50th Anniversary Trip - Visiting Ed and Cathy

 Ed and Cathy had recently moved to Kingston, Washington which is just a ferry ride away from downtown Seattle.  We were blessed with some beautiful spring weather and spent a day together in downtown Seattle and a day around Port Angeles which included exploring the tide pools at low tide. 

Ed and Cathy's patio is a nature lovers heaven... the forest, the birds and every kind of wild berry imaginable just steps away.

The best way to start any day, is to stop by and get some pastries and bagels at their daughter Wendi's bakery in Poulsbo. 

 Wendi and friend Sara are owners and operators of Big Leaf Maple Bakery. 

Low tide at Salt Creek Recreation Area - Sea urchins were plentiful

Type of starfish called a Blood Star

Painted Anemone

 

The claws on this large Dungeness Crab are eating size.

Red Sea Urchin

Colorful Six-Armed starfish - What a beauty!

Pacific Painted Starfish - We found four species out of the 1500 species of starfish on the earth

This very strange looking creature is a gumboot Chiton

The starfish are fascinating creatures - this is another Blood Star

Giant Green Anemone and Purple  Urchins

 

Ochre Starfish is much larger than any of other starfish that we found.

Gumboot Chiton awas about 8 inches long and 3-4 inches wide.

 

Back to Poulsbo and we stopped at the Slippery Pig for baked potatoes and something to wash it down with.

On our way to downtown Seattle on the ferry

So convenient - we walked onto the ferry and thirty minutes later we were walking in downtown Seattle. First stop is the Seattle Aquarium.

 

The aquarium was very nicely done... no creatures are taken from the wild but rather obtained from other aquariums or in some cases the specimens were obtained from game wardens who confiscated them form unscrupulous collectors. 

I'm glad we got to see an octopus today because we just missed seeing one at the tidal flats at Salt Creek Recreation Area the previous day.

A school of clown fish 

The winner of the ugliest fish prize - Leaf Fish

Face Masks mandatory on monorail

Next stop - Chihuly"s Garden and Glass 

Wow! Amazing glass sculpture at Chihuly's.  

Chihuly's had a five star rating among our friends that had been to Seattle and we concur.

50 years later - the wedding kiss that wasn't!

Ed and Cathy are in a magical place and they get to live it ever day.

Personal Favorite outside sculpture

 

Next stop - Pike Street Market - Been there, done that, too crowded to walk through the whole thing.

Next stop - The Crab Pot - the best meal ever. It was like we were sampling all the sea has to offer - shrimp, king crab, snow crab, dungeness crab, mussels, and  clams. We had so much to eat that we actually had to leave some shrimp on the table.

 

The view of Mount Rainer on the return ferry ride

 

 

 Ed loves sailing like I love beekeeping.  There was some casual talk about sailing down to Catalina island someday.