"UEA" in Canada

So, this past weekend was UEA here in Utah. UEA stands for "Utah Education Association", or if you are from Utah, it really stands for "Utah Evacuates for Anaheim". However, last year we went to Anaheim with everyone else, so this year we decided to be different.

Road Trip!!

We left Wednesday at 7pm with Annie driving--gotta get in those driving hours in!! We drove to Stephanie & Alan's in Hermiston. Annie only lasted a few hours--she is not one for staying up late. In the morning, after breakfast and a haircut (thanks, Stephanie!), we were on our way. We drove through Rainier National Park, stopping at the viewpoints along the way. It was BEAUTIFUL! We learned something new--there are deciduous conifers, and they turn YELLOW in the fall. What a contrast with the regular evergreens! From Ranier we drove through the Seattle area to a town north (Burlington), where we stayed the next couple of nights.

On Friday, we drove up to Canada, to Vancouver. We spent the day in Vancouver, visiting Chinatown, and Stanley Park. The fall colors were breathtaking, and we even loved the rain which fell all day.

Saturday we went on a whalewatching cruise, from Anacortes out into the Puget Sound, near Victoria, BC, and then back again. We saw a lot of wild life, a bald eagle, birds, porpoises, and yes, whales. The whales we saw were Minke whales, pretty exciting. And, the water was smooth, much better than our rolling and pitching-no whale-boat ride we had this summer off of the coast of Ecuador. The day was perfect, sunny, warm, with beautiful scenery, and the best of all, whales.

After leaving Anacortes, we drove to the south end of Whidby Island where we caught the ferry and ended up in Port Townsend for the night. In the morning we drove to Olympia, by the Olympic National Forest on the east, and again, the leaves and fall foliage against the pines were absolutely breathtaking. Annie got more driving time in as well. In Olympia, I called cousin-Dr. Matt Wellock's answering service, and ended up getting to visit with he, Jill, and the kids in the church parking lot. It has been seven years, and we hadn't even met the twins who are almost 5, so that was fun. From Olympia, we drove down the Columbia River Gorge to Stephanies.

We stayed at Stephanie's for a couple of hours, got to have dinner, and visit with everyone there, including Steve, Cindy, and Chad Vickery, Duane & Emily Vickery, Gary, Mandy, and Dennis & Tara and family. We pushed on after, and drove all night so the kids could get back to do their homework on Monday. Back to school on Tuesday, for all of us.