Visitng Portland

Pictures 1-2: Portland is doing a lot to encourage alternative forms of transportation. In addition to supporting electric cars, there are lots of designated bike lanes with many bikers using them, and an extensive light rail and trolley system.


Picture 3: At the Chinese Garden.


Picture 4: At the Japanese Garden.


Picture 5: Madeleine joins the body art generation. View it here. It will be worn off by the time we return home.

Water flowing downhill in all its glory

Picture 1: Upper Horseshoe Falls (Pony Falls), Columbia River Gorge.

Picture 2: Multnomah Falls, Columbia River Gorge.

Picture 3: Wahkeena Falls, Columbia River Gorge.

Picture 4: Weisendanger Falls, Columbia River Gorge.

Picture 5: Wahkeena Falls, Columbia River Gorge.

Water still flowing downhill

Picture 1: Sunbeam Creek in Mt. Ranier NP.

Picture 2: Ohanapecosh River Falls at Mt. Ranier NP.

Picture 3: Narada Falls at Mt. Ranier NP.

Picture 4: One of the many lovely streams along Skyline Trail in Mt. Ranier NP.

Picture 5: Sol Duc Falls in Olympic NP.

The locks at the Bonneville Dam

We stopped to see the Bonneville Dam along the Columbia River. We happened to time it just before a tugboat arrived pushing three huge barges strapped together.

Picture 1: The lower locks open so that the barges can continue their route down the Columbia toward the coast.

Picture 2: The barges and tug are designed so that the combination of tug and barges just fits within the lock, with literally inches to spare!

Picture 3: Old cars on their final trip.

Mt. Ranier National Park

Picture 1: The majestic Mt. Ranier.


Picture 2: What can happen along the road. This is normally a narrow 2-lane road.


Pictures 3-4: In contrast to the amazing blue color of Crater Lake that we sent last time, the emerald green of the Ohanapecosh River is due to a combination of its pure water sources – winter snow melt – and the vegetation and organisms in the river. The Nisqually River, which is fed by the Nisqually Glacier, is milky white in color, as are all the active-glacier-fed rivers.

Climbing the Skyline Trail at Paradise in Mt. Ranier NP

Picture 1: A marmot among the wildflowers.

Picture 2: A group of would-be climbers, training on the snow before beginning their ascent of Mt. Ranier.

Picture 3: We made it! This is the well-named Panorama Point at 6800' where you can see Mt. Adams, Mt. Hood in Oregon and Mt. St. Helens.

The Hoh Rain Forest, Olympic National Park

Pictures 1-2: Moss completely covers certain trees in this incredibly lush temperate rain forest, one of only a few in the world. Unlike our familiar vines back home that often destroy or stunt the trees they grow on, an undergraduate student who loved climbing trees researched the symbiotic relationship between the moss and the tree.

Picture 3: A crytal-clear stream with plants shimmering thru the water and moss hanging down from overhead trees.

Enjoying the tide pools at Hole in the Wall at Rialto Beach in Olympic National Park

Picture 1: We've seen rocks like these all along the Oregon and Washington coasts. It is always amazing to see trees growing out of what appears to be solid rock.

Picture 2-5: Wandering the beach at Hole in the Wall at low tide. There were tons of star fish of varying colors and lots of sea anemones.

Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park

Pictures 1 -2: As we hiked the Hurricane Hill Trail on Hurricane Ridge, Madeleine was able to get a couple of good pictures of the Olympic Range before the weather shut down.

Picture 3: Our string of good luck for great photo opportunities on our hikes ran out at the top of the hike. Here is the view into the void.

Picture 4: However, we were rewarded in a different way. As we sat on a log eating our lunch, a small buck followed by his mother sauntered to within 20 feet of us, contentedly and fearlessly munching on some favorite greens. Madeleine was in position at just the right instant for this one.

Picture 5: Beautificul fields of wildflowers along the trail. We saw lots of them in Mt. Ranier NP as well, making up for our disappointment at being too earlier for the wildflowers at Tuolumne Meadows in Yosemite.

Unexpected treats - Port Angeles

Picture 1: Everywhere on the Olympic peninsula, there are fields of lavender, beautiful to behold and with wonderful fragrance. It is a big industry here. This picture was from an herb farm in Sequim WA.


Pictures 2-4: A great outdoor wooded art space with the art pieces designed to fit the environment. There were dozens of objects using many different media. Part of the fun was spotting them as we wandered thru the woods.

More unexpected Treats - around Chehalis WA

Picture 1: While staying in Chehalis, WA to get our RV fixed, we drove up to Tacoma to see the Museum of Glass and the glass bridge designed by favorite son and world renowned glass artist, Dale Chihuly. This picture shows Chihuly works mounted on the bridge.

Pictures 2-3: On the way back to Chehalis we drove thru Centralia WA and stumbled upon this house with a huge yard full of found art, i.e., art made from found objects. The resident and creator of these works is shown in Picture 3. He goes by the name Rich Art. These two pictures cannot convey the physical scope of what he has created.