The Carey Adventures » Washington

Kids In The City – Expedia’s Useful Tips For Family Travel This Summer

Peter West Carey — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:25:45 +0000

I love planning. I don’t like random email pitches from PR or product companies.

Today the two worlds collide. That’s because Expedia pitched me something I ACTUALLY CARE ABOUT AND WILL USE! It doesn’t happen often.

It’s their Kids In The City program and you might be able to guess what it’s about. Kids. Cities. Doing stuff (with their parents).

The site offers up individually picked attractions and fun-things-to-do in a dozen major cities across the USA. The individuals doing the picking are parenting and traveling experts by the likes of Debbie Dubrow, Jen Miner, Mara Gorman and Kara Williams. These are people I know, personally, in real life, and trust their recommendations. Heck, before this program, I was even going to be asking Jen what might be fun to do with Sabrina in LA as we will be taking two trips there this summer. Now I don’t have to because she tells us in a video!

Expedia will be highlighting 12 cities over 12 days (and it started yesterday, so you need to catch up!) on the site to help with your summer planning.

If you have kids, give it a look-see. Yes, eventually it has links to be able to book things on Expedia, but there is no hard sell and the picks are genuine points of interest moms in those cities think you will find fun. They have first hand knowledge of many of the attractions and have tested them with their own kids. Humanely, I hope.

It’s a resource I have already found useful and will be checking out Portland as well for two trips this summer with Sabrina.

Photo Of The Day – New Years Over Spiridon – Pablo Conrad

Peter West Carey — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:31:35 +0000

Title: New Years over Spiridon

Description: Fireworks explode over the Space Needle silhouetting the crosses of St. Spiridon Orthodox Church in Seattle, Wash., in celebration of the New Year

Explanation: Rather than fight the crowds at Kerry Park or at the Seattle Center, and end up with the same looking photos as everyone else, I opted for something different. I know of this church and resulting composition from other times I’ve shot it. So, I headed over to the spot and made a few test exposures to get a good exposure on the Space Needle. The fireworks were just a matter of paying attention to the display and shooting the photograph. Nikon D300s, 80-200 f/2.8 lens. Exposure was 1/6th second at f/22 at ISO 200.

Link to Image: http://www.pabloconradphotography.com/UrbanScenes-4/The-Emerald-City-Seattle/10280205_ggsKKV#!p=2&n=15

Photograph Copyright Pablo Conrad

Catch him on Twitter, Facebook and his blog.

Photo Of The Day – Sunset At Boulevard Park – Pablo Conrad

Peter West Carey — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:22:45 +0000

Description: Ten minutes after the sun set, the sky blazes with deep rich hues of red and purple above the boardwalk at Boulevard Park in Bellingham, Wash.

Explanation: As the sky was completely cloudless, I decided to pack my gear and head home. But something told me to stay a few minutes longer. I kept my D300s w/17-35mm ready. Then the western sky seemed to explode with orange for a few minutes. I shot using the old “sunny 16 rule” while composing for more sky, more beach, and midway. Exposure was f/5.6 at 1/50th ISO 200

Link to Image: http://www.pabloconradphotography.com/UrbanScenes-4/Bellingham-Wash/20930968_j6Hhss#!i=1729714142&k=wcMPxCr

Photograph Copyright Pablo Conrad

Catch him on Twitter, Facebook and his blog.

Photo Of The Day – Sunset Over Sheep – Pablo Conrad

Peter West Carey — Fri, 11 May 2012 04:53:34 +0000

Title: Sunset Over Sheep

Description: As the sun sets the sky afire, sheep in northern Snohomish County west of Arlington, Wash., graze in the waning light.

Explanation: I was driving south on I-5 when I noticed the sky turning super orange and red. I quickly exited at the Pioneer Highway exit and headed west. About 1/2 mile down the road, I saw this pasture and the sheep grazing in it. Nikon D200 with my 17-35 f/2.8 lens. Exposure 1/100th at f/4 at ISO 100

Link to Image: http://www.pabloconradphotography.com/NaturesBeauty/PacificNorthwestLandscapes/10280190_NgQ7pV#!i=1485182028&k=G3D3dhh

Photograph Copyright Pablo Conrad

Catch him on Twitter, Facebook and his blog.

Photo Of The Day – Low Tide Sunset – Pablo Conrad

Peter West Carey — Wed, 09 May 2012 17:55:09 +0000

Rays from the setting sun reflect of the rocks during a low tide at Locust Beach in Bellingham, Wash.

Explanation: These pylons are one of my favorite things to shoot in Bellingham. You have about a 1/4 mile hike down a steep trail to get to them. I’ve been there several times to photograph during low tide, but that was usually during the middle of the day. I used an app for my phone to find out when low tide coincided with the sunset and hoped for good weather. It took about 4 trips to get a beautiful sunset and these pylons. To slow the motion of the water, I used an ND64 (6 stop loss of light) filter to get a long shutter speed. Nikon D300s, 17-35mm f/2.8 lens. Exposure 1 second at f/22 with ISO at 200.

Link to Image: http://www.pabloconradphotography.com/UrbanScenes-4/Bellingham-Wash/20930968_j6Hhss#!i=1691156627&k=8vzNxwQ

Photograph Copyright Pablo Conrad

Photo Of The Day – Coast Guard Up High

Peter West Carey — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 05:49:23 +0000

Title: Coast Guard Up High

Location: Clinton, Washington, USA, North America

Shot with a Canon 7D and Canon 28-300mm L lens with settings of ISO 400, 300mm, f/8, 1/1000th of a second

Photograph Creative Commons Copyright Non Commercial Peter West Carey

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Photo Of The Day – Just Two

Peter West Carey — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 02:27:29 +0000

Title: Just Two

Location: Mukilteo, Washington, USA, North America

Description: Its Winter in the Pacific Northwest, which is a great time for adding mood into photos. If it’s sunny, shoot that. If it’s foggy, shoot that too.

Photograph Creative Commons Copyright Peter West Carey

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Photo Of The Day – Big Sky, Small Mountains

Peter West Carey — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:44:49 +0000

Title: Big Sky, Small Mountains

Location: Langley, Washington, USA, North America

Description: It was a beautiful, uncommonly sunny day in the Puget Sound yesterday until the cold front started moving in around sunset. But it actually helped the cause of adding drama to a photo, so I took advantage of the timing for this shot on Whidbey Island. The most prominent mountain with the most amount of snow is Three Fingers. The next snowy one to the left is Whitehorse.

Shot with a Canon 7D and Canon 28-300mm L lens with settings of ISO 100, 28mm, f/5.6, 1/500th of a second

Photograph Creative Commons Copyright Peter West Carey

Photo Of The Day – Up, Up And Away

Peter West Carey — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 05:45:12 +0000

Title: Up, Up And Away

Location: Portland, Oregon, USA, North America

Description: A 30 second long exposure of a flight taking off from PDX. Timing is key in shots like this if a remote control is not handy. I hope to take some more shots from a different angle Friday night. Anyone in PDX want to join me?

Shot with a Canon 7D and Canon 10-22mm EF lens with settings of ISO 100, 18mm, f/16, 30 seconds

Photograph Creative Commons Copyright Peter West Carey

Bomb Threat On Washington State Ferry Cathlamet, Or, How A Possible Stoner Made My Daughter Late For School

Peter West Carey — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:00:30 +0000

It’s not as if the Washington Ferries run like clockwork.

They try to. And the Mukilteo-Clinton run I was waiting for happens to have the best on-time performance in the fleet.

So my curiosity was piqued when, at the normal time of seven minutes until departure, the ferry wasn’t loading. A big truck blocked my view of the boat so I thought not much of it and went back to chatting with my daughter.

At departure time we still hadn’t moved. And I could spot three police cars parked by the dock.

At seven minutes past departure time I was genuinely curious. A few more police cars were showing up and a Coast Guard rescue helicopter was now circling with its landing gear down, a sign that it wasn’t just passing by.

I snapped a few pictures of the activity.

Washington State Patrol K-9 officer (minus his dog) walking on the ferry in Mukilteo.

Coast Guard helicopter circling the scene.

Workers (I’m unsure if this gentleman is with WSP or WSF as a number of officers were not in uniform) check around the boat.

And then the big bomb truck from the Washington State Patrol showed up (as the ferries are part of the Washington State Department of Transportation, the WSP has responsibility for their security).

And a dude or two started putting on protective gear.

All the while passengers were asked to leave their vehicles and stand near the back of the parking area. Some huddled by the toll booths for a good point of view. The wind was blowing a winter chill around and warmth was hard to find outside of our cars.

Meanwhile, Sabrina took her first bomb threat in stride.

Throwing rocks in a storm retention pool.

Walking to the side of the dock, the activity on the water was pretty obvious.

The Navy boat was just passing by but doesn’t it make things look more urgent?!? One of my friends said he saw a device, like a log standing straight out of the water with an antenna on top, float by, not bobbing with the waves as the multiple logs were, and head for the boat. Sabrina called this a UUFO (Unidentified Underwater Floating Object). We checked my friend’s breath for signs of alcohol but he seemed sober. I never saw this device but it’s cool to think the WSP or Coast Guard had a mini-sub there to check things out. Makes it more exciting.

We then heard, “Fire in the hole!” and a loud pop. I’d give it an M80 sound on the scale from Popits to Nuclear Warhead. Walking back to the bomb truck, there is now a spool of cord on the ground and more people talking.

Oh look! News cameras! They must know something.

Getting closer:

Now to work my way to the front of the pack for a better view.

It’s bomb dude with a black backpack. I’m guessing this is not his kid’s backpack even though it looks like the one Sabrina sometimes uses. He also decides to get his knife out and start cutting into the bag. This is certainly not his bag, I hope.

Movies? Let’s take a page out of Hollywood and, “Zoom in. Rotate. Enhance.”

Does anyone know what that is? It looks like a video game possibly. And the letters “..STROM” ? A little help here?

Moving on, bomb dude keeps ripping apart stuff.

And then he finds something. Shows it to his buddies (at least I like to romanticize all bomb dudes are buddies, just like in the movies).

See the smile on his face. I think he wants to take it home.

After that, he opens and pours out a water container.

And that’s pretty much about it. The Coast Guard heads off…

Ferry workers reboard the boat…

Bomb dude undresses… (just the suit, ladies)

And puts away the bomb blowing up stuff…

Police stand over the remains of the pack. I’m sure some of them wanted to have a smoke, there was certainly some tension going on.

And the film crew turns to filming the boat loading.

We then sail off to Whidbey Island, about two hours later than anticipated.

I want to thank the Washington State Patrol and Coast Guard for doing their job well today. No panic. No beatings. No glamor and glitz as if Tango & Cash had showed up. They kept the passengers and crew safe and dealt with the situation professionally.

My daughter also experienced something I hope she never has to deal with again. You know how kids like anything cool and out of the ordinary? That was her morning and she was excited to tell al the kids at school about it.

In the end, according to news reports, there was no explosive device found. That thing bomb dude showed to his buddies, on second inspection, was likely just a bong.

I think this picture says it all.

Looking for something pretty to look at instead? Check out yesterday’s Photo Of The Day – Immersion Panorama Of Machu Picchu