Originally published August 14th, 2007 on O’Ceallaigh & The Quill:

This was our camp.  We had a mini-tent city.  Our tent is the maroon one.  I set most of it up by myself.  I was quite proud of me.  At first, because I set the tent up alone (while O.C. was goofing off filling the camp water buckets at the facility a mile away — as if drinking water were important!) I was disinclined to share the tent — then I got to thinking about how chilly the nights might be and relented in favor of his body heat.

The camp ground was across the mouth of the Juan de Fuca river from the town of Port Renfrew.  That river is much wider then it looks.  To the right in this photo was the ocean and Juan de Fuca Strait.

It was a lovely campground.  The facilities were first rate — out houses and a pre-dinner show.  For some reason, the musician looked familiar ….

Despite camp being on the ocean, that isn’t were these intrepid scientists went in search of seaweed.  We all drove several miles to Botany Bay, then hiked down to the ocean.  It was a gorgeous path.

A sign:

Some steps …

And finally, the beach ….

The hunt for seaweed begins:

While O.C. and his class worked and learned, I played in the tide pools.

Anemone:

Anemones:

Starfish:

On the way home, we paused briefly in Victoria.  Here is the government building:

With a totem pole carved by a representitive the First Peoples: (note the size of the Japanese tourists in relation to the totem pole).

Then it was time to head for the ferry and wait:

and wait (caffeine helps pass the time):

and wait:

We were all looking pretty tired and scruffy.

But finally we pulled onto the ferry and started home and Mt. Baker stepped out of the fog to greet us.