboat had to belong to undercover DEA agents staking out the ship.
Why else would a sailboat stay all night watching the ship?
On the third day, the ship had rotated enough for us to get an excellent picture with further details.
On the fourth day, the ship had rotated again.
By that evening, the sailboat had been joined by a fishing boat and a small speedboat.
Then something happened! A small speedboat came out to visit the other small boats. Then the speedboat went out to the ship, sped around it, and motored back around the corner of the island and out of sight.
Later I did see pictures in a coffee table book showing several of the same cargo ships waiting in various neighboring coves and bays. As it turns out, they wait for up to a week for the nearby oil refinery to be reading for loading or unloading their products. Although I do think that our story about the DEA staking out the drug ship is far more exciting.
You should know that this story is far more interesting if you imagine the craziest explanation possible. (Most things in life are like that.) We chose to believe that the large cargo ship was waiting for some sort of huge drug deal.
Here is the boat on our first day. Notice how suspicious it looks? (Try harder to see the suspicious nature of the boat. Seriously, try harder.)
When we returned to our cottage on the second day, a sailboat had anchored very close to the bank by our cottage. The cargo ship was still there. It seems obvious that the suspicious lingering of the ship had attracted the attention of others besides us. The sailboat had to belong to undercover DEA agents staking out the ship.
Why else would a sailboat stay all night watching the ship?
On the third day, the ship had rotated enough for us to get an excellent picture with further details.
On the fourth day, the ship had rotated again.
By that evening, the sailboat had been joined by a fishing boat and a small speedboat.
Then something happened! A small speedboat came out to visit the other small boats. Then the speedboat went out to the ship, sped around it, and motored back around the corner of the island and out of sight.
Later I did see pictures in a coffee table book showing several of the same cargo ships waiting in various neighboring coves and bays. As it turns out, they wait for up to a week for the nearby oil refinery to be reading for loading or unloading their products. Although I do think that our story about the DEA staking out the drug ship is far more exciting.
A REAL VACATION! Part 4: His and Hers
Again, let me just say that I am not a serious photographer. (Refer to my previous post "A Real Vacation Part 2" for more examples.) Here are more "his and hers" examples of the photographic styles of Mr. Chandler and myself.
We went to San Juan Island and attempted to get out of the town of Friday Harbor immediately because it was packed with tourists (blech). As we drove the perimeter of the island, we stopped in a couple notable places. One of them was a state park known for its orca-spotting opportunities. We didn't see any whales, but we did see seals.
Here are his pictures of the seals sunning themselves on a rock.
Here's my picture of a log that a bunch of people freaked out about because they thought it was a sea lion (and yes, I took the picture because I knew it was just a log).
We also stopped at the American Camp, which is another beautiful state park with a windswept coastal view.
Here are some of his panoramic pictures of the beach.
And what did I take a picture of? Strangers, of course! These are some bicycle guys that wanted their picture taken in front of the beach. (I took a picture of them on their camera AND on mine.)
On another day during our vacation, we drove the length of Whidbey Island and then crossed the bridge between Whidbey and Anacortes. The bridge is at a point called Deception Pass, and once again our pictures are very telling.
Here's his picture of the pass with the shadow of the bridge. (He really wanted me to point out that shadow.)
Here's my picture of the weird color of the water.
Here's his picture of the lovely vista from the bridge.
Here's my picture of the narrow little sidewalk that we had to walk on to get out to the middle of the bridge to take his picture (including almost getting smashed by a semi-truck, although I didn't manage to get a picture of THAT as I was trying to stay alive).
Between us, we seem to have covered both the scenic and the comic quite nicely.
We went to San Juan Island and attempted to get out of the town of Friday Harbor immediately because it was packed with tourists (blech). As we drove the perimeter of the island, we stopped in a couple notable places. One of them was a state park known for its orca-spotting opportunities. We didn't see any whales, but we did see seals.
Here are his pictures of the seals sunning themselves on a rock.
Here's my picture of a log that a bunch of people freaked out about because they thought it was a sea lion (and yes, I took the picture because I knew it was just a log).
We also stopped at the American Camp, which is another beautiful state park with a windswept coastal view.
Here are some of his panoramic pictures of the beach.
And what did I take a picture of? Strangers, of course! These are some bicycle guys that wanted their picture taken in front of the beach. (I took a picture of them on their camera AND on mine.)
On another day during our vacation, we drove the length of Whidbey Island and then crossed the bridge between Whidbey and Anacortes. The bridge is at a point called Deception Pass, and once again our pictures are very telling.
Here's his picture of the pass with the shadow of the bridge. (He really wanted me to point out that shadow.)
Here's my picture of the weird color of the water.
Here's his picture of the lovely vista from the bridge.
Here's my picture of the narrow little sidewalk that we had to walk on to get out to the middle of the bridge to take his picture (including almost getting smashed by a semi-truck, although I didn't manage to get a picture of THAT as I was trying to stay alive).
Between us, we seem to have covered both the scenic and the comic quite nicely.
A REAL VACATION! Part 3: Vacation Menagerie
Here is the attendance roster for all of the creatures we saw while on vacation in the San Juan Islands last weekend:
- one coyote
- a bald eagle couple (male and female -- we think they were nesting in one of the towering fir trees above our bench)
- several hawks (mostly red-tailed)
- nesting cormorants who don't seem bothered at all by the noise at the ferry terminal (Yes, I had to look them up to find out what they were called. I'm not an ornithologist.)
Here's one gathering materials for a nest.
Here are several in their nests next to the ferry dock.
- a great blue heron in the wetlands (what a wingspan!)
- lots of fearless robins who appeared to be stalking us at dusk (creepy stalker robins)
Here's a ninja robin inching closer to us under cover of darkness.
- lots of cows
- some really shaggy steer in a forest
- lots of horses
- three donkeys
- two different alpaca farms
- two llamas
- a rabbit
- five and a half deer, including a fawn (the half)
- one frog who spent the better part of a day relaxing on our front porch
Here he is being neighborly.
- one camel at a farm on the road to Friday Harbor
(No joke -- we would have taken a picture, but there were several children who had stopped to visit the camel, and, frankly, one of the reasons I needed a vacation was that I spend my entire year surrounded by them -- children, not camels.)
I'll leave you with this thought: San Juan Island is accessible only by boat, ferry or plane. Now try to picture a camel traveling on the ferry...
- one coyote
- a bald eagle couple (male and female -- we think they were nesting in one of the towering fir trees above our bench)
- several hawks (mostly red-tailed)
- nesting cormorants who don't seem bothered at all by the noise at the ferry terminal (Yes, I had to look them up to find out what they were called. I'm not an ornithologist.)
Here's one gathering materials for a nest.
Here are several in their nests next to the ferry dock.
- a great blue heron in the wetlands (what a wingspan!)
- lots of fearless robins who appeared to be stalking us at dusk (creepy stalker robins)
Here's a ninja robin inching closer to us under cover of darkness.
- lots of cows
- some really shaggy steer in a forest
- lots of horses
- three donkeys
- two different alpaca farms
- two llamas
- a rabbit
- five and a half deer, including a fawn (the half)
- one frog who spent the better part of a day relaxing on our front porch
Here he is being neighborly.
- one camel at a farm on the road to Friday Harbor
(No joke -- we would have taken a picture, but there were several children who had stopped to visit the camel, and, frankly, one of the reasons I needed a vacation was that I spend my entire year surrounded by them -- children, not camels.)
I'll leave you with this thought: San Juan Island is accessible only by boat, ferry or plane. Now try to picture a camel traveling on the ferry...
Saturday, July 2, 2011
A REAL VACATION! Part 2: Pictures with Personality
In my last post, I blogged about the lovely vacation cottage I'm staying in for a few days, and I posted pictures -- a rare occurrence for me. They were even taken with an actual camera! That's right, blog peeps: For the first time since middle school, I actually own a camera. Well, Mr. Chandler and I own it. And, as he is from a camera-psycho (photographically psychotic?) family, he tends to hog it. In fact, he took all the pictures I posted last time. You can tell because they're pretty and normal. He took this charming picture of the Mukilteo lighthouse from the outside deck of the ferry after we left the dock. (I am in love with this picture.)
He also took this very serious "artistic" picture of a flower. (He's a seriously serious photographer, people. Please take him seriously.) Just kidding. This one is really pretty as well.
And this lovely and carefully composed photo of the bench at the end of the garden, from which you can see out into Samish Bay, is also Mr. Chandler's.
Mostly I try to convince Mr. Chandler to take pictures of random things since he's usually the one holding the camera. You probably noticed that he likes to mix in pretty, nature-and-scenery stuff too, but I'm slowly turning him to the dark side. I'm definitely not your average go-on-vacation-and-post-a-bunch-of-pretty-pictures blogger. My pictures (and his pictures taken under my influence) tend to be of incredibly random things -- like this sign, which made me laugh as we were waiting in line for the Mukilteo ferry. It reminds me of 5-year-old day campers.
Mr. Chandler took this one for me. I have no idea what sort of a store it is. (Okay, I know it's probably either an antique store or a second-hand store of some kind. But isn't the speculation part of the fun? What if it really is a store full of stuff that the owners pulled out of dumpsters? Or maybe they're selling top-of-the-line odor-reducing dumpsters. I'm not sure how you would get them out the front door, but it's an interesting thought.)
The Lucky Dumpster is in Edison, Washington, which consists of a school, a couple of cafes, two bakeries, a couple of antique stores, the dumpster store, and this really special liquor store, which appears to be in someone's garage.
I DID manage to take a scenic picture of Mount Baker from the country road leading to Samish Island. It is my greatest photographic achievement to date.
(No, seriously. I actually took that picture. This one was all me.)
He also took this very serious "artistic" picture of a flower. (He's a seriously serious photographer, people. Please take him seriously.) Just kidding. This one is really pretty as well.
And this lovely and carefully composed photo of the bench at the end of the garden, from which you can see out into Samish Bay, is also Mr. Chandler's.
Mostly I try to convince Mr. Chandler to take pictures of random things since he's usually the one holding the camera. You probably noticed that he likes to mix in pretty, nature-and-scenery stuff too, but I'm slowly turning him to the dark side. I'm definitely not your average go-on-vacation-and-post-a-bunch-of-pretty-pictures blogger. My pictures (and his pictures taken under my influence) tend to be of incredibly random things -- like this sign, which made me laugh as we were waiting in line for the Mukilteo ferry. It reminds me of 5-year-old day campers.
Mr. Chandler took this one for me. I have no idea what sort of a store it is. (Okay, I know it's probably either an antique store or a second-hand store of some kind. But isn't the speculation part of the fun? What if it really is a store full of stuff that the owners pulled out of dumpsters? Or maybe they're selling top-of-the-line odor-reducing dumpsters. I'm not sure how you would get them out the front door, but it's an interesting thought.)
The Lucky Dumpster is in Edison, Washington, which consists of a school, a couple of cafes, two bakeries, a couple of antique stores, the dumpster store, and this really special liquor store, which appears to be in someone's garage.
I DID manage to take a scenic picture of Mount Baker from the country road leading to Samish Island. It is my greatest photographic achievement to date.
(No, seriously. I actually took that picture. This one was all me.)
A REAL VACATION! Part 1
It's pretty unusual for me to get an actual vacation. I know teachers seem to have the coolest schedules ever -- random holidays off, 2 weeks for winter break, 1 week for spring break, 2 months for summer break... But it's quite rare for me to really get to go anywhere or have time when my schedule is clear. School might be over, but the business of the district goes on (and on and on and on). And Mr. Chandler and I foolishly sign our summers away to run day camps for children, which keeps us Portland-locked the entire time. As school was getting out this year, I kept telling people, "Feel free to call me. I'm the only one who's not going anywhere. I have no life. I'm here all summer..." (*depressed sigh*)
HA HA! I was wrong! We had a rare and glorious 4-day weekend because of the timing of July 4th this year, so we rented ourselves a little cottage on Samish Island in the San Juans of Washington. It's cheap, gorgeous, deserted, and within 30 minutes of several small and medium towns with all the necessary amenities (like espresso). Our cottage is on a 7-acre estate owned by some people with a LOT of gardening time on their hands. They have created a beautiful English estate-style garden/yard/expanse of pretty green right on the edge of the island. We can see the water from our cottage window, and if we walk to the edge of the garden, we can look out Samish Bay.
Here are the peaceful grounds and water view.
This is our little cottage.
This is the main house and part of the gardens.
HA HA! I was wrong! We had a rare and glorious 4-day weekend because of the timing of July 4th this year, so we rented ourselves a little cottage on Samish Island in the San Juans of Washington. It's cheap, gorgeous, deserted, and within 30 minutes of several small and medium towns with all the necessary amenities (like espresso). Our cottage is on a 7-acre estate owned by some people with a LOT of gardening time on their hands. They have created a beautiful English estate-style garden/yard/expanse of pretty green right on the edge of the island. We can see the water from our cottage window, and if we walk to the edge of the garden, we can look out Samish Bay.
Here are the peaceful grounds and water view.
This is our little cottage.
This is the main house and part of the gardens.
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