foxglove season in DuPont

trkr's hanging out with the foxgloves along one of DuPont's many walking trails. Typically, this trail is jam-packed with foxgloves--not sure if the drought this past winter really cut back on the foxgloves. The ones that bloomed this year were still gorgeous as ever.

Cold, Cold, Cold!!!

Ok, our two days of summer are now over. The past two days the temps hovered around the high 80s/low 90s. We settled down for a dinner of Copper River Salmon on the back deck early yesterday evening and it was SO COLD we all had to run inside and change out of shorts and t-shirts and don fleece pullovers and long pants. Yes, just another typical Northwest Summer. Reminds me of those funny NW beer commercials where the dudes are hanging out on a beach in Oregon wearing their ski coats and Elmer Fudd hats with earmuffs and they throw a beach ball toward these two 'beach babes' and the gale force gust of wind blows the beach ball well past the 'beach babes' who are also dressed in full winter coats and earmuffs. It really depicts our experiences on northwest area beaches--even in the middle of summer sometimes! ;)

HOT, HOT, HOT !!!

It's HOT in WA these days. Argh!!!! And I thought we left El Paso because it was too hot down there. ;) Yesterday and today it reached the high 80s around the Puget Sound region. It's only MAY!!! We're spending our days hiding from the sun now--isn't that why we moved up to Puget Sound in the first place??? Not that a job (or two) had anything to do with it. ;)

It always rains up here!

Yeah,

right...

;)



Don't let the secret out!

Oops...

Rusty and Retired at the Rusty Tractor in Elma, WA. Nice way to cap the day!

On our way home, stopped by a local good eats to snag one last geocache of the day. What a cool hiding spot!!!

Road to ??? Nowhere??? Notice how the road drops off the edge and the picks up again on the distant side? Interesting...

Stumbled upon this along Damon Point. The road appeared to be fairly new--wonder when the ground washed out from under it? You can see a little bit of the shipwreck to the right of the road.

Shipwrecked along Damon Point on Ocean Shores, WA.

Letterboxing along Damon Point and stumbled upon this shipwreck we'd learned about a couple of years ago. We just happened to be there at low tide where we could actually see it! It offered great protection from the gusting winds as we stamped into the final box of the series! Another beautiful day on the beach!!!

Even more animal tracks

Tiny fawn prints. As small as my index finger!!!

More animal tracks...

Not quite sure what this was. I'll have to drag out my scat and track book to figure out what all these tracks are.

Animal tracks continue

Interesting animal tracks...

Exploring a trail near the beach in Ocean Shores. We came across a section of the sand that had all sorts of animal tracks in it. The tracks on the left appear to be a doe and the center a fawn. The right is probably a big dog?

Interesting Afternoon

We spent the morning exploring Lake Quinault, the Quinault Rainforest and its environs. We spent most of the time seeking out new letterboxes in the region. After our adventure there, we headed back toward the coast by way of the Moclips Highway. Along the way, we spotted not one, but two bears. One was in the form of a small brown bear shimmying its way along the road. The other was the form of smokey. Ugh! Fortunately, we avoided altercations with both bears. Unfortunately, we were preoccupied when the cute little bear was wandering along the road and I wasn't able to snap a photo of it. Interestingly, this was very near the same spot where we'd seen a Mama Bear and her cub almost exactly 2 years ago. Cool!

From there, we headed back to Moclips to amend a letterbox. Then, it was off to Ocean Shores. We were on a mission to investigate some letterboxes that had appeared on Ocean Shores only a few days after we previously visited the area almost a year ago. Fortunately, all of the letterboxes were still alive & well after all that time. We found some neat new spots in the area and enjoyed some more time at the beach!

Giant Cedar Tree

Here's the base of the big tree. The entire tree wouldn't fit in my camera lens! :( The kids had fun exploring the nooks and crannies of the tree.

Cool walkway to the giant Cedar Tree

The wooden walkways to the BIG tree definitely had character all its own. It was 'wavy' in that every section alternated its slope--really pretty image and great 'traction' effect for what otherwise could have been just another slimy, slippery Pacific Northwest Rainforest trail walkway.

Another BIG tree!!!

rnrB displays her incredible strength as she pushes over an old growth cedar tree in the Quinault Rainforest! This was along our trek to the Big Cedar Tree along the North Shore of Lake Quinault. Imagine how big the BIG Cedar Tree was if this one in the picture WASN'T it!!!

Olympic NP Falls

Here's a waterfalls that appeared just after the 'not-so-formal' entrance to the Quinault Valley section of Olympic National Park. Had we not had the entire area to ourselves we probably would have missed these falls. What a beauty!

Lower Fork Quinault River

For the first time, we actually drove the ENTIRE loop around Lake Quinault and explored a bit of Olympic National Park, as well. At least half of this 30mile loop is a gravel road so that added to the 'adventure' of the day. Here's a view of the rushing Lower Fork Quinault River. It's swollen with melting snow and rainwater from the storms that had passed through the previous 4 days.

Bridge over falling waters

rnrB's enjoying a moment on the bridge spanning over the falls on Gatton Creek. The photo doesn't really demonstrate how high the bridge was above the water. Perhaps 25'? Definitely seek out the letterbox along this trail--don't skimp on the extra half mile to the falls--it's TOTALLY worth the effort!!!

Gatton Creek Falls

The gorgeous set of cascading waterfalls we discovered at the end of the trail. How beautiful! There was so much water cascading over the falls that it roared--even from several hundred meters away! What a lovely sight!

Fern Forest

We went for a short hike along the newly opened Gatton Creek trail in search of a letterbox and some waterfalls. We stumbled upon this beautiful fern forest along the way!

Waking up to a new day at Lake Quinault!

This is what we awoke to!!! A beautiful day along the shore of Lake Quinault. We could see the Olympic Mountains and even a couple of them had snow! Simply breathtaking!

Looking for the Loch Ness at Lake Quinault?

trkr enjoying a quiet moment along the shores of Lake Quinault. Believe it or not it was almost 9:30pm! It was a bit rainy throughout the evening. Nice time to 'car' camp as the ground was pretty soggy from all of the recent rains. The shore of the lake was about 50m from our car-camp site.

Camp Site

This little creek passed through our campground toward Lake Quinault. The kids and I enjoyed playing 'fir cones' in the creek--a modified game of Winnie the Pooh's 'sticks'. We dropped the fir cones at the top of the falls and watch the cones wind their way through the eddies as they headed off to the lake. Fun, rainy day games...

Big Sitka Spruce

rnrB & trkr hanging out on the lap of one of the world's largest Sitka Spruce trees. We camped just a couple hundred yards from this tree.

Big ol' tree

Found another big, old growth tree along our trek through the Quinault Rainforest. We took some trails we'd never taken before--this one was nearing the Cedar Bog along the Quinault Rainforest Loop Trail.

Thru the tubular tree

Here's a long, hollowed out western red cedar we came across on one of the trails in the Quinault Rainforest. Beautiful! Notice trkr and rnrB peeking through the distant end?

Quinault Rainforest

Nurse Stump

After some time at the beach, we headed inland for a trek about the Quinault Rainforest. We'd learned there were 10 new letterboxes in the region and wanted to check them out. Fun!

Clouds in the Surf

I love these photos of the clouds in the water. The water was smooth as glass as the tide was heading out.

Dall's Porpoise Calf washed ashore

Stumbled over a porpoise calf along the shore. This is definitely the PG rated picture--there wasn't much left of the rest of the body apart from its skeleton, internal organs and its head. Quite an interesting science class, though. I presume it's a Dall's Porpoise calf--although it was completely black and it's fluke is more pronounced than most images of a Dall's Porpoise suggest. Interesting!

spaghetti sand?

I always seem to find the oddest things along the beach. Here's sand that appeared like miniscule strands of spaghetti. The photo makes them look much bigger than they actually were. I have no clue why this happened. I'd welcome anybody's comments who might know what it is!

By the Wind Sailor up close

Velella Velella up close. This was about 2.5" across and about 2" tall. Vivid blue and translucent. Beautiful, but squishy slimy. ;)

velella velella as far as the eye can see!!!

The By the Wind Sailors (Velella Velella) must have gotten entangled in the storm that passed through the night before. They beached themselves everywhere!!! They were very fresh as most were still quite cobalt blue and moist. Within a few hours they had completely dried up and were blowing around in the wind.

Pacific Beach in the morning

Went for a run along the beach each morning and had it to myself!!! WOO HOO!!! This is Pacific Beach at its best!!!

Need a hint for one of our letterboxes???

Here's a major hint for our Broken Dreams letterbox. Find this plaque and you're 99% of the way there! ;) Sad story. :(

rainbow over Moclips

Spent some time at that 'favorite little secret beach' highlighted in Sunset Magazine known as Moclips. Found a beautiful rainbow hovering over in the clouds. Typical day at a Pacific Northwest beach. Notice the little sliver of a totem pole on the left? ;)

Perfection Falls in Olympic Mountains

Went geocaching in the Olympic Mountains and stumbled over beautiful Perfection Falls. Replicated a goat in actually finding this cache--certainly felt like a goat trail at parts. What's amazing is that these falls are about 16' high and we've seen pictures of kayakers actually going over the falls. Downright crazy!!!

instant mohawk!

Searching for purpose on the beach. trkr found an instant mohawk that actually matched his favorite 'Ukraine' orange turtleneck!!! ;)

dvn2r ckr, rnrB & trkr hanging out at the lodge

We found a bit of sunshine amidst all of the storms. It was a lovely weekend on the coast!

Pacific Beach Retreat

Pacific Beach Storm coming in

Hanging out on Pacific Beach as the first of many storms pass through the region. Interesting cloud formations!

moon a risin'

The moon's a risin' over my left shoulder. Notice the blue sky? This shot was taken toward the southeast, the island is to the northwest and the cumulus cloud was blowing to the north/northeast. Powerful storm!!!

We're heading out to the Pacific coast for a few days. I'm guessing we'll have a bunch of strong storms passing through during our time at the beach--not much fun for beachcombing but AWESOME for photography!!! Woo Hoo!!! Also might wash some interesting things ashore. Last year we saw a fairly 'new' gigantic sea lion carcass and the previous year we saw an orca calf--so we'll keep our eyes peeled for something unique.

sun a settin'

The sun drenching McNeill Island. The cumulus cloud is off to the right of the frame.

Puget Sound in May!!!

storm a brewin'

The next couple of photos were all snapped within a couple of seconds of eachother--from the same spot, just reoriented the camera. Here's a storm cloud that just blew through. This one is responsible for lifting a giant industrial canvas 'sun umbrella' with solid wooden pole (that weighs about 30 lbs) out of its marble and steel base and launching it about 30' away--over a deck full of heavy teak furniture and down a 12' drop off. That's how powerful this storm was. The cumulus cloud was really pretty.

Liberty, our Bald Eagle--high atop a Mercer Island snag

So, we survive the 8 mile drive through the deluge from West Seattle and make it safely to Mercer Island--smack dab in the middle of Lake Washington. We dart into the store for our two tubs of ice cream. Then, as is often the case in my life, I remember that I have a letterbox to 're-place' back in a local park. If we don't get it back in place today, it won't likely be replanted for weeks--so we HAVE to do it now! So, leaving the ice cream to melt in the car, we dash the 1/2 mile to replant the letterbox. From the time we departed West Seattle, drove the 8 miles through the driving rain, through the time we purchase the ice cream and actually reach the park where the letterbox resides, about 30 minutes have elapsed. Notice the blue sky in this photo??? Yes, if we didn't like the partly cloudy skies about 2 hours before this, or the driving deluge less than 30 minutes before this, then we absolutely HAVE to love the clear blue sky that emerged after the deluge. Yes, if you don't like the weather in Seattle, just wait 30 minutes!!!

By the way, this is our resident Bald Eagle perched high in his/her snag near the hiding spot of our Calkins Point letterbox I so wish I had a better telephoto lens on my camera. :( Each summer, we watch the Navy's Blue Angels fly through the skies with our Bald Eagle buddy, Liberty--here in his/her snag!!!

By the way, the ice cream survived our trek!!! ;)

Sunny (Rainy) Seattle

rnrB & trkr hanging out with Lady Liberty in West Seattle


The running joke around the Pacific Northwest is if you don't like the weather wait a half hour and then you will. We decided to spend some time today hanging out around Alki Beach. When we first headed to the beach we were enjoying partly blue skies with a hint of clouds. We dined on a scrumptious lunch of albacore tuna salad with toasted pumpkin seeds, sprouts on 10 grain bread, mac & cheese and the most delicious chocolate crinkle cookies ever--at Alki Bakery. Then we combed the beach looking for polished glass. We always have great luck at Alki Beach in the polished glass hunt--I presume it's because the beach is subject to strong currents from where the Port of Seattle meets Puget Sound, the Duwamish River and the ever present shipping lane traffic. We usually leave Alki Beach with a ziploc full of highly polished glass of all sorts of colors--much more than what we ever seem to find at our beach much further South of Seattle.

As we combed the beach today we also found two small animals--one a lion and the other an orca. I was starting to wonder if a shipping container of plastic animals dumped its cargo somewhere around the Pacific!

Well, after combing the beach for about an hour, the weather suddenly changed for the worse. Thunder, lighting and a major deluge hit from out of nowhere. Fortunately, we made it to the refuge of our car before the worst hit. We hightailed it out of the area and as we made the 8 mile drive back to Mercer Island we experienced some of the most torrential downpours we've ever experienced in the Seattle area. There were times during the 8 mile drive that we literally could not see anything through the windshield. It was that bad!

Eventually we reach Mercer Island and make a run for Tillamook Ice Cream at the local grocery store. Mint chocolate chip is the BEST!!! We also took a gamble on Ben & Jerry's newest flava "Marsha Marsha Marshmallow". It's a winner! Although, I'll still have to pit it directly against Chubby Hubby to see which one will ultimately become my personal favorite. If they made either flava in mint, then that one would win hands down!!!

does life imitate art?

Funny--this whole blog started because of the interesting parallels I noticed between Don Quixote and my own life. I've progressed much further through the daunting task of actually reading Don Quixote (yes, I just surpassed the halfway point) and have noticed a few more key 'passages' that bear great resemblence to my own experiences.

As to our recent trips through China, Korea, up and down the entire West Coast (US) and New Orleans:

"There is no more of my story to tell you, gentlemen. I leave it to you to judge whether it is strange and entertaining. I can only say that I wish I had told it you more briefly, though fear of boring you has caused me to omit a great number of details."

This very much echoes Marco Polo's final words: "I have not told half of what I have seen".

Another interesting passage is: "I know it by experience, for I've come off blanket-tossed from some and bruised from others. But, for all that, it's a nice thing to be looking out for incidents, crossing mountains, searching woods, climbing rocks, visiting castles, and lodging at inns at your pleasure, with the devil a farthing to pay." :)

These recent trips have taught us so many interesting lessons. We've seen historical sites that prior to the trip we could only have imagined ever setting our eyes upon, we've met people that with mere seconds of interaction have changed our lives for the better, we've climbed upon ancient structures, flown down the slopes of the Great Wall via tobbogan, walked through passageways at one time reserved only for THE emperor himself, ridden in a pedi-cab, dined on Peking Duck in Beijing (complete with head & beak served on the platter), climbed the City Wall of Xi'an, came face to face with the Terracotta Warriors and Bronze Chariots of Emperor Qin, served living octopi over a BBQ grill, walked among ancient pit-houses in a prehistoric settlement on the banks of the Han River in Seoul, explored caves and volcanic craters of Cheju Island, come face to face with alligators and snakes on Bayou trails, ridden the historic street cars of the Big Easy, dined on VooDoo BBQ, observed the Golden Gate Bridge from the Marin Headlands, spent the night in a lighthouse on the CA Coast and an old Victorian mansion in Sacramento, seen hanggliders launch off the cliffs near San Diego, watched the ocean waves crash beneath the Scripps Mansion, saw Elephant Seals mating near San Simeon, combed the beaches of CA for jade, wandered through thousands of Monarch butterflies in Pismo Beach, visited the Panda Bears at the San Diego Zoo three weeks before they conceived their newest 'baby'--the list goes on and on! Wow! The comment that we have only told half of what we saw really does accurately portray our own recent experiences!

Art imitating life or vice versa? ;)

Back to work...

Back to work--just in time to miss great weather and the great outdoors. :( Everyday I remember more bits about our trip to China and Korea that I probably failed to mention in our journal.

Riding as a passenger in a vehicle in China really altered my 'experience' as a driver back in the US. The streets in China (and to a small extent in Korea as well) were so crowded that folks (regardless of type of vehicle) were driving almost like 'ions'--ricocheting off of every 'imaginable' surface one would see along a road, structure, sidewalk, you name it. It just seemed like you had to be 'prepared' at all times for almost anything to dart out in front of your intended path. Folks didn't seem to 'clear' their paths when they changed lanes and would pass on the right, left, you name it--but they'd always preface their 'action' with a short 'toot' of the horn to let folks in the vicinity (who were being passed blindly) know that somebody was overtaking them in a blind spot. This honking would be misinterpreted in the US as rude behavior and probably eventually would lead to road rage. Never saw that happen in China--in fact, it just seemed to be the 'norm' as opposed to the exception.

Back to navigating the US interstates in our area since our recent trip has really become 'less exciting' than the streets of China and Korea. Driving in Korea had changed 'considerably' for the better between our time living there from 97-98 to now. It's almost like everybody went through driver's ed and learned what a stop sign and red light actually meant! Funny, in China, I don't recall ever seeing anybody blatantly running a stop sign or a red light--which had been the norm in Korea back in the 90s.

Just odd musings, I suppose.

When we went out for a 'walkabout' Beijing on our final night in China, we came across these teenaged boys who were wearing these 'half skates' on their shoes. It was really interesting. It looked a bit like those shoes with built in 'skates' in the sole but these were metal contraptions that you strap onto your shoe's heel and they had two high speed rollerskate wheels that would fall just on the outer sides of your heel. I tried them on thinking they'd be really easy to use--especially because I've spent a lot of time inline-skating, rollerskating and ice skating over the years. These 'half-skates' were almost impossible to figure out. They seemed to be 'opposite' of skating--you lean into your knees and had to balance your legs in sort of an A-frame effect simply to 'roll forward or backward' with the contraptions. Just as it seemed you'd figure the devices out, you'd fall on your bottom or the front of your shoe (without the wheels) would catch the surface and propel you to the ground--unless you could quickly re-catch your balance. Interesting! I asked some questions about the 'half-skates' and learned they were designed by a Korean entrepreneur, built in China and retail for about $35. I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest in a pair knowing they'd probably ensure I broke a collar bone in the future. But they were certainly interesting to study and attempt. I guess it's only a matter of time before we see kids 'heel skating' around the country. ;)

Purple Sunset

And a few more seconds after the 'blue sunset' picture. It's incredible!

Blue Sunset

Just a few seconds after the 'golden sunset' picture...

Golden Sunset

This is why we call this area home! We experience a rainbow of sunsets and sunrises around these parts--and occasionally the Northern Lights (when we're lucky and the neighbor turns off his awful halogen porch lights).

Crab Season!!!

Dungeness Season!!!

Went back to our beach (I wish) for a while today to beachcomb. Found a teeny, tiny Dungeness Crab and the remnants of an adult Dungeness. Thought the contrast in size was rather interesting. Not sure why the small one died--it was essentially hollow but all its limbs where there. Not sure what did it in. The big one obviously suffered the wrath of something more destructive--sea lions, sea gulls, the resident/transient orca pod? Who knows?

Outrageous Rhodie!!!

The rhododendrons are blooming all around. The colors are absolutely brilliant!!!

Home sweet home!!!

Traveling always makes you appreciate life back at home. Here's our beach. ;) We had it all to ourselves this morning! The first things the kids did was to start digging a hole, to China! Trkr said he could almost see the Great Wall again! ;)

The actual size of it!

This jelly was pretty tiny--here it is next to my thumbnail! About the size of a sanddollar.

Jellies, Jellies everywhere!

Look what the tide brought in...

I absolutely love jellies! That is when I don't touch them (I've been stung way too many times-scuba/snorkeling). I can watch moon jellies swimming in an aquarium for hours!!! I thought the 'ribs' of this one were pretty interesting.

My favorite rocky beach!

Here's the 'sand' at Saltars Point. Love these rocks! We watched the surf for a bit and noticed flying fish--everywhere! Not sure if they were chum, smelt, frys--you name it, whatever young salmon returning to salt waters are called. They were jumping at least a foot to two feet out of the calm water! I took at least a dozen photos attempting to catch one 'mid-jump' but alas it never happened. Hence, the resulting 'sand' photo instead. :)

Whew...we made it! Hanging out on Puget Sound.

We went out for a run today and the weather was beautiful. Took trkr out in the stroller but rnrB had the privilege of running right along with me for our 4 mile route. Of course, the 'beach' at the end of the tunnel helped motivate her along the way! ;) I only posted this photo for trkee to see my new haircut. It got whacked!!!