I took a drive up north towards Canada, not long ago, to explore the coast. The rock formations at Larrabee State Park, on the Samish Bay near Bellingham are fantastic. While clambering around them, I found a few bright purple sea stars – I used to call them starfish but I’ve learned better – and various limpets, barnacles and tiny snails.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Purple Star, or Pisaster ochraceus, common from Baja California to Alaska in mid-tidal zones. You can see barnacles under it – they eat barnacles and limpets, slowly prying them open with their many tube feet and then inserting their flexible stomachs to digest them. They’re sometimes orange, red or brown, and live to be 20 yrs old…I really am eager to see another one!

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I drove west towards Samish Island and saw this Great Blue Heron near a bridge at the mouth of the Samish River.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

An abandoned fishing boat was looking photogenic on the other side of the same bridge.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Samish Island, one of the Inner San Juan Islands, was quiet and peaceful.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Evening light on the bay – and it’s time to go home.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________