In the morning we had a big filling breakfast at the hotel to brace us up for the better part of the day and the cold water we headed out to dive at Alki Cove II. Because who doesn't want to go diving when it's snowing out? Seriously, the water was extremely cold (about 44) and coming out into the cold air made it extra chilly! Still, we did two dives!
I love that we found this very tiny sunflower starfish eating a tiny crab claw. That's Travis' finger it's sitting on.
Vermilion Star, Red Sea Star (Mediaster aequalis)
Red anemone
Plumose Anemone (Metridium)
urchin
urchin
Anemone Metridium Giganteum
Anemone Metridium Giganteum on a boat
A school of tubesnouts
Lots of life on the buoy rope
Chitons look so weird and ancient to me and sure enough, they are. Chitons have a good fossil record going back 400 million years. And check out all the straight scratches on the base and all the footprints left behind by things that have grown there.
Alabaster Nudibranch (white-lined dirona) (Dirona albolineata)
The rhinophores of the Alabaster Nudibranch
Copper rockfish
Kelp crab trying to get his fight on with me
The same kelp crab from behind
Feather duster worms (Serpula vermicularis)
Feather duster worms (Serpula vermicularis)
Feather duster worms (Serpula vermicularis)
A big lingcod guarding eggs
I think this is a baby Striped Seaperch (it was maybe two inches)
Another starfish. I just like this one's long feelers waving in the water.
Metridium Senile Anemone
Metridium Senile Anemone
Sunflower star
And the tubesnouts again, I wanted to get closer to them and then suddenly a school swam right through me.
After we cleaned up I took a shot of the Seattle skyline from the dock
This seagull was sitting fat and happy, ignoring me.
Also a shot from the dock, look at the sea lions hanging out on what looks like a mooring buoy that that barge is hooked up to.
The we went in search of a higher perch to photograph Seattle's skyline.
The Seattle Space Needle
I'm not sure it translates well to the picture, but there was a great circular break in the clouds right of the Space Needle that I thought was cool.
From another location, a view of the Puget Sound.
After we cleaned up, did a little more driving around, sight seeing, had some dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and walked in a park, we went back to the hotel to collect warmer clothes and we went back up to the overlook for a night shot of the Space Needle and Seattle's skyline.
And for good measure, since it was my birthday trip, I actually got out from behind the camera. It was so chilly and windy up there. I had a lot of layers on, my coat and then Travis' big jacket on over the top since he was even using his rarely used heavy winter coat.
The next morning we met up with Justin and Debbie from Blue Element scuba back at Alki Cove II to say hi. I think Justin hates the thought of anyone diving when he's not and since he hadn't been to the Seattle side of the sound for a while he just couldn't not go when we were. When we got there they had just finished their first dive and Debbie was freezing and not looking forward to a second dive. Turns out a good thing they did dive! They found some great treasures! Old china and silverware.
After we said goodbye to them we went to the Seattle Public Market, Pike Place Market
Pike Place Fish Market, famous for the flying fish! See the guy below, he's just caught a fish.
Another catch
And more throwing and catching.
Crabs, anyone?
Sightseeing is not really Travis' thing, particularly if it includes crowds, bad parking, etc. Since it was my birthday so he had to go with the flow but I was nice and gave him the motivation to go by telling him that the Pike Place Bakery had donuts the size of a dinner plate. He got a glazed and I got an apple fritter of course.
I loved the rows and rows of colorful produce.
And the bouquets were gorgeous. Honey, please buy me flowers?
Hanging chilies outside another shop
And one last shot of Pike Place Market before we had to head home.
We stopped at Ivar's for a quick lunch at the outdoor Fish Bar and then we had to be on our way.
Later, on the way home we broke out the donuts. Mmmm.
Travis had me take the shot with his phone to Facebook.
And I shared this one. See my two bites out of the top? That's one big donut. No I did not eat it all at once. Yes, Travis ate all of his in no time.
What a great weekend!
I met Travis in Institute at Oregon State University in 2001 and we were married Aug 2002. We have 3 boys, Avery, Carson and Emmett. I love photography and run a business, 
Travis is a dentist at 
Avery was born in Dec 2004 and is now 7 and almost a 2st grader. He loves being a big brother to Carson and Emmett.
Carson was born in March of 2007 and is now 5 years old.
Emmett was born in September of 2008 and is now almost 4 years old.
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