August Activities with Jean

This past August I went out and enjoyed the Seattle area with my aunt Jean.  She and I are as close as siblings.  We get along well, and have similar interests.

Since we're often busy with work and don't have much free time, one of our favorite pastimes is to have a "Who Fest."  No, we don't have parties with tiny Seussian people; we watch marathons of Doctor Who on our nights off together.  We recently finished the new series other than season eight, which just started this August.  Now, we're watching the old serials from 1963.  You should check out the original serial's opening credits sequence:

August 4, Jean and I drove to Monroe, Washington, where our friends Jay and Jane live.  When Jean and I went to Hawaii a few years ago, we often hung out with them since Jean had worked with Jane at a veterinary clinic in the past.  Jay and Jane live in a beautiful country home and have many animals and a blueberry farm.  They have chickens, goats, a macaw, and I remember seeing a little kitten hanging around too.  Their two varieties of blueberry bushes are around 80 years old and were there before Jay and Jane bought the property.  Their property is open to blueberry picking at a reasonable price.

While Jean and I were there, I went to the creek with Jay and we enjoyed the cool water and the blackberries on the edge of the creek.  The dogs really liked the water too, though they were cautious to jump out farther than they could stand.  That evening, Jean and I picked blueberries.  Then Jay and Jane had this wonderful dinner prepared for us.  They had a beautiful spread on their table, and it was absolutely delicious.  Jean and I drove home happy and full that evening.

Jean picks blueberries at Jay and Jane's farm in Monroe, Washington.

August 11, Jean and I went to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle.  Since both of us worked evenings and nights, we went to the zoo in the afternoon.  This is a pretty big zoo; we could have gone for the entire day.  As soon as we got there, we fed the giraffes, which was a fun experience.  Although giraffes look so enormous, they're kind of like tall cows.  Shortly after feeding the giraffes, we went to see the elephants.  We were privileged to see Watoto the African elephant before she died August 22.

I took several photos of the animals.  Here are a few of my favorites from that day:

This patas monkey looks like he has a mustache.

This European cross spider made its web near the elephants' enclosure.

I sit in front of a statue of a Komodo dragon.

A southern masked weaver sits in a thorny bush at the zoo.

I fell in love with this deodar cedar tree.

This jaguar takes a cat nap behind the glass.

A cheetah rests in the grass.

Jean stands in front of Humboldt penguins.

After we left the zoo, we went to Chinook's at Salmon Bay, where we ate a fantastic seafood dinner.  The restaurant overlooks Fisherman's Port, and we had dinner at sunset.  I mean, who could ask for anything better!?

I can't wait to see the zoo again.  We have more animals we want to see.