Day 11 :: Pictures of the Town I Live In

This will be like a travel brochure for the Blaine and Birch Bay area. 

These are some of the best places to play and eat when you come visit.

Also included are ACTUAL pictures from ACTUAL visitors. 

I love visitors. 

We will start from the Southern part of Birch Bay and move Northward.

The first area you must visit is 

POINT WHITEHORN

It's a family friendly 3/4 mile through the forest to staircase that takes you down to a fun beach.

Driftwood forts, views, rocks to throw. 

We always bring visitors here because you never know what you're gonna get. 

The ocean surprises us with new things to explore. 

And if there is a negative tide - so much wildlife to see!

Next as you go up along Birch Bay Drive, you see lots of beach areas to explore - a State Park with orderly rules, 

or the wild west where you can do anything you like: light an explosive, cook weenies over any fire you wish to make, ride in the back of the truck. 

Of course I'm talking about 

BIRCH BAY

We spent so much time here for covid school. 

The water is shallow, so it's usually warmer than other areas to swim.  

The sunsets are the best at this spot. So many people pulled off the road to watch the sky in the evening. 

High tide to swim, low tide to walk out for miles. 

If you come for the Fourth of July, expect shock and awe. 

Next we drive along Semiahmoo Parkway to the best spot for jumping off the dock, or having a weenie roast.

SEMIAHMOO

On a clear day, it's the best place to spy Mount Baker.

Now it's time to head in to the Blaine area.

Drive along the scenic Drayton Harbor Road,

You will probably get stopped by a train, especially if you are late for soccer practice. 

Welcome to BLAINE

Downtown Blaine is where we will go to sit on the wall and eat Edalleen Ice Cream. 

Or take your ice cream to the beautiful Starbuck and sit by the fire. 

Some of our favorite restaurants are on this road: 

Paso, Chada Thai, Taco Truck.

There's good burgers at Gateway, Indian at Namaste, macarons at L&L Bakery. 

Our final stop will be at the very most North, where you can step foot into Canada if you like.

PEACE ARCH PARK

Thank you for visiting me, please come again soon!

I went down such a rabbit hole looking for pictures of visitors. 

I want to post one thousand more pictures!

FIVE YEARS AGO

Day 10 :: What's in My Makeup Bag

 

This is the same answer every time: I put hair on my eyelashes, hair on my eyebrows.

Serum to grow eyelashes, Tretinoin to *get rid of wrinkles and acne scars*.

I also now have microbladed my eyebrows so that I have *eyebrows*.

I also have done some microneedling to get rid of acne scars. 

The main thing that needs added to this list since the last time I talked about this stupid topic is:

SPIRONALACTONE

The wonder drug that I take daily to stop the hormonal acne I've had all my life.

It works the best and has no side affects. It worked immediately. 

I started taking it in December 2021. 

Here are the pictures I sent Teledoc to initiate the prescription:

I know what you're thinking: 

Kelli those pictures are terrible, and I know. I actually left the worst one out, so there you go. But this was my skin three years ago, deep painful zits. 

Now this is me just a few minutes ago. 

I rarely get zits anymore! yay! 

But somehow the wrinkles don't stop. hmmmm. No magic pill for that situation. 

Here I am in the wild. 

Avery is also on acne meds - accutane - and it's amazing how much it's working already!

The banality of this question is so stark compared to the realization that we are a little blue marble floating around in the dark of space. 

*that's how I transitioned my last two blog posts of this same topic*

Let me explain:

Saturday we went to yet another flight museum. It was a super rainy day, so this was a fun indoor outing. 

This museum in Skagit Valley was founded by the guy/astronaut (Bill Anders) who took this famous picture "Earthrise":

Do you know the story behind this photo? I didn't:

The Surprise of Earthrise

Having slowed the capsule, Apollo 8's crew began recording and exploring the lunar surface. For the first three orbits, the capsule remained in its "backwards" orientation relative to its flight path. It wasn't until the fourth orbit, while Borman was reorienting the capsule, that the astronauts could see for the first time the blue Earth coming up over the grey terrain that had absorbed their attention. From the onboard transcript:

Anders: "Oh my, look at that picture over there! Here's the Earth coming up. Wow, is that pretty!

Borman: "Hey don't take that, it's not scheduled." (laughter) 

Anders: "You got a color film, Jim? Hand me a roll of color, quick, will you?"

Lovell: "Oh man, that's great!"

With that conversation, which conveys the astronauts' surprise and delight, and a quick film change on the part of Bill Anders, the greatest image of the 20th Century was captured.

After 20 hours circling the Moon at two hours per orbit, the astronauts had completed all programmed tasks and their scheduled ten lunar orbits. It was time to head home. 

The Earthrise image was more or less forgotten by the astronauts as the workload of the return trip overtook them. Several weeks after Apollo 8's voyage, a NASA image technician who was routinely processing the film selected Earthrise from the mission's many lunar images, realizing immediately that it was something special.

So it was by complete surprise that this iconic shot of the earth was captured. 

they realized, "we came to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered Earth." 

It made us realize how fragile and serene the earth is out in that big black void. 

Can you imagine seeing a picture of the Earth in the wild for the first time? 

So much awe. 

It puts how inconsequential we are into perspective. 

And yet "the worth of souls is great in the sight of God".

(the very thing we are studying this week in the scriptures)

FIVE YEARS AGO