Mount St. Helens, 1986 (2)

Mount Rainier From Plane

Here's a Skywatch Friday shot of Mount Rainier, on the way back from South Korea last year.

Mount St. Helens, 1986 (1)

When we were there back in 1986 the mountain was fogged in, so all we could see was the destruction from the famous 1980 eruption.

1986 Olympic Mountains Deer

Camera Critters

Saturday's Critters

1986 Olympic Mountains (4)

1986 Olympic Mountains (3)

1986 Olympic Mountains (2)

1986 Olympics!

The Olympic Mountains in Washington State, that is, from a 1986 visit. They're not far from Seattle.

Spokane Falls

I was in Spokane, in the east of Washington State once very briefly back in 1996. The only photo I'm posting is of the waterfall in the city.

Vintage Weekly

Happy Thanksgiving

To all those who celebrate it, Happy Thanksgiving. Until we moved to the United States, we had never heard of it, but here it's a major holiday, with most companies giving employees a four-day weekend. It's a time to spend with family and friends, and to give thanks for our blessings. I don't have a themed photograph for it, but since this is a photo blog here's a 1986 photo of Mount Rainier scanned from an old slide.

Skywatch Friday

Vintage Weekly

Rattlesnake Ledge & Drums

Going back to our Mach trip to the Seattle area, this photo shows where a hike was intended to lead. We didn't make it to the top because of the snow.

But the nearby visitor center had a famous drum exhibit, in which the drums are played by  raindrops.

It's a quick post for Our World Tuesday.

Seattle Waterfront

From a spring trip to Seattle, here are a couple of photos of the waterfront. I liked this railing.

The Ferris Wheel was new since last time we were there.

It's my entry for the Our World Tuesday and Blue Monday memes.

Downtown Bellevue Park

Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle) has a nice downtown park. Here are some photos, focusing on the water features.

You can see lots of other parts of our planet by visiting the excellent Our World Tuesday meme.

Washington Skies

A couple of weeks ago I posted some photos from a hike in Washington State. Here are a couple more photos from that hike. First here's a moss-covered tree with a little snow, in some glorious sunshine.

And here's one looking straight up through those tall Washington pine trees.

These seemed right for Skywatch Friday.

Snowy Rattlesnake Ledge Trail

Back in March we were in the Seattle area to visit family. We went for a little hike in the mountains west of the city, on a trail that leads to Rattlesnake Ledge. It had snowed the night before, and it made for a uniquely beautiful hike in the rain forest.

The snow and moss-covered trees were an unusual combination.

The trees in this part of the world are so different from the dry pine forests where I live.

It was so damp that the lens started to fog up, which made for a couple of interesting photos.

This is part of Our World Tuesday, and certainly qualifies for the weekly theme of "beautiful" over at Tina's PicStory.

Washington Flowers

From our Washington trip last month, here are some of the flowers we saw. First, two photos from the downtown Bellevue park:

And finally some flowers from Seattle itself.

Tina's PicStory theme this week is April flowers; we don't have any where I live yet but these from our March vacation will have to do. And of course, they're an entry for Our World Tuesday.

Downtown Bellevue Park Trees

For Skywatch Friday, here are some tree photos from the downtown park in Bellevue, near Seattle, on a typically mostly-cloudy day last week.

Guess Where I've Been

I just got back from visiting relatives. If you don't know where this is, just look at the labels below the post. But it's a pretty distinctive landmark so you can probably guess!

Both photos were taken on Saturday, but I'm back in Colorado again. I'm linking this post to Our World Tuesday, as well as to Tina's PicStory as this week's theme is March Flowers. We had a little of every type of weather while we were there - sun, rain, and snow, so there are lots of varied photos to come.

Helicopters in Seattle

I found these last couple of photos left over from last year's trip to Seattle. These were taken along the waterfront, catching some type of rescue training by the Coast Guard.

It was probably more interesting to see in person than the photographs show. But it's my post for Our World Tuesday, and it does capture the classic grey Seattle skies (it was raining at the time).

Here's a quick wildfire update. 17,827 acres have burned, 346 homes burned, and 2 people lost their lives. I still can't get back into my office building but I consider myself lucky. Containment is at 55%. Hopefully the worst is over for the fire, but there are a lot of people who have lost everything.

OMG Grade Pears

I'm going back to last May for these shots from Seattle. These are from the famous market, and cover several memes. First, they're for Our World Tuesday.

Lots of flowers were for sale.

Seafood too, tastefully arranged!

And for Tina's PicStory theme of fruits, as well as the Signs Signs meme, here are some incredible pears, as well as ordinary apricots and cherries.

We always visit this market when we're in the Seattle area.