Orcas Island Solo

I flew solo to Orcas Island for the first time the other day. I'd done it once before with my instructor, but this was the first time I'd flown this far by myself. It's a 54 nautical mile flight and takes about 40 minutes each way.

A Boeing 777 taxiing behind my plane.

                      Whidbey Island Naval Air Station

             with fog covering the shoreline.

                  The San Juan Islands and the ships around them.

                                                          Deception Pass.

                                 It was pretty awesome =)

The Cane Tree

                                                                    What...?


 The other day Alaina and I went to Seattle Center together, we saw The Beatles laser show, went up the Space Needle, had lunch and dinner at the center house. It was great =) 

After dinner we lay on the lawn outside the center house looking at the Space Needle. Alaina noticed a couple and their daughter looking up a crab apple tree, so we got up, went over and asked what they were looking at. The man looked about 40 and had a scruffy little beard. He told us he'd lost his walking cane in the tree trying to knock someone else's frisbee down. Apparently whoever had thrown the frizbee up there in the first place had already left.

We tried grabbing the lower branches to shake it down which wasn't even close to working. The guy convinced himself he was going to climb the tree to get it. Alaina thought I should, but it was much too far out.

We decided we'd need a ladder, so they went to go find security. I was just going to sit and wait, but Alaina decided she and I should try and find a ladder too, so I ran after her to the center house. She called security on the information desk phone. I thought she was pretty crazy at this point. We waited by the tree for at least 10 minutes. Alaina thought we should get the names of the family, so we introduced ourselves to John the dad and Kristina the daughter, who looked just a little younger than us. I don't think the mother ever said her name. They were pretty hilarious people. Eventually a security guard named Jack arrived with a ten foot pool net. We showed him where it was, just out of reach. He tried poking around for a while. Somehow we decided somebody would need to sit on Jack's shoulders, Alaina, being the lightest, volunteered.

She poked at it for at least 10 minutes, it was seriously stuck up there. Leaves and little crab apples kept falling on Jack. At this point there was a massive pile of them on the lawn under the tree. After a while Jack had to go to help with a laser show. We kept the pole and continued trying to knock it down while contemplating other possible ways of dislodging it. After a bit Jack came back and suggested we move one of the park benches over to stand on. He and I grabbed either end of one and moved it under the tree. 

After at least an hour all together, we FINALLY managed to knock it out...

 And the funny part is that it was a cheapy $5 aluminum cane =P