Bay Watch

Being a Professional Innsitter can be a really tough job. You have to cook breakfast, go shopping, do the laundry, clean the rooms, do the ironing and then check the guests in. But at the end of the day, we get to sit down with a glass of wine and  look where we get to sit now. This is actually the private deck off our bedroom for the next few weeks [I know you wish you were me, right?].

Our "home" hangs right out over this beautiful bay. What a great place to Bay Watch. From our deck we can watch for lots of wildlife and lots of boaters, including kayaks and stand up paddle boards. It's always a good show.





We took our inflatable kayak out on the bay and got to watch some wildlife and some other kayaks. We took this photo looking up at "our" deck - the very top one - pretty great, huh?

Of all the wildlife we get to watch in the bay, this guy is the most impressive. We've named him "Butch" he's the house eagle and he comes to perch on a tree right outside our window while we cook breakfast every morning. I swear he's taking notes on how to make a great omelet! Actually I think he is watching the bay for his breakfast. Which is not an omelet......

Although eagles may be the most impressive, we can also see bears, seals, sea lions and whales....










I could not get a good shot so you have to believe me when I say that there was a whale under this spout. We got to watch him for quite a while, he really put on a show, WOW!

What a great bay to watch! What is your favorite bay?

                                                                               

Mountain Man

Kirk is really a Mountain Man ! He likes being an innkeeper but when he's not doing that, he loves to be a mountaineer and so does our daughter Martine. Here they are on their way up to the summit of Mt Sahale. At 8,700 feet it is one of the tallest peaks in the North Cascade mountain range.

On the long hike up they got to see amazing mountain vistas, lots of lovely wildflowers and these two adorable baby marmots. Both of them said it was one of the most beautiful hikes they have ever done.

Of course climbing a mountain like this takes hours [12 to be exact] of hiking some of which is done over glaciers. So that's one reason why I did not go on this expedition. Another reason I did not go is that climbing can be very dangerous, duh! Fortunately Kirk has been a mountaineer for years and knows how to be safe.

               And finally, the actual summit of Mt Sahale - I guess it was well worth all the effort!

Now, this is a photo of another climb Kirk did this year - Mt Princeton in the Collegiate Range of the Rocky Mountains. He did this climb with another mountaineer friend of his, Dave Clark.






Not quite a 12 hour hike but at 14,200 feet it is a much higher mountain. Pretty amazing huh?
                          He's my Mountain Man.