A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 3 : Touch Tanks

 They had touch tanks that were closely monitored with sea urchins, sea cucumbers, starfish, and others that we could touch after washing our hands at their handwashing station.  

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 2 : T to F

Tortoise to...

frog to...

family!
 

A Distraction Deluge of Aquarium pics from Vancouver Part 1 : Sulky fish

Sure, I can get a fairly decent front picture of the white one but the red/purple?  Nope, it swam to the corner of the tank and I just couldn't get a good picture.  

Canadian poutine and bicycles

We got some fries with toppings at Mean Poutine.  https://www.meanpoutine.ca/ 

Lots of bicyclists.

Bikes still crossing the road.

Almost across.
 

In Seattle, WA Dough Zone and Korean Hot Dog on a stick

 

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 18: Rousting a human from a couch

B decided that she wanted the couch and actually sat on Daisy to encourage her to move. This is unposed-Daisy called out to me to hurry and take the picture of B trying to force Daisy off the couch. 

Success!  The human is gone.  (This was in February-poor leafless trees seen through the window.)

The human takes their book as B-B looks on.  Note that B has not left any room for dog or human on the couch. 
 

Sunday Randomness #165 : Afternoon Tea in Seattle WA

When recently visiting Seattle, WA we made a reservation and spent a couple of hours at the Queen Mary Tea House.  https://queenmarytea.com/

It was well worth the $55 price per person.

We each got our own pot of tea and every tea setting was beautiful and unique.

Our hostess kindly offered to take a group picture.

The house made shortbread and three different kinds of sorbet.

We were all informed about which color of sand to follow for the proper amount of time to allow our individual teas to steep.  They had a wide selection of herbal teas, honeybush, rooibos, and traditional black, green, and white teas along with matcha and tulsi teas among others.

The beautiful tower of sandwiches and savory/sweet treats along with fresh fruit.  We found the teas tasted slightly different with the addition of honey, sugar, cream, or plain or a mix.  Really well done tea blends!

Afterwards we went a few buildings down and across the street to their tea emporium and bought some tea to take home.  
 

Going through Customs up to Canada and coming back to the United States

We didn't exactly know when we'd find a bathroom up in Canada so we stopped at a rest area that was still in the United States.  This one is the Bow Hill Rest Area and it was pretty nice. https://wsdot.wa.gov/travel/roads-bridges/rest-areas/bow-hill-i-5-southbound

Coming up to the border to cross over into Canada on our way to Vancouver.  Canada's app for crossing is ArriveCAN which we dutifully filled out prior to our trip.  They scanned our passports, asked a few questions, and let us cross over.

Coming back from Canada and crossing back into the United States. 

 The United States app for crossing is CBPOne app.  Apparently that stands for (U.S.) Customs (and) Border Protection.  Sorry guys, that's just not intuitive.  

Since we are United States citizens I admit I didn't even think to fill out the CBPOne app which we didn't even know about until we reached the border but apparently it was okay.  We are all fully vaccinated including boosters and no one was sick so we were fairly confident in crossing both borders.   Again they scanned our passports and asked questions (including the one about  not bringing back any plants, fruits, or vegetables, or living things).  We did bring back pre-packed snacks that we declared at the border. We probably brought back some microbes that we unwittingly picked up but none of the other listed items. The really noticeable difference was the huge light flash as they so obviously took a picture of our vehicle and the occupants when we got up near the front of the line at the U.S. border.  They may have taken a picture as we approached and went through the Canadian border but if so it was a lot more subtle.  

The ongoing saga of B-B and B Part 17: Games of tag

 B and B-B love wrestling, teasing, playing keep away, and games of tag with each other among other things.  These two videos are examples of an almost daily occurrence of their on-going games of tag.