South on a Jet Plane

I've left my corner for a few days and have headed south to my old home, Texas. The flight was clear and allowed for some shots from the air as I was leaving Washington.

Mt. St. Helens

Mt. Rainier

I took this photo as we were landing at Dallas Love Field. The white building in the background is a special place. It is Southwest Airlines Headquarters. I spent many hours there when my mom worked for a VP. There were parties out on the deck on Fridays in the summer and Halloween around that place was amazing back in the 1990s. Departments used to decorate their whole workspace with different elaborate themes. Schools would even come in to tour them. I wanted to snap a photo of the building and it seems just right to have part of the wing of one of their planes in it too.

Officially in Dallas. Well at least for a day or so and then I'll be headed further south. I forget how flat it is here.

Long Days

Summer in the north means long days. It doesn't seem to get dark until 9:30 or 10:00 and this means that after work there is plenty of time for a short road trip or hike. Friday night I found myself in the mood for the mountains. So I drove the 18 miles to the what feels like the top of the world and even found a bit of snow.

Sol Duc

A couple of weeks ago on a sun filled Saturday afternoon I enjoyed a hike to Sol Duc Falls in ONP. The trail was fairly easy, washed out in a few places and there were some fallen trees in others. The easiest and shortest trail was of course in the best shape with the Lovers Lane Loop in a little less than great shape from the winter storms we had out here this past year. It was a good hike though. Here are some photos from the day.

Its been a month

A busy month. I've been given the chance to learn some new things at work and so my work schedule has changed a bit and lets just say I'm WAY out of practice to work full time hours. I've gone soft! The new schedule is giving me the last week of the month off. I am enjoying the idea of a week off every month this summer. It should be a real treat.

I'm managed to get out hike at Sol Duc in ONP, visit the Seattle Art Museum, and I've made a new tradition of heading down to the water for sunset as often as possible. Here are some pictures to share with you from some of my recent adventures.

Sunset at Salt Creek - a local county park

Sunset at Hurricane Ridge - We hosted some gals from the Methodist Church in Tucker, GA and timed a visit to the Ridge on their last night here perfectly. They got to enjoy the sunset and a snowball fight in June. The weather was really warm even in the mountains that night. It was perfect!

Sunset this last Tuesday night at Ediz Hook. It was really pretty!

Last night at Ediz Hook - I got there a few minutes earlier than I normally do and I was able to get a few shots of Hurricane Ridge. Can't believe how much snow has already melted off the mountains. Our weather this June hasn't been normal. It has been warm and sunny instead of cool and rainy. I don't mind though.

Last night is was quite windy and so the waves were crashing out on the Hook. It was a wonderful sunset color wise and also with the sound of the waves crashing against the rocks.

A Rather Large Visitor

On Thursday this week Port Angeles had a rather large visitor, Holland America's Statendam. Her passengers arrived after a rather nasty week of weather. I was so glad that at least the sun came out to greet them. It is always a joy to have a cruise ship docked in town. I only wish they would come more often.

Here are a few more shots as she was leaving the harbor. The one above I took from my deck as she passed the house.

The Statendam passes the City Pier

Statendam heading out into the Straits

Cold Fog Clearing

Finally after almost two weeks I'm getting better and the fog is clearing out of my head. I still have a lingering cough that I could do without, but it could be worse. Right? I'm caught up on my reading. Started a new book last night, Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay. I'm not too far into it however it looks good so far.

One photo to share. The apple trees in the yard are about to bloom. They are such a happy pink color.

What to my wondering eyes should appear?

Off there in the distance. 18 miles across the straits, docked in Victoria, the season's very first cruise ship! My very favorite season of the year has begun. CRUISE SEASON!

It is a bit easier to make it out in the this cropped version of this photo. It is the Holland America MS Amsterdam. Until a bit later in May the cruise ships will be making Pacific Coastal voyages of a few days each before starting the Alaskan cruises. In fact Port Angeles will be visited in the first week of May by one of the Holland America ships. For more info click here http://www.hollandamerica.com/find-cruise-vacation/CruiseDetails.action?noOfFlexibleMonths=1&flexibleMonths=false&pageNumber=1&voyageCode=S929&destCode=L

I enjoy watching the ships go by every week during the summer and I do camp out on the deck with my camera each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening when the weather is perfect. Here are a few of my favorite shots that I've taken the last three summers.

The Norwegian Star and Mt. Baker. I enjoy watching this ship go by as I've been aboard her twice to Alaska and the Mexican Riviera.

The timing was perfect on this shot. The sunset and the ship both! I haven't been that lucky since.

This my second favorite shot. Again timing on this one. A cruise ship and a submarine in the Straits at the same time. Lucky!

Chicken Soup and Lots of Rest

I have a cold! I'll say now that I find them to be pretty much the most annoying things on the planet. I'm getting plenty of rest, cold medicine, and soup. This has also left me with hours to fill since getting outside to enjoy the weather is not an option. The view has been great. Kayaks, sailboats and one of my personal favorites, tugboats, have been busy in the harbor all weekend.

To me Tugs are strong and look as though they can handle anything that comes at them. I see them push through wind storms that blow through the Straits here in the winter pulling their cargo behind them. They symbolize never giving up to me.

I've also been busy in my scrap room. I need to finish a few pages in a mini album I've been working on for a friend. Those will have to wait until the cold fog clears from my brain. As it is right now I might end up journaling about what I had for breakfast instead of the photo on the page! ;) So I'm sticking to cards for now. They are easier to fix if I get too "creative" in my cold fog and also easier to work on between naps.

Time passes, but I remember

14 years ago today a bomb exploded in Oklahoma City. That bomb changed many lives as well as ending 168 peoples lives. It was a very sad day. A day where I remember everyone asking, "Why?"

I am not old enough to tell you where I was when Kennedy was shot. I can however tell you where I was when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded, when the World Trade Center buildings fell, and when the bombing in Oklahoma City occurred. April 19, 1995 I had closed the door to my dorm room and my phone rang. It was my Dad. He knew my class schedule as well as I did. He wanted me to hear the news from him first. I turned on the news, sitting there watching and talking with him for almost an hour. It was surreal in so many ways. To know that this chaos was going on only a few hundred miles away from my quiet college campus. To think that this could even happen. In the days that followed to think that another human could hurt so many people he didn't even know. At the time many thought, and even said aloud, that some how the pain would be less if the terrorist act had been carried out by someone who wasn't American. 9-11 taught us a several years later that violence like this always hurts. It doesn't matter who carries it out. It just simply hurts. Time does pass. I hope that the hurt is a bit less for the family and friends directly effected in Oklahoma City by the pain that day. I know that they remember. I remember too.

Firefly

This show is one of my favorites. It was short lived but can still be seen on hulu.com and on DVD. Had the press been better during production just at getting the word out for the show and Fox not have been so quick to pull it Firefly would have been beloved like Stargate. Instead the 14 epidsodes of Firefly and its movie Serenity are beloved after the fact by a very strong, almost cult like, fan following.