2023 in Review

February 08, 2024 by Nicole Harrison in United States, Canada

2023 was perhaps not as balanced as we’d been planning originally - we ended up going to 8 countries, 7 of them in the last 6 months of the year. While it’s been amazing to travel so much, we’ve been missing having more time in Seattle, and it’s been really nice to take a look back at some of our local adventures, especially in the first half of the year.

Classic Puget Sound views - mountains and sailboats (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sailboat sitting on the water in the Puget Sound, with fluffy clouds in the background. — Jason continues lusting after sailboats (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up portrait photo of Caprica's face. — Testing out a new lens on Caprica (photo/Jason Rafal)

In February, we went to San Diego with friends for a long weekend and spent some time soaking in the beautiful sun and eating a lot of Mexican food.

People walking along the beach, with large sand cliffs on the right. — Looking for fun shore things at Torrey Pines (photo/Jason Rafal)

A pelican flying along over a rocky cliff alongside the ocean. — Many shorebirds (photo/Jason Rafal)

Several sea lions sitting on a large rock outcropping. — I always enjoy large piles of sea lions (photo/Jason Rafal)

Silhouettes of children climbing cliff rocks in the setting sun. — Sunset silhouettes (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also were able to fit in some camping over the summer, and we used our little drone to get some amazing pictures of the Washington wilderness. I had fun learning to fly the drone and clumsily edit together footage.

A drone shot looking down on the treetops of a forest. — Looking down at our campsite - see if you can spot us (photo/Jason Rafal)

A sunset drone photo of a dirt road winding through a forest, with snowcapped peaks in the background. — I love this wilderness so much (photo/Jason Rafal)

Sunset drone photo looking over forests and meadows toward snow-capped mountains. — A second view because I couldn’t pick one (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole holding a drone controller and looking up at the sky. — This is what it looks like to learn to fly a drone (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up of Nicole looking at the camera while holding a beer. — More experimentation with a new lens (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole lying in a red hammock in the woods. — The joys of camping (photo/Jason Rafal)

For Fourth of July weekend we drove up to Canada, where we stayed at a lakeside guest house outside of Vancouver and spent a couple of days relaxing and taking in amazing water views.

Dozens of kayakers paddling past two small docks at dusk. — Our relaxing sunset view (photo/Jason Rafal)

We also found some beautiful hikes in the area. British Columbia never ceases to amaze with its beauty.

Sunlight hitting the top of a waterfall and spilling down the side of the mountain. — Dramatic sunlight at Shannon Falls (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking out toward a road winding between a mountain range and a large, turquoise body of water. — Looking south down Howe Sound (photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason got much more into birding this year, and he had fun learning about species of birds and how best to photograph them.

A cormorant sitting on the water with a small fish in its mouth, surrounded by three seagulls who want to take the fish. — Seagulls are always being jerks and trying to steal things (photo/Jason Rafal)

A cormorant floating on the water with a fish in its mouth. — A cormorant with a treat (photo/Jason Rafal)

A bird with beige, yellow, gray, and black feathers perching on a branch. — A beautiful cedar waxwing (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small bird sitting on a reed with its mouth open mid-song. — A very noisy songbird (photo/Jason Rafal)

Four strings of barbed wire, with two birds on the top wire and two on the second wire. — Birds on a line (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close-up of a small bird sitting on a string of barbed wire and glaring at the camera. — Glaring at the camera (photo/Jason Rafal)

A great blue heron sits on a ledge and releases a feather from its beak. — This heron was preening itself and releasing its feathers into the wind (photo/Jason Rafal)

Dozens of shore birds flying together low over the surf. — A collection of shorebirds (photo/Jason Rafal)

A fluffy owl perched on a branch in dense foliage. — A little owl peering down at us (photo/Jason Rafal)

As always, there were also lots of fun plants and animals.

A fuzzy bee hovering next to purple flowers. — A pastoral bee (photo/Jason Rafal)

A white flower with a bee in the middle, with green leaves and the blue sky in the background. — More flowers and bees (photo/Jason Rafal)

A rat perching on a small tree trunk and looking down at the ground, with its tail wound around the tree. — A rat in a tree (photo/Jason Rafal)

A small branch with yellow and pink flowers. — Weird little flower leaf things (photo/Jason Rafal)

A creek flowing through mossy rocks and logs. — We have so many of these pictures from around Washington and I love them all (photo/Jason Rafal)

A marmot sitting on a rock with a snowy meadow and a mountain in the background. — One of posing marmots in Mt. Rainier National Park (photo/Jason Rafal)

We went camping in Oregon with friends during the Perseid meteor shower, and while we weren’t in the best place to see a ton of meteors, it was incredibly peaceful to just lay on our backs and marvel at the stars.

Looking up between the silhouettes of tree branches at a night sky with shooting stars. — The stars I always miss in Seattle (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole riding a bike on a dirt road through a forest. — Riding a bike through a beautiful Oregon forest (photo/Jason Rafal)

We had friends visit from Colorado, and we showed them around both the wilderness and the city.

Martin opening a wooden box hanging from a log. — Martin opens some sort of geocache (photo/Jason Rafal)

A salmon staring through a glass window as it swims by. — Salmon at the Ballard fish ladder (photo/Jason Rafal)

A man assisting with the lock leans toward a boat to shout instructions. — Watching the sometimes chaos of the Ballard Locks (photo/Jason Rafal)

Martin, Rachel, and Nicole standing on the beach as sunset fades to dusk. — Inviting our friends to sunsets at Golden Gardens (photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the Seattle waterfront from behind apartment and public storage buildings. — Moody Seattle waterfront (photo/Jason Rafal)

We were gone for a lot of the second half of the year, but it was an amazing autumn, and we spent much of our time in town on walks and hikes to marvel at the fall colors.

Close up photo of a spider in a web with colorful fall leaves in the background. — Fall mood spider (photo/Jason Rafal)

View looking up at an art installation of small suspended glass pieces made into a net. — An art installation at the Arboretum (photo/Jason Rafal)

View of a turquoise lake through pine trees. — The Cascade lake colors are always amazing (photo/Jason Rafal)

View across a lake to a cliff face with a lookout tower on top. — An alpine lake with a lookout far above (photo/Jason Rafal)

View across an alpine lake with colorful bushes and pine trees on the other side. — If you squint, you can see the side of Mt. Rainier in the background (photo/Jason Rafal)

Autumn light falling between a metal tower and a brick building with an orange-leaf tree behind. — Light (photo/Jason Rafal)

Close up photo of dozens of tiny mushrooms on a tree trunk. — So many tiny mushrooms (photo/Jason Rafal)

Looking up a large tree trunk covered in ferns. — An incredible tree completely enveloped by other plants (photo/Jason Rafal)

A moss-covered branch with red leaves in the background. — I will forever love all of the moss here (photo/Jason Rafal)

Black and white photo looking out from under a bridge to a beach, with the Olympic mountains in the distance. — Moody beach days (photo/Jason Rafal)

Nicole walking on a street corner with sunshine shining through yellow leaves. — That autumn sun and those yellow leaves (photo/Jason Rafal)

People sitting on the lawn in front of Green Lake in the afternoon sun with a flock of geese flying overhead. — Green Lake is always a pretty magical place, but fall is an especially special time there (photo/Jason Rafal)

As always, thanks for reading along with our adventures this year, and we hope you’ve enjoyed the pictures. We’re going for more balance in 2024, but as always, we’ll just have to see what life brings us. We feel so lucky to live in this beautiful place and be able to explore so much!

Nicole and Jason standing on a log in front of a lake and forested mountains. — Us on a backpacking trip in 2023 (yes, Jason is wearing a bug suit) (photo/Martin Brandt)

Canada is Lovely. It’s Just Not Europe.

April 24, 2019 by Nicole Harrison in Canada

Okay, let’s talk about reality for a minute. Because sometimes, you get to go on an awesome vacation you’ve been planning for months. Other times, though, you fly from Seattle to Denver shortly before an unprecedented bomb cyclone with category two hurricane-force winds and the entire airport gets shut down and you can’t get to Europe within 3 days of your scheduled arrival and you have to cancel the trip.

There are some fun things about these times. There’s the fun of exploring an empty airport, the ponderance of how some of those beer taps can be left unsupervised, the thrill of finally getting on a moving train into town after 9 hours in an airport. Mostly, though, it just sucks when you can’t go on your vacation that you’ve been planning and pining after. And yes, I am fully aware that I am supremely lucky to be able to take these trips, and that I have my wonderful life at home to come back to, and I am incredibly grateful for those things. But it sucks.

Denver International Airport, deserted (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Since the trip was for Maia’s graduation from college, Maia, Jason, and I decided to go to Canada for a few days instead since she had never been. We would take three ferries on a route to the Olympic Peninsula, Victoria, and Vancouver. We took our car, which still has Colorado plates and amused lots of Canadians, especially when the car alarm went off mid-ferry ride.

We began on a Tuesday and took our first ferry to Bainbridge Island, where we drove to Port Angeles. There are only a couple of ferries per day between port Angeles and Victoria in the winter, and we carefully timed a stop for lunch and a very short stroll to a waterfall before getting into line.

Mt. Rainier as we left Seattle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

One of the many waterfalls of the trip (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Waiting to board a ferry to another country is not as complex, cumbersome, or time consuming as going through an international airport, but perhaps because it involves just sitting and waiting, it feels like forever to me. The weather was weirdly sunny for winter in the Olympic peninsula, and we waited with car doors open, lounging half outside of the cars.

We were on the Coho on the way to Victoria (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A tugboat doing its job with Mt. Baker in the background (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Jason and I had been to Vancouver before (see Surface-Level Observations of Vancouver), but none of us had ever been to Victoria. It’s difficult to get to without taking an absurdly expensive plane ride (non-plane options include 1.5 hour ferries from the Olympic Peninsula or Vancouver, or an almost 3 hour ferry from Seattle), but Victoria is charming and I would highly recommend it. There are lots of grand government buildings and adorable houses and shiny condo buildings and tree-filled parks, and it’s fun to watch the various types of boats go in and out. It also has some great food (we tried butter chicken poutine in an Irish pub, and it was amazing) and it’s not hard to find a happy hour overlooking the water. We were in the city during an absurdly warm spell, and it was sunny and mid-60s during the day, which felt absurd for British Columbia in March.

One of the beautiful alleys in Victoria’s Chinatown (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Building within an old facade (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Not sure if you remember our coffee crisis from when we were in Vancouver in 2014, but we can confirm that Victoria has good coffee (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On one of our afternoons in Victoria, we took a trip out to Goldstream Provincial Park for a hike. The park is very close to Victoria and has some lovely huge trees. If you want to do the Niagara Falls and trestle hike in the winter or spring, though, let me know, because it’s difficult to find the correct trailhead (in the summer and autumn, it’s easy to go under the highway, but there was a considerable creek running through that tunnel when we got there). The falls are beautiful, and there is also a trail that goes up to a railroad bridge over the canyon and river. It’s beautiful, and a bit terrifying.

I love all the green everywhere (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A very large tree stump (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The trestle (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Finding the trails (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The super moon from our Victoria apartment (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After a couple of days in Victoria, we drove to Swartz Bay and boarded a ferry for Vancouver. On the way, we made a stop at the Butchart Gardens. We were somewhat skeptical because it was early spring and nothing would be in bloom, but I can now back up their advertising and say it’s worth visiting any time of year. My favorite part was the sunken garden, which was built in an old quarry. There were also fantastic statues of various animals, a lovely Japanese garden, and a small boat harbor.

Maia and a random cocker spaniel that she almost stole (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The sunken garden (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A lovely water feature (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A dragon guarding the Japanese garden (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The idyllic harbor (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our ferry to Vancouver was quite large and fancy. It had a full cafeteria, many layers of observation decks, and apparently enough room to carry 34 semis in addition to the passenger cars. We spent a lot of time on the decks, periodically ducking back inside to avoid the wind. The ferry ride from Vancouver island to the city is quite beautiful, especially in nice weather - the boat goes close to several islands. It was a bit early for whales, but we kept an eye out anyway. Either they were in a different area or we didn’t look quite hard enough.

Beautiful islands from the ferry (Photo/Jason Rafal)

When we arrived in Vancouver, we immediately drove to a suspension bridge park, since Maia had never been on one and seemed potentially interested in comparing it to the railroad trestle experience. I told her the suspension bridge would be less scary, and after giving it a try, she was not convinced. It looks like she’s having fun though.

Harrisons on the suspension bridge (Photo/Jason Rafal)

After the suspension bridge we hiked around Lynn Canyon for a while. Walking along the creek, which was a beautiful light bluish green, we came to both a scary warning sign about cliff jumping and then, predictably, cliff jumpers. The water was quite cold, but I guess March weather in the 60s in Vancouver is not common enough to waste. After visiting a couple more waterfalls, we climbed up a whole lot of stairs and headed into town, where we explored CRAB Park and got some tasty food.

A fairly unhelpful infographic (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Crazy Canadians (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Climbing a lot of stairs through the woods (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Dogs in CRAB Park (no idea what’s up with that capitalization) (Photo/Jason Rafal)

The next day, we realized that our hotel lent out free bikes, requested said bikes, and went on an adventure around Stanley Park. Stanley Park has already been featured in a previous blog, so I won’t spend too much time, but I will tell you that if you want to lead your family on a bike ride from the bottom of the park up to the Prospect Point Lookout, warn them about the intensity of the ride and bring some water. Otherwise, they might become quite cranky at you halfway up.

A very handsome duck (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Biking home through the blossoms (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Our next excursion was to Granville Island, where we met our friend Cameron (long story involving well-timed overlapping road trips), ate poutine and gelato, and watched all the tourists interact with some rather aggressive seagulls (one stole a piece of pizza out of a woman’s hand and then struggled to swallow it for the next 10 minutes). Then we went to explore more of the city.

Strolling along the shore (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Granville (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Maia and Cameron ponder some contemporary art (Photo/Jason Rafal)

Some really incredible sidewalk art (Photo/Jason Rafal)

A view of the stadium at night (Photo/Jason Rafal)

On our last morning in Vancouver, we visited Queen Elizabeth park on the way out of town. I would highly recommend visiting if you’re ever in the area - it’s a beautiful park with some lovely gardens and a gorgeous view of the city. There’s also a metal family, stuck in time since the 70s, talking a picture at the top, and adopting yourself into the family makes for some great pictures.

Family pictures with our new family (Photo/Jason Rafal)

So, it wasn’t Europe. But Victoria and Vancouver are lovely, and I’m glad we got to go on another version of Maia’s graduation trip.

Surface-Level Observations of Vancouver

July 10, 2014 by Nicole Harrison in Canada

Story by Nicole

For the 4th of July, we went to Canada. We met Jason’s immediate family at the Vancouver airport, rented a Dodge Caravan, and stayed in an adorable condo on the beach. It was a beautiful and relaxing trip, during which we made several American observations about Vancouver.

Coffee is decidedly lacking.

We have no pictures that represent this observation. Jason may have been more inclined to take them if he was inspired by fantastic coffee, but alas, it proved difficult to find. For the Rafals, a family dedicated to coffee drinking, this was the low point of the trip. On our last morning in Vancouver, we finally found acceptable coffee at the 49th Parallel.

Even the signs are polite.