Every visitor to Seattle has "capture the skyline" on the must do list. Most people think "up," but I want you to think "out." Look at the magnificent photo I was able to take from a ferry!
I wanted to visit Bainbridge Island while I was in Seattle but I dragged my feet making the plans because I knew I would have to ride a ferry. I was very seasick on my ferry ride to Victoria, B.C. (Yes, it's true, I was the only one that felt the rocking and swaying - everyone else aboard was eating nachos and reading.), so I wanted to pick a perfectly quiet day. Sunday was the day! 75 degrees and full sun.
My husband pointed out that it was wonderful to get a "boat ride" in the Puget Sound, in addition to actually getting transported to our destination. He was right, it was a beautiful trip and I took some of my best photographs from the deck of the ferry.
Mount Rainier was "out" (Did you know that Seattleites refer to whether you can see the mountain the same way we refer to the sun?) and she looked postcard-perfect against the clear sky and deep blue water. The Washington State ferry in the photo was similar to the car ferry that I was traveling on.
When you are visiting Seattle, be sure to ride a ferry out of downtown Seattle. You can travel with your car or as a passenger and the relaxing boat ride will be one you will never forget.
I had to take this photo to show you our window seat on the car ferry from Whidbey Island back to the mainland near Seattle. The lighting and symmetry of the bench seats and the Monet-like color scheme of the lake and mountains was positively dreamy.
And yes, this ferry was slow and steady (and a short trip!) so I felt fine.
This is the kind of photo that you can hang in the laundry room and escape into as you are going about your daily tasks. It will give me a chance to stop and remember my string of days in the Pacific Northwest.
My first big car ferry trip and it was a gorgeous morning. The sun was out; the water looked calm and I felt certain that the 90 minute crossing to Victoria, British Columbia would be easy and photogenic.
I have a long history of motion sickness in cars, planes, boats, rafts. These photographs on the dock were all that I took to commemorate the trip from Port Angeles to Victoria, British Columbia. A ride that I will never go on again.
We learned later that the route we chose was the only one considered to be in "open water" and that the ferry was "smaller than the others" and therefore more likely to pitch and sway. Terrific. I felt unwell and I wanted to get off the boat. No such luck, I clung to the metal railing in the wind and the cold for an hour.
Yes, this blog promises a moment of delight (I did love my time in Victoria once I got there - more tomorrow) but it is also about everyday moments (like this City Series) and I want you to learn from my experience.
When the water finally calmed down near the harbor (above), I joked that they should come out and welcome their new citizen because I wasn't going to be able to get back to America. We had made a new friend at the hotel breakfast that morning (he is a native of Vancouver Island and has lived there for 60 plus years) and he said I could get home another way if I took a larger ferry "through the islands" up to Vancouver. Done.
My caveat is that everyone else on the boat was fine. Reading books, eating, talking. I was the only one incapacitated. If you are sea-worthy, the Port Angeles to Victoria ferry should be fine. But if you "don't like moving," consider another route. You're welcome.
