Flying KItes

Jon had a few days off this week.....on Friday, we took a road-trip.

We drove to Edmonds and got in the Ferry line....Kyle loves to ride the ferry, and since it was lunch time, Jon got us hot dogs and chips from a street vendor.

Driving on the ferry....

Kyle standing next to the car as we cross the Sound.

This is the view -- if you looked down -- from where Kyle was standing....

The ferry had an armed escort today.  Routinely, the Coast Guard escorts the ferrys back and forth across the Sound.

Kyle -- getting ready to exit the ferry.

Jon -- studying the things to do on the Peninsula....the other thing Kyle loves to do, when we ride the ferry, is to go upstairs and collect pamphlets....we have hundreds....that I end up recycling.

Exiting the ferry -- and looking back at the ferry as we head up the highway.

We decided to head to Forks, WA to our favorite beach -- RiAlto beach, which is actually near LaPush, WA, where we flew Kyle's kite!  He's had his kite for months, but we've never had it in the air.  Since it's always windy at the beach -- we brought it with us -- and it was actually the purpose of the trip.

Driving through Port Gamble -- which is a beautiful, historic, little town.

Crossing the Hood Canal bridge -- all told, waiting in the ferry line, crossing the Sound and getting to Forks -- took us 4 hours.  We ate dinner in Forks at a little restaurant that had these signs (I should have taken a picture, but didn't)

Forks Population -- 3,786

Vampires -- 8.5

La Push Population -- 317

Werewolves -- 17

Then we went to the beach to fly our kite!

Opening the kite -- Kyle's holding the string.

I'm unclear who had more fun -- but I suspect that Jon had the most fun flying the kite!

The wind was blowing quite hard, and the waves were gorgeous.  It was not quite sundown (we didn't leave home until Noon -- what were we thinking?).....and it was just gorgeous!

Before the tail was unfurled.....the kite would take flight and then dive -- Kyle didn't think that was cool at all and would cover his head, bob-n-weave, to get out of the way.

I think this is the closest Kyle got to the water all day!  Since the incident a couple of years ago, when he was caught unaware and drenched by a wave....he's super cautious.

Kyle having a turn holding the kite string -- he didn't itally like it, because the wind was so strong....but he tried.

The small light orb -- is the SUN!

Wanted a few shots without the sun as a backlight -- so changed my position and angle....I had a lot of fun experimenting.....and watching these two interact doing something fun!  Jon is in his element at the beach!

Love this photo....

Kyle found a perch on the driftwood log where I was sitting....Jon was flying the kite.

Jon reeled the kite down lower and Kyle took a turn flying it again....but it didn't last too long -- I reeled it in and put it away, while the guys went to throw rocks!

Why is it soooo rare  to get a decent shot of me?  Here I am, with every hair standing on end in the grip of the wind! 

Jon -- napping on the driftwood.

Interesting

A few shots that I found interesting

Kelp...

Loved the gulls over the water....

A feather on the rocks -- love this beach -- it's mostly all rocks -- with huge driftwood logs...

This piece of driftwood was thrown into the midst of some other driftwood and jutted straight out over the beach.

Above:  The inside of a piece of driftwood...

Below:  The outside of the same driftwood log...

Two favorite shots of the day!

Back in the late 1970's or early 80's there was a TV show who's theme song said,

"The bluest skies you'll ever see are in Seattle....

This shot seems to echo those words......I have a theory about that -- because obviously Seattle doesn't have a corner on the market for blue skies......but I think the skies are the bluest -- because seeing the cloudless, blue sky is a much more rare scenario than in other places -- so we claim the right to believe that the "bluest skies you'll ever see are in Seattle"!

Just loved the play of the light from the sun.....

The end or our day....

Since it took us four hours to get to the beach, we figured we should leave at least that to get back -- the last ferry run was scheduled for 12:10 a.m. -- we left the beach at 8 p.m. -- and thought we'd be cutting it close.

Perhaps it was the lack of traffic -- we were able to get back and get on the 10:30 p.m. sailing.

The two shots of our return trip! 

We had a great day! Come visit and we'll go fly kites!