Crocuses, Daffodils, and Tulips, Oh, my!

One of the great advantages of traveling to the Pacific Northwest in mid-March is that we can enjoy TWO springs! When we left Maine to go visit Beth and Jon several weeks ago, we still had 4-foot piles of snow in our yard---not a snowdrop in sight. However, when we arrived in Vancouver, B.C., we were greeted by bright spring flowers and blooming trees all over the city.

Spending ten days with Beth and Jon was absolutely spectacular! We stayed at a B & B just across the street. We ate in (I asked Beth for a couple of cooking lessons - what a fabulous cook she is!), ate out (had some great sushi and several other wonderful meals), went dogsledding, attended church and heard Beth sing (we're so proud!), knit, knit, knit, geeked, geeked, geeked, went geo-caching, laughed, walked, walked, walked (I LOVE the city for that!), went to the Omni-Max theater for a double-feature, played "The Settlers of Catan" twice (and LOVED it!), watched Canucks hockey on HDTV, took hundreds of photographs all over the city, went to the opera, visited a couple of yarn shops, and best of all....just sat and visited together. It was simply a splendid time --- it had been way, way too long since we'd visited. We learned so much about living in the city and all it has to offer. Thanks so much, Beth and Jon, for sharing so much special time with us!

We left B.C. on a Monday and took a bus to Seattle where we picked up a rental car for the second half of our journey. We drove to Tacoma, and on our way to the Olympic Peninsula, decided to get a handheld GPS so that we could join the rest of our family in the world of Geocaching. And so we did! It's official -- we're geocachers.

For those of you who aren't familiar with geocaching, it's basically a geeky version of hide and seek --- all around the world! You download geographic coordinates (and clues, if you wish) and try to find the hidden cache -- you log your finds and of course, the element of competition is always an option. There are nearly three-quarters of a million of caches hidden all over the world. It's a great way to add a bit of fun to your travel--check it out.

Well, still no buds of anything here, although I did spot a few crocuses last week in Ellsworth. It can't be long now. Come on, Spring! We need you!

More pictures from our trip coming soon...I promise.