A few “firsts” this weekend:

  • Riding a ferry
  • Visiting a rainforest
  • Staying in an ocean-front cabin
  • Going like 50 hours without internet access (seriously!)

The net result was a lot of pictures and an almost-broken leg.

Let’s attack these in a random order.

First, rainforests. Apparently these are not much different than regular forests. The major thing I noticed is that the trees are fuzzy. Witness for yourself the fuzzy:

It was pretty neat, though somewhat crowded (with people) for the wilderness. It was worth seeing, if only to say “I’ve been to a rainforest” to any potential grand-children. I assume they will look at me, suspiciously and with glazed eyes betraying their feelings of boredom, and state something like “those are fictional.” Not because they’ll be gone, but most likely because they will be somewhat special. Probably lots of owl posters.

Second, riding a ferry. This was about as exciting as driving a car onto a boat can possibly be. I do not usually get sea-sick, but sitting in a motionless car on a moving boat disturbed me. Greatly.

Third, to keep up the random order, is going without internet. I must say this was not something necessary; despite staying in the middle of nowhere (actually, one of the most western points of nowhere), every hotel offered wifi and proudly proclaimed this on their signs. The cabin didn’t have such amenities (no phone, no TV, no internet; it did have power outlets though), so I didn’t bring the laptop. I think the weirdest thing was I got home and it took me like 20 minutes to realize, hey, I can check my email. It was at that point I almost broke my leg running up the stairs.

Last, the cabin. My co-worker Rob recommended this place called La Push. It was awesome, practically on the beach, and it was quite relaxing.

Also, I got some good use out of my camera this weekend. I was surprised that despite taking 300 pictures, the batteries did not die. Also, I only half-filled up my memory card. These two things are frightening as I was certainly in, as Shane would say, “Japanese Tourist” mode.