August 6, 2014
It was another day on Samish Island, and we had a full day planned. Most of this involved taking care of some family business in town, but there were opportunities for shopping and photography.
One thing I wanted to do was try some time lapse photography on the island. I had done this before, but that was with limited equipment. I had an iPad, which I couldn’t leave outside for extended periods. Now, with the GoPro, I could set up a session and leave it for much longer.
My first attempt was actually yesterday evening. I set up the camera and let it run for a couple of hours over the late afternoon, evening. While the GoPro worked great and I like the overall view, the wide angle made it so that I couldn’t capture the incoming tide as I wanted.
So, this morning before leaving to run our errands I set up another session in roughly the same area. I left it running while we took off.
Our first trip out was to the town of La Conner. This town on the Swinnomish Channel is one of our favorite places. We started with lunch at one of our favorite eateries, the Calico Cupboard. They had expanded with seating outside overlooking the Rainbow Bridge and channel.
We walked up and down the streets, wandering into some of our favorite shops. One I particularly like is The Wood Merchant. If I had tons of money, my house would be completely furnished with stuff from here.
One of our tasks was to check out Laura’s mother’s safe deposit box. From La Conner we drove into Burlington and found the correct bank branch. With a bit of assistance from the bank staff we were given access to the box. Most of the contents were innocuous – bank statements, birth and marriage certificates, a patent held by Mr. Wright, a stock certificate for long defunct company, and an Elgin watch that belonged to some great something or other.
Also in the box was a small box labeled “Nome, Alaska.” When we opened it we found a few trinkets, and two small gold nuggets.
Laura told me the story behind these. Her great great grandfather left his family in North Dakota to seek his fortune in the Klondike during gold rush days. He never returned to North Dakota, and started a new second family in Alaska. The weird thing was, he used the same names for his new kids as he used for the ones back home. I’m sure that’s got to be confusing for genealogists.
Even though he never returned home, apparently he occasionally sent things back to his original family, including these two gold nuggets. Laura’s mom discovered them in her grandmother’s freezer when she passed away.
Internet access is sparse on the island, and I had determined not to use cell data to upload photos. After sorting through and documenting the items at the bank, we grabbed a cup of coffee at the nearby Starbucks so I could use their Internet and upload the photos I’d taken so far. Their data speed was slow as molasses, so I got a few images uploaded, then gave up.
Back at home I checked out what I’d captured in the GoPro. The morning clouds were neat, but again, I couldn’t seem to capture the incoming tide. Also, I wasn’t there to change the battery, so I was limited to whatever it could capture in a limited time.