PNW & Orcas
After 28 years of only knowing the east coast, I finally made my way to the west! We visited the beautiful state of Washington for a few days and I’m so glad we did. The PNW has breathtaking views. Sunsets are different there. The purpose of the trip was to see my spirit animal/most favorite animal in the entire history of animals lol aka the orca, in the wild. We flew out to Seattle and drove to Anacortes to spend two nights there. Anacortes is a ferry ride away from Friday Harbor, San Juan Islands. This is where we saw some of the 73 remaining Southern Resident Killer Whales. There are strict laws in place to preserve these beauties since they are endangered. One law is commercial whale watching boats have to remain half a mile from them. The killer whales of this area are endangered because their main source of food, chinook salmon, is also rapidly declining but also because of us. We pollute their water and interrupt their hunting.
Before we get to the part of when I first laid my eyes on one I have to mention the whale museum experience at Friday Harbor. At the museum they have biographies of previous and current members of the three different pods that exist in this area. I will admit I teared up reading one of the biographies. I was not even done when my eyes welled up and I turn around slowly and my husband looks at me like “oh goodness” . This specific one was about a three year old female named Sooke. Call me a softie but it just makes me so sad that she didn’t get to live longer. Aside from the biographies, the museum also offers the ability to “adopt” a whale to raise funds to protect them.
I already had an idea of who I wanted to adopt. Little did I know what God had in store for me. Oreo is the name of the whale I wanted to adopt. After what felt like eternity of searching, we saw none other than Oreo traveling with her son Cookie. Can you believe that?! What are the odds of me seeing the same whale I wanted to adopt. Actually I know what they are lol.. 1/73 or 1.37%. But then again it could be even greater than that because there are other killer whales that could migrate to this region but you get the point. The odds were not in my favor. In the midst of my euphoria, the male orca actually swam underneath the boat and I saw it up close. I ran from one side of the boat to the other trying my best not to elbow or crash into anyone to get shots of this moment. In the process I kicked a coke can that someone had left on the ground so that went everywhere, whoops! The soda spilling was worth the shots I got! That was the highlight of our trip. I cannot put into words how much shock and amazed I was. We saw humpbacks as well, I got some shots of their tails. I will definitely seeing orcas again someday in Iceland or Juneau, Alaska or New Zealand.
After Anacortes we went back to Seattle for the remainder of our mini getaway. Everyone is so friendly there, I love how you can see Mount Rainier adjacent to Seattle from Kerry Park. This was where the opening scene from “10 Things I Hate About You” was filmed. We saw Mount Rainier from Discovery Park as well. Next time we venture out there, hopefully we can go hiking.
Overall, our hearts are full with this trip. I crossed off one of my top bucket list items. Thank you Lord for allowing us to make trips like these. If you made it this far:
You’re the coolest.
No but seriously because this post was long..
Make that trip you’ve been wanting to. Cross off those bucket list items off your list!
Out of all the pics I’ve taken, this will be one of my all-time favorites.
You can never go wrong with this song. Miss Lauryn Hill’s is the best version, hands down.
