Guemes Island 3

The roadsides on Guemes Island are covered with all kinds of wonders in the spring.  The Wild Celery (well, that is what we called it while growing up in Southeast Alaska) was in bloom and lined the roads for miles and miles.

 Vast plantations of it - sweeping up the hilly roadsides.

 In perfect flowering - the bees were very busy

 I'm not sure of this one - it looks sort of like Queen Anne's Lace - it was just beginning to bloom.

 I've heard it called Wild Carrot also.

 And the areas not covered with the larger Wild Celery, were blanketed with Queen Anne's Lace (I'll just call it that for now).  Whatever it is - it is simply gorgeous in the sun!

 And what could be prettier than wild roses in back - a fairy garden!!

 Along one fenced property were many plants of Honeysuckle.

 The scent on a sunny day is breathtaking!!!!

 And clambering up the trees and filling in spaces in the hedges alongside the roads was Wild Honeysuckle - locally called Twin Berry  (Lonicera involucrata) as in the autumn the fruit/seeds of the plant have berries in pairs.  A great food for the birds.

 And sweet little Fringe Cups - they don't get any bigger than this - with a tiny fringe of pink on the outer edges of the blossoms.

 And Scotch Broom (Cytisus scoparius) - though pretty to look at - has been declared a noxious weed in most areas - it has big seed pods that spread seeds everywhere and it blankets any area left untended.

 There was the bright yellow Scotch Broom and the bi-color.

 And just a few plants of wild Lupines - only the yellow ones this time - we did see purple ones but not in areas that we could stop for a photo.

And in the swampy areas - wild iris - brightening any day.

Thanks for coming along to Guemes Island again - more to come.

Mosaic Monday

Critters on Guemes Island

We have such wonderful adventures on Guemes Island - and here are some of the critters we came across - and sometimes it is just a matter of seconds and we might not have seen them.  They move in and out of sight so quickly.

 Luckily I had the camera ready - dancing across the road in front of us, the deer was quickly gone into the dense woods.

 We had never seen an eagle on Guemes Island - we saw two this time - but one flew off before I could get a photo.  This one was more patient and waited on this limb for almost an hour.

 And then there were turkeys.  The babies appeared first - looking a lot like little bugs on the roadside - then Mama came for protection.

 Come on - follow me - lets hide in the grass.

 Calling to her babies Mama  urged them to follow - though it took them some time to scramble through the thick roadside cover.  It was fun to listen to her clucks and calls to the babies.

 Wait for us - wait for us!!!!

 And a BIG fish - oh oops - that's a mailbox - but what a fun mailbox critter.

 And as we approached the ferry dock for our return home, here was a girl with her two ponies, sauntering along the road.

Saturday's Critters

Guemes Island 1

There is a small island off Anacortes, WA - Guemes Island (Gwee-mus) - it is not on the regular Washington State Ferry system, but does have a small car ferry that runs about every half hour, most days.  It is a 5 minute ride across to the island.

 The roadsides are lined with wild roses - sometimes growing to well over 15 feet high - and for several years we've gone to Guemes Island just a little too late to see them in all their glory.

 So this year we watched our local wild roses - and when they were in full bloom we headed to the Guemes ferry - hoping to catch the roses there in bloom.

 From the ferry we have a great view of Mt. Baker - off to the North East

 And boats passing in the channel - it was a brilliant sunny day, perfect for an outing.

 And there were the roses - everywhere you looked - beautiful roses!!!

 The bees were busy - coming in for a landing.

 One of the first things we saw after we left the ferry was the Washington State Ferry that services the San Juan Islands - pulling into the ferry dock at the other end of Anacortes

 A much larger ferry than the one to Guemes - which holds only about 20 cars.

 Roses - roses - roses

There is lots more to see on Guemes - come back later - we'll show you around - mailboxes, birds, flowers and funky things.