Scrapbook Event at Kachess Ridge Lodge

My friend Shellie and I took Joey and headed up Snoqualmie Pass for a weekend scrapbook retreat this last weekend. The retreat was held at Kachess Ridge Lodge. Before arriving at the retreat we stopped for lunch at Mountain High Hamburgers. This cute little restaurant is located off I-90 at Exit 70.















This is the view of the driveway up to the lodge after turning off Kachess Lake Road.
















Most of the lower level of the lodge is covered with snow.














This is the view off the deck.















Joey is carefully watching Shellie apply glue to a piece of paper. Look at the snow outside the window in the background.














Joey is looking out a second floor window since all of the first floor windows are covered with snow.














Joey jumped up on the chandelier to get a better look at the tables.















A view of the scrapbook tables. Nine of us went to the retreat which started on Friday afternoon and ended today, Sunday, March 18.














Joey holding a greeting card made by one of the girls.


















I borrowed this picture from the lodge's blog. The address is http://kachessridgelodge.blogspot.com. I would like to see it in the summertime.














We all had a great time at the retreat and everyone got a look of work completed.

Leap Day Snow

Snow was in the forecast although we received quite a bit more than expected. It is so beautiful that I just had to try and capture it.














After all we can't have Leap Day snow for at least another four years!

Keeping busy in Yakima

Joey is still having a good time in Yakima. This last week he went to a meeting at The Springs and met more of Aunt Janet's friends. Dale, Chanin and Sharen are standing; Shellie and Julie are sitting. Joey is reading the quote of the day.

In the middle of the week he went to the movies to see The Woman in Black and got a little scared. The popcorn made him feel a little better though.

Today, Aunt Janet made Valentine's Day cookies for Susan to take to work tomorrow and Joey helped. As you can see by the photos, he is a good little baker.

YUM!

Joey's Pics

Here are a few pictures of Joey from his first week in Yakima.















Trying on a necklace at Parry Jewelers.















Studying Spanish with my friends.















Having my first snowball fight.


















At Centennial Park in Yakima



Reading at the bookstore.

Uluru - Ayers Rock

Ayers Rock is most commonly known by its Aboriginal name Uluru. Uluru is one of the great wonders of the world, the world's largest monolith and is a very recognizable icon for Australia. The rock is one of the reasons I wanted to go to Australia. Since all of the pictures I have ever seen of the rock are views from one side, I was shocked to learn the extent of its actual size. I scanned in this drawing from one of the brochures we got so you can get an idea. It rises 377 yards above the ground and has a circumference of 5.5 miles.












Uluru is located in the Northern Territory southwest of Alice Springs. We stayed in Yulara, which is very close to the rock. During our walk around the rock, we look into the Mutitjulu cave where drawings are still visible on the rocks.














You can click on the images for a larger view and then close the image window to return to the blog. The upside down U refers to a person sitting and the circles within a circle represent waterholes.













From a distance the rock looks very smooth, but it has an interesting and varied surface. To me it resembled bark on a tree.














Viewing the rock at sunset is a very popular activity as the rock appears to change colors.








































































The Uluru-Kata Tjuta Nation Park is of significant cultural and religious significance to the Anangu, the Aboriginal tribal members of the area. We visited the park's cultural center where we watched a tribal member make tools out of natural materials found in the park. What an amazing experience!

Auckland, New Zealand

The ship got into port in Auckland too late for Susan and I to catch a flight home that day, so we booked a tour in the afternoon that took us to the rain forest and one of the black sand beaches.
One of the first stops on the tour was to see this waterfall. Susan walked to the base of the falls to take this picture.



















Next we went to the Arataki Visitor Center where we saw these stunning views.










































These are the leaves of the Kauri tree. The Kauri is one of the largest trees in New Zealand. It grows between Te Puke and Kawhia. The bark is shed in large flakes to discourage vines and perching plants from clinging on. Both male and female cones are produced on the same tree and following pollination a small winged seed is produced.














Our next stop was to Piha Beach, well known for surfing championships, in fact one was being held while we were there. The sand is black due to the iron concentration, which also makes the sand get very hot, very quickly when the sun shines.














Our guide had a magnet that we could put down in the sand to see the iron concentration.















This rock formation on the beach is called Lion Rock. The surf was high the day we were there and we watched some people taking surfing lessons. To us, they did not look like they were making much progress.














Next we went for a short walk into the rain forest from a national park. The trail we walked on was part of the Hillary Trail. This trunk shows the size of some of the trees that grow in this region. We were told that the largest tree still living is twice the size of this one.














Susan is inside the same trunk taking a picture of me taking a picture of her.


















We really enjoyed Auckland and would have liked to spend more time there. The area around the city is just absolutely beautiful.

Great Barrier Reef

We are home now and getting adjusted to the routine again.  There were plenty of computers on board the Diamond Princess, but Internet access was very slow and sometimes did not work at all or would just stop working in the middle of a project.  As a result, I could not post from every port of call. This happened at the Great Barrier Reef and since this was one of my favorite places I wanted to share a few of the images.  

This is a view from our hotel room at the Sebel in Cairns. Cairns is a popular city for boarding boats that take you to the Great Barrier Reef.  It takes about 1.5 hours to reach the reef from the harbor.

Once we arrived at the reef, we moved onto the platform seen in this picture. All of the equipment for snorkeling, diving, etc. was on the platform as was the buffet lunch.

I had so much fun snorkeling that I could have stayed here for another day. I am with Wally, a Maori Wrasse. The large lump on their head grows with age, the larger the hump, the older the fish. They prefer off-shore reef systems with steep slopes and drop offs, which describes this portion of the reef perfectly. This water was too deep to stand so if you wanted to rest you had to go back to the platform.

This is a parrot fish, one of the most colorful fish in the reef.

It was a surprise when an entire school of fish would just swim into view.

This was such an incredible experience that it is hard to describe.  I would love to do it again. 

We are pretty pleased with the pictures we got from our inexpensive, disposable underwater cameras.  They were much smaller than some of the equipment other people were using.  I would not have wanted to take something very expensive out there, because if you drop it, it is gone!

January 22 Tauranga, New Zealand

Today the ship was docked just outside town.  We went on a shore excursion to a Maori Village.  The tribe held a traditional welcoming ceremony where our "chief" had to prove we came in peace.  Then we toured the village and got to ask questions about their way of life. The second picture is of a food storage hut. Notice the carvings in the wood.   They showed us tools they use and how their ancestors lived.  We sampled food cooked in an under ground pit and watched a traditional dancing and signing ceremony.

We took a picture of these very interesting pine trees because we have never seen them before.  Notice the space between the branches and the length of the needles.

Tomorrow we get off the ship in Auckland and the next day we start our journey home.