March in Seattle and a quick visit to Texas

Pocket Beach is the perfect Sunny day spot when hanging out with a 2.5 year old in Seattle.

Not sure if I am getting better at spotting seals or if it is just the time of year and they are more active?

Not uncommon to see drones on the waterfront now.

In just a few weeks this view will give way to huge cruise ships at this dock at Bell Harbor.

I wondered if the very high tides I have seen here at Bell Harbor had anything to do with the record rains this year.

The Harbor Master at Bell Harbor did not think the rains had any unusual affect. The yellow points at the normal high tide and the blue, the occassional high tide.

I knew there were many Fero-Cement sailboats up here but it is rare for me to spot one like this.

We go to Texas and not only have lots of rain in Austin but in Kemah as well. I drove through this mess to get to Kemah. I was sure I was going to die at one point as I neared Houston and the traffic and rain was blinding.

If you hang out with your 5th grade Granddaughter long enough she will give you some Snap Chat Lessons.
see: http://www.buzzfeed.com/benrosen/how-to-snapchat-like-the-teens#.ccK7Jbn7qz

We return to Seattle to the next latest storm with Hurricane 1 force winds.

The Cherry Blossoms blooming on the Water front reminded us to go see the ones on the University of Washington campus.

Finally a break in the rain and we can actually see the Cascades again.

The Quad at Univ. of Washington was full of Spring.

You can't make sand castles here.

There were a large group of seals hanging out at the Salmon Pens.

Humm, looks like he was repairing the net. perhaps some creature made a hole?

I tried to zoom in and take a pic but it just did not come out well enough to show the hundreds of small salmon jumping around inside the net.

These seals were busy scarfing up any escapees.

wondered how much more life is is this old steel tug

El Lobo Grande II bult in 1978 has quite a history:
http://tugboatinformation.com/tug.cfm?id=241

Foss are the Big Boys here in Seattle

And this must be one of their Biggest, The Lauren Foss. Seems like Foss names all their tugs after the Foss children.

This one took all the Kings Men to get her out of the barn:
http://www.tugboatinformation.com/tug.cfm?id=1255

We decided to see where the trail went next. We usually turn around and head back at this point

The trial tuns into a small lane lined by high fences.

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/592/what-does-do-not-hump-mean-on-the-side-of-railroad-cars

The bikers are supposed to walk their bikes along this stretch but they just zoom by.

We are getting hungry.

So we search for a bridge to the other side of the tracks where there is a Whole Foods.

No way across so we start back.

The Graffiti is creative

We recently learned that the Blue Heron is the Official bird of Seattle.

The Huge crows build sturdy nest.

Food here but the healthy option is bottled water.

These guys were just into spring things, they were not interested in the Salmon.

March in Seattle and a quick visit to Texas

Record rains in January, record rains in February, record rains in March, already record rains for the entire year of 2016 in Seattle. I was ready to go to Texas. March in Austin can be a challenge though as the pollen count starts to kick up. But not this time as we experience lots more rain in Texas. At least our eyes will not water and we will not sneeze out green pollen since the rain has washed it all out from the Texas sky. That's OK, We still have warm weather and find great family time.
I break out of Austin as the rain fades but unfortunately I am headed South East in the same as the storms and I find myself right in the thick of it just as I am entering the edges of Houston and Houston traffic. No one slows down and I am pretty sure someone will start to hydroplane and it will all be over for a lot of us as the traffic is bumper to bumper and the rain blinding. A huge 18 wheeler approaches in the North bound lane next to me and the spray and vortex created by the big truck insures my death. The Little Truck that can Lives on!
The rain subsides as I make it to Kemah and I spend the next two days taking care of Wand'rin Star and catching up with boat buddies. Randy and Pat have watched after Wand'rin Star and I am grateful for their friendship.
There are more sunny moments than rain moments as March finds the first of Spring. We are about to emerge into the very best time of the year to be in Seattle. We start looking around at marinas in the Seattle area and find long waiting list for live aboard and even non-live-aboard slips. We decided that we need to get on some of these waiting list in the event we move towards boat ownership in the PNW.