A Whale Tale

Today is our daughter's birthday!! Happy Birthday to FoxyJ!! She is spending the day with her sister and they are at the beach. It is the chilly, damp Oregon beach, where one doesn't frolic in the surf, but walks along in the mist and admires the shells and the scent and ... c'mon---it's the ocean--how can it be bad?

Actually, she was inspired to go there from an article in Sunset Magazine, a family favorite periodical. The March issue had an story about great places in the west for a weekend getaway, and Depoe Bay was featured.  It's a whale watching destination and I can't think of a better place for her to get away to for a pleasant, brief vacation. And, I really, really hope she can finally see some migrating whales.

We've tried a few times to do that, over the years. We had some wonderful experiences in our attempts, but we didn't get to see a single whale... I don't know how we managed to do that, either. We lived for a total of twenty years right on the coast that is the main migration route for the California gray whale population as they leave Scammons Lagoon each year and head north for their summer homes off the coast of Alaska. We'd go to various viewing locations and watch and watch, but, although we saw a couple of spouts out there, we never saw a whale. One year, we actually took a whale watching boat trip in the Santa Barbara Channel---a location that should have a crossing guard for the baby whales, and yet....that day...no whales. Sigh.

So here's wishing her a happy, happy birthday---filled with spouts and flukes and baleen and barnacles. And lots  and lots of spyhopping!

We were on top of Point Loma in San Diego in a prime whale watching location, but saw only a couple of far-off spouts. However, you can lie down on the painted outline of a gray whale to get an idea of their size. (1983-ish)

This is at the base of Point Loma, in the tide pools and, while you can't really see whales from here, you sure can see a lot of other things that live in the ocean.  (1985)

You can find bones, or coral or rocks or something wonderful....

This is along the coast just south of Monterrey Bay. We'd spent a weekend at the aquarium there, where there are life-sized replicas of whales hanging from the ceiling. Again...none in the wild. (1990)

Now here's a dear old friend of the birthday girl!  Shamu! Her first love...and Dad worked hard at the arcade and won her the giant stuffed Shamu to take home and love forever.   (1991)

Here she is on the bow of the whale watching boat in the Santa Barbara Channel. We went out during Christmas vacation and anticipation was high to, finally, see some migrating whales. We were smack in the middle of the largest marine preserve on the west coast. She stood out there and was rimed with salt and soaked with spray. She reminded me of the way a farm dog leans out over the side of the pick-up truck as he rides down through the fields. Pure joy... (1993)

So, this week as these same two sisters, now grown women, spend some time together on the coast, I hope that they finally get to see some whales. But even if they don't, they'll have a super time anyway, I bet, enjoying one another and the sea.