September saw a whirlwind trip to ME and MA to visit the family and welcome Sveta and Tina
followed by a long drive south to the high desert to get ready for the Joshua Tree season. See photo of desert tortise parking in front of the large OB vehicle below. The resident tortise was checking us out as we moved into the winter basecamp.
Later in the week, we had rain. Not just a drizzle, but real rain that made the desert smell of creosote bushes, a puddle form in the driveway and some of the flowers bloom. Here's the Jetta enjoying the its first real rain since May.
I should have guessed that the little shower in Jtree was a preview of the next trip. Administrative staff from the West Coast got together for our own Outward Bound adventure sea kayaking in the Gulf Islands of Canada. The Gulf Islands are located between Vancouver Island and mainlan British Columbia. In typical Pacific Northwest form, we had rain every day with brief periods of clouds and occassional clear skies. Despite (or because of) the weather, we had a fantastic trip paddling from island to island seeing seals, bald eagles, purple sea stars, lots of birds and sea otters. We also had a close encounter with a posse of sea lions. More photos from this trip to follow but here's some of our group getting packed up.
