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Tasty sunset as seen from the beach at Semiahmoo, WA.
Kathleen has been working at a place called Tectura; they provide consulting services to Boeing, among others. Tectura had a very good 2006 and as an expression of gratitude for a job well done, the employees were treated to a weekend visit to a very nice resort right next to the Canadian border. The resort is top-drawer, but it has an add indian name: Semiahmoo which is pronounced Sem-mee-AH-moo. The resort is on a spit of land across the bay from Canada.
The photos below are what we saw.
This was a very nice place with deluxe accommodations.
The facility included a spa, tennis, gold, beach access in addition to the "normal" amenities.
The sunset on the first night was excellent, particularly since Seattle has been overcast.
Next morning, there was a sailboat regatta in progress.
More than just human spectators were watching the sailboats. I think this is a cormorant.
Going to join his buddies in the regatta. The buildings on the other side of the bay are in Canada.
Nice lawns and access to the rocky beach.
The resort had refurbished the old docks and left some of the old nautical hardware around to provide ambiance. This is a pulley used with ropes and cables.
The resort is built on the end of a spit of land. They recaptured an area that had docks that dated back to the late 1800s. These pilings are some of the originals.
This boat was washed up on the shore and abandoned next to the old cannery building.
Access to the old piers, which were rotting, was blocked by anchor chain. This stuff is heavy.
There was a launch area for large boats. Note the railroad tracks that go into the water. There was a sled that was winched up the slope when boats needed to undergo repairs.
The winch house had some big hardware.
A bald eagle watches the regatta and waits for lunch.
A killdeer fakes a broken wing to lure me away from its nest. We watched him for quite awhile and when we did not follow him, he came right up to my feet.
The bird came to within a few inches of my feet. It seems that this kind of bird places nests in "random" locations. In this case, I was almost standing on it and momma did not like that one bit.
When I looked at my feet, I finally saw the chick which was camouflaged quite well. Note the eggs on the lower left of the photo.
The "broken wing" dance continued to attempt to get me to follow the mother.
Finally, she gave up and came right up to my feet again to reclaim her chick.
The eggs were laid on bare rocks.
She led the chick into the brush. The chick was so young it was barely able to walk. Junior was tired, so he crashed.
Once the chick was safe, she came back to guard the nest.
To add to the mother's angst, there was a snake approaching the nest. Happily for the killdeer, the snake was way too small to be a threat to the chick or the eggs.
A very nice sea-side meadow on the bay.
The tulips were in bloom. They had very vivid colors.
At the end of the second day, were were again treated to a great sunset. Here sea birds cross the sun on their way to dinner.
As the sun continued to fall, the colors got more dramatic.
Low tide on Birch Bay, about 10 miles south of the resort.
While shooting the chick the previous day, a fellow approached me to ask about my camera. Turns out that he is a professional photographer for the local paper and others. His night job is with the Washington Brandt Foundation, which is a conservation group dedicated to preserving habitat for the Brandt, a type of Canadian goose. He suggested that we visit Birch Bay State Park to see the birds in their natural habitat. So we did. Here, the birds are feeding in the surf. The photo is taken at a substantial distance, so the birds are much bigger than they appear.
But, the birds are fully wild and not accustomed to humans. When we approached to get a closer look, they bolted to the safety of the open water with much honking and flapping of wings.
A parting look at a very nice sunset. The point of land on the right is Point Roberts.
This was a great trip. The weather was excellent, with great visibility and no rain. And it was very nice to meet Kathleen's work mates. Congratulations on their banner 2006 financial performance.