Archive for the ‘Photography’ Category
When we decided to leave North Carolina, at least for now, and transplant 2,786 miles to the left coast, just north of the Socialist State of Seattle, in Everett, Washington, a common question was “Yeah, you will be retired and drawing a decent check from the retirement system here, but won’t the cost of living out there eat up the difference even with your new job?” There is more than one way of looking at this. Yes, some things here are more expensive. Sales taxes are higher, property taxes are higher and with recent changes in pot laws there are lots of people higher. But there are flip sides to every story, but not to be flip, you may not know what you are talking about. Several things ameliorate the impact of these points. Some utility rates are quite good because this area depends on hydro power to such a large extent. They would be even lower if they didn’t spend millions on some “green”, as in the color of money, projects that often don’t work out or produce electricity at much higher rates such as the stalled, ever more expensive, tidal power generation system that now appears to be going nowhere. This is particularly true as their electricity is already so “green”. But with a need for air conditioning that is not a need at all, except for a smidgen of days in the late afternoon, overall utility bills are lower anyway. There is no state income tax…yet, anyway, though there are rumblings. Fruits and vegetables, as fine as anywhere, are cheap and plentiful in season. While it may not balance out completely, the difference is not as much as might be expected.
But so what!
Packing for the move.
Straining under the weight of pillows!
Obligatory selfie…now that we have that out of the way!
Halfway from there to over there.
I have lived in two states my entire life, and I regret that it was only two. That is twice as many as a large number of people, probably a surprisingly large number. Not that there is anything wrong with making a choice and sticking with it. That is, if it is a choice. Inertia is not a choice. There was nothing essentially wrong with North Carolina. It is beautiful but planning at any level of government for the future, such as for roads or education, sucks. In Seattle, the leadership doesn’t want to build roads or add lanes because it thinks that if the freeway is continually in gridlock then everyone will go to the park and ride so that they can get in a bus or will carpool and sit in the gridlock anyway. Just not going to invest more in petroleum based energy, even though waiting in traffic, stopping and starting, probably averages 17 miles a gallon in a auto designed to obtain 32. Everyone should just ride their bikes in the drizzle. In North Carolina, they are just inept in their planning, little sense of the long term. They would make terrible Chinese who seem to think longer range than most of us here in the west.
I will not recall living in Louisiana. I begin to sweat profusely and my underwear starts to stick.
I regret not living in other places, even outside the United States. Yes, we are avid watchers of House Hunters International. Perhaps that is not yet too late. Though, I do have some difficulty with the euro concept of a toilet separate from the bath/shower and sink. One mistake and it is a looong way to the faucet and soap. Bidets are cool, child accessible fountains.
Megan and Nana share a jig celebrating sighting of Washington across the Columbia River!
Even if the cost of living overall is higher, why not, at some time in your life, just go where you wanna go? Do what you wanna do? And take the kids! Living in one place, especially if you are not a traveler, is like looking at only one spot on the body with a magnifier, blind to all else. That one spot may be quite interesting, but are there not other interesting, maybe more interesting spots? I should think so. Much has been written on the richness in one’s life that comes from moving about for travel or to live. Nana has found herself with tears sparkling in her eyes as they absorb patterns of light that form images of this new world that are stimulating and beautiful. While not quite driven to tears, each day as I drive to work the world can be different in clear and even measurable ways. Yes, now that we have left summer, far underrated by those outside the Pacific Northwest, there are days of watching rain sloughed off the windshield by friskly moving wiper blades, but there is so much more. The Cascades may be enshrouded by thin clouds turned orange by the rising sun, or there may be bands of light and dark streaking out from behind the trees or ridges through dense fog. But there can also be a crystal morning where our world is guarded to the north by Mt. Baker and Glacier and to the south by Rainier. There is the unique, once per year, morning where a glistening white shimmers from the nearby peaks with the first snows at elevation.
Seattle.
We have approached this as a working vacation. I work and Nana vacations! No, just kidding! Sorta. She is now a lady of leisure. Well earned. Each weekend we try to find the opportunity to explore more of our new world. I do not pretend mountaintop guru wisdom. The move largely evolved out of economics, not philosophy, so there is no room for arrogance. This is a finite life being lived in, for a given lifetime, an infinite world. But I have not been able to avoid pondering what is the cost of NOT living? I think the costs are quite high. As a school psychologist we are known to talk about a certain poverty of experience that many children bring to the school environment. From the outside we can see the impact this has on their functioning in school. I contend that there can be adult versions of a poverty of experience. It may not be so obvious from the inside but, like an alien might look in on human existence, it may be very obvious from the outside. I could have dismissed existential crises by just accepting what was and turning way from the choices available. I have never heard of or known of a person who said that travel to new places and experiencing other parts of the world ruined their life, with only a few exceptions related to going to war and such. In coming posts, we will share some of the sights and experiences that have begun to transform our aging brains creating a certain newness.
Mt. Rainier, the perfect backdrop for a city!
Nana and Mt. Baker on a perfect day.
Um…yes it has been a long hiatus, but…we’re back!! We had not looked at the sight for quite some time. When we did I saw that people from dozens of countries had visited. While we realize there is not a huge demanding audience worldwide waiting with bated breath for a new installment, we decided that going forward was fun! The next few years could be quite interesting as well and this will be a way of documenting the changes in our lives during that time. So onward!
This weekend we made a return trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. It is sad to think, but so many people we know who were born and grew up in North Carolina have never been there. We bought season passes this year as we wanted to see the estate in every season. Plus, we can bike the many miles of bicycle trails and paths on the property. For those that are unfamiliar, the estate was conceived and built by George Vanderbilt with construction starting in 1889 and opening for visitor in 1895. While it is difficult to conceive today, the original estate included over 125,000 acres most of which became part of the first national forest in the United States. The house was the largest personal residence ever built in the country. Richard Morris Hunt was the building architect and Frederick Law Olmsted, famous for Central Park in New York, was the landscape architect. The home is still in the Vanderbilt family overcoming, wars, depressions and taxes!
So off we went this last Saturday. This trip would be to visit the gardens, not the house itself, and make an obligatory, yet welcome trip to the winery. This would only consume about half the day so before hand we journeyed south of Asheville to what could well be our future retirement destination in the area around Brevard, North Carolina. We want to have a short hike on an absolutely gorgeous day at Dupont State Recreational Forest, over 10,000 acres that was last owned by the Dupont Corporation to conserve clean water for its manufacturing plant. We have previously visited the larger more frequented falls, such as Triple Falls, and wished to get a little bit more off the beaten path. So we entered from the old CCC road on the north side of the forest and hiked to Wintergreen Falls.
Wintergreen falls admired by Nana!
This falls is small but in a beautiful setting. The entire time we were there no one else appeared. There were others on the trails which are also used by those riding horses and also mountain bikers. Both leave the walker with something to be vigilant about when hiking.
Along the way we were passed by equestrians which included one finely attired Julie, quite the lady in her “hat” on top of her head which enclosed her ear. I am sure it has a name. Also, we rescued a man and his two young boys out for a day of mountain biking but who had no map so were pretty much lost on the 80 miles of roads and trails. Fortunately I had as spare may and I hope they are not still wandering the woods starving and avoiding the occasional black bear. So here are some pictures of the falls taken a while before noon. Perfect temperatures, skies, day.
Wintergreen Falls.
Wintergreen Falls.
Bluets at Wintergreen Falls
Wintergreen Falls.
After a nice lunch at the Square Root in Brevard, we drove on to the Biltmore Estate. We did so with some trepidation as I had realized that, while trying to avoid a wallet like George Constanza’s on Seinfeld, I had earlier removed our Biltmore passes and wondered if our afternoon would be a lost cause. Not to be! The kind gentleman issued new passes, whispering that they usually charged for new ones but he was going to let it go this time… So, shhhhhhhhh!
We made our way to the garden parking area. We had been there a few weeks ago when the walled garden was filled with tulips and other bulbed and unbulbed flowers. It was in a transition state and a touch dowdy at this time but this was expected. Our goals was the Azalea Garden and the walk to Bass Pond. Here are a few pictures with an included ridiculous selfie just so we fit in with the zeitgeist! Note that on the two pictures of the conifer the pollen exploding when even gently touched. Rather beautiful yet probably contributing to “yellow lung disease”. I don’t think any attorneys have addressed this peril yet. Many of us our ready to sue or be sued due to the buckets of pollen we or our neighbors dump maliciously and capriciously and generally eviliciousilly (made up word!) into the atmosphere this time of year. Our poor lungs! And not to mention that we all bought cars of a particular color for a reason and right now they are all YELLOW! Yes, where are the lawyers, the peony and azalea chasers, when you need them! I’ll tell you where! The Barbados!
Massed azaleas at Biltmore Estate Gardens.
Massed azaleas and wildflowers at Biltmore Estate Gardens.
Woodland Sunflower.
Yellow-orange azalea.
Azaleas.
Ok, I don’t know what this is! Help! Anyone!
Obligatory selfie. God, I didn’t know that tooth looked that crooked!
Nana. Happy in flower paradise!
Nana looks really happy! She is going to the winery next
Conifer shaking out a lung-full of pollen!
So, pollinated and visually saturated, off we go to the winery at the Biltmore. Now, in 1990, about the last time we had any of their wines, they had only been in business 5 years. They are much improved since that time. That it took so long to actually drink their wines again says something about our opinion at that time. Not that we are wine experts. Nay, Nay! They ARE much better now as far as we are concerned. We really like some of the Chardonnay’s and the Reserve Tempranillo. Nice place for some wine and cheese, but we had to be careful, had a drive home in front of us. Pretty good day. This is how spring should be!
What should be the true “Old man river”, the New River is considered the second or third oldest continuously flowing river on the planet, perhaps 300 million years old.
Whenever involved in a project we are really good at plowing through the first 97 percent. That last 3 percent can be a problem, however. We remodeled our bathroom,”finished” some months ago, but still have not replaced the ceiling light and vent combo. The old one still sits there, cover gone who knows where enjoying the apparently unlimited postponement to its removal and exile unto the great landfill in the sky. So it is with the trip from this summer. I still have posts to make on that. I swear, someday they will be done. Or I will be dead. This may be a closer race than I would like to think it would be. Be that as it may be, such as it is, so be it, que sera, sera or something like that, I really got sidetracked by the Olympics. I am an addict. I think back, how did I ever really enjoy it when I could not simultaneously record on 4 channels with my DVR and then scan 30 hours of broadcast a day to condense it down to a manageable 8 hours of viewing? Heaven forbid I miss any of the air rifle competition!! So I was thinking, I need to get back on track. And we did! Though not necessarily the right one, in terms of finishing what I had started. Railroad track was more like it, or at least where track used to run. Now that we had our bicycles, see previous posts for the Mickelson, Myra Canyon, Galena and the Hiawatha trails, we decided on Friday to go to the New River Trail State Park up the road in Virginia. The park averages 80 feet across but runs for about 57 miles. Its claim to fame is that it follows the New River or Chestnut Creek along a very well maintained rails-to-trail multiuse trail.
OK, we didn’t do every mile of this trail, only about 25 plus a couple of miles off the main trail. We will cover the rest on later visits. We aired up, saddled up and began our ride after paying for a shuttle from Foster Falls to Cliffview, just outside of Galax, Virginia. This is a beautiful area with rolling hills, some deep valleys and waterways lined with forest or cliffs. This is still the home of bluegrass music, but don’t fret ( Get it? Llike frets on a guitar? Nevermind!), this is not a scene out of Deliverance. The trail is moderately used so your body would still be warm when found if anything happened, but it won’t!
We started at Cliffview. Kinda wimped out, saved two miles by not starting in Galax. We had not done over 18 miles and were a little nervous, needlessly as it turns out.
Rails from near the trail that is rails-to-trails.
We start off down Chestnut Creek. You very quickly come upon a park, Dannelly Park, next to the park that has camping and would be a great place for a picnic, as well. Very soon you have the feeling that you are many miles from civilization. Some might think that anywhere in this part of Virginia would be many miles from civilization. Wrong. It can be very rural but there is plenty of civilization. Along this stretch you see a few farms and homes but mostly, it is just a mixed eastern forest. We have to come back when the leaves turn this fall. It must be beautiful. A few miles in you cross a bridge that has an excellent view of a small waterfall along the Creek. The trail almost forces you to stop every now and then because of the scenery or some attraction. It keeps you from turning this into a forced march.
Chestnut Creek Falls. Small but very pretty!
Nana sets the pace! My view for 27 miles. Not bad!
There are some remnants of the old railroad along the way, including some crossties sticking through the trail, evidence of locations where water towers had been, a few leftover pieces of equipment and even the outline of a turntable at what at one point had been the end of the line near Cliffview. Mostly, though, forest, stream and sky.
A couple of guinea hens, I think, along the trail. Not really wild. We did see deer and many birds. Bears sometimes come down from the mountains.
Along Chestnut Creek.
Nana scouts a tunnel downstream from Gambetta.
Emerging from the first tunnel.
Railcut through cliffs along Chestnut Creek.
You cross a small road at Gambetta. Unfortunately, you can see where a development is in place across the creek. I didn’t see any houses but the road and utilities were in. This was sad to see. A line of houses along the river here, or anywhere, rather ruins the near wilderness atmosphere that exists along most of the trail. A bit farther along, at a little over nine miles, you arrive at a bridge that crosses the New River just nest to where Chestnut Creek merges gently into the main watercourse. The New starts up near Boone in North Carolina. The name give more than a clue as to the types of people that came through this area. Farther down stream there is Austinville, the birthplace of Stephen F. Austin. By the time the New River gets to this point it can be quite wide at times, though usually not very deep. There are places where when the water is low, one can almost walk across. After heavy rains it can have moderate class rapids in places. Many canoe the New or kayak. The trail itself is often used by those on horseback.
Trestle bridge at Fries Junction.
Fisherman at the confluence of the New River and Chestnut Creek.
The New is not a free flowing river as there are many dams that generate hydroelectric power. As a result, there are sections that are actually lakes with submerged shorelines often dense with aquatic vegetation. I don’t really know but I bet there is some pretty good fishing along here. We was quite a few small boats and some fished from the banks. You pass two dams along the trail in this section, Byllesby and Buck dams. They are placed in an are where the river narrows as it passes through the ancient remains of a towering mountain range, the Iron Mountains. There are many high cliffs in this area.
Buck Dam generates electricity.
While we had a picnic lunch near Buck dam, by sitting in one place we had a better idea of how many people use the trail. Many came by in a short time. Very young children on tiny bikes with their parents to fully decked out in cyclist clothing, grey haired women who were wonderfully not acting their age! While resting and checking out the moist wooded area near us we spotted and Easter Newt. Fortunately, I didn’t handle him before lunch as he excretes poison through his skin. The version we saw is also known as the red eft. This is the middle period in the life cycle of these little guys where they wander about trying to find new water sources before they become fully aquatic adults. They stay in this terrestrial stage for about three years. They can live up to fifteen years.
A red eft, an Eastern Newt in its terrestrial stage. Sort of like adolescence! Like human adolescents, better not to mess with them. These can excrete a poison onto their skin.
So on we went. Our legs felt pretty good but after 17 or 18 miles the booty began to get a little sore. A little hard on the prostate, too. We passed near Austinville which in times past was a center for lead and zinc mining. You can still see remnants of the mining hear, abandoned sidetracks and tunnel entrances. The mines went as far as 1100 feet below the surface. The lead was used before and during the civil war to produce lead shot. Near the end of the portion of the trail we road, Interstate 77 passes overhead and just past this is what is called the Shot Tower. Lead would be taken to the top, melted and drops allowed to fall 150 feet, hardening into a sphere on the way down, dropping into water to cool and then exited out to the river banks through a tunnel, in those early times, by slaves.
The second tunnel along the trail.
View from the bridge near Ivanhoe that crosses back to the right side of the New River.
Closed mine entrance along the trail. Lead and zinc were extracted here.
Interstate 77 passes over the trail, crosses the New River.
The Shot Tower near Foster Falls.
Our journey ended just past the Shot Tower at Foster Falls, where we began our shuttle to Cliffview. Foster Falls has beautiful camping spots. No driving in to the campsite. Load your stuff up on little yellow carts and pull it in! Most of the campsites are very near the water with beautiful view to a small island or the series of rapids over angled rock that forms the falls. No huge drops, just a series of small drops that form a linear pattern across the river. Cliffs rise up in the distance. On the park property is a furnace used for smelting iron ore, also found in the area, and many old building. One old building, that had been used as an orphanage, is being slow converted into a bed and breakfast. Something to look forward to! After we finished the trail portion, which actually extends many more miles to Polanski, we wandered about here looking at the old buildings, watching children wade far out into the river, canoists arriving, and a train of horses taking visitors off into the forests along the river. I hope the people who live in this area and Virginia, generally, appreciate what a gem they have here. I might note also that the staff there was friendly and helpful. A perfect day on the go for Papa and Nana.
Old smelting furnace.
Hard to see from this angle, but one of the small drops along the New River at Foster Falls.
The river is very shallow here at this time of year. Children and fishermen wade far out into the river.
I love zoos and aquariums, the big one and the little ones too. I remember how much I enjoyed going to the city of my birth, Oklahoma City, and visiting the zoo there. Over time, at least from the last time I was there, quite a while ago, the zoo always tried to maintain an open environment for the animals and give them what they needed. Way back “in the day” some of the enclosures were rather small for some of the larger animals but that improved. The zoo gave me a great appreciation for animals, the diversity, the immensity of some, the concept that there are predators and prey and that this extends to humans. We are animals and eating other animals is what we do. Religious aspects aside, and personal choice aside, to demand that others not eat meat is, well, like asking an elephant not to mate, a crocodile not to swim or wasps not to sting. To be sure, have respect for the sacrifice, from taking the life. Even vegetarians are killing something. That grain is alive inside, ready to create a new oat seedling when the moisture, soil and temperature are right. Doesn’t it have a “right” to be what it can be? How dare we snuff out its potential to make oatmeal!
Well, I did digress. I apologize. When we were in Vancouver we visited the excellent aquarium there. I still prefer Monterrey’s , Atlanta’s, and even Chattanooga’s along with Baltimore and even New Orleans. But is had some very good exhibits. They were promoting their new exhibit with African penguins. As to be expected they were really cute.
Cute little African penguins.
As cute as they are, they are still in an aquarium. They are still in captivity.
Daryn and Little Nora move out of the way on the left for the hoards lining up to see the little guys who seemed just as interested in the people.
But what travel allows is the opportunity to encounter animals. That word encounter, to me at least, implies either a serendipitous experience or an active search with an uncertain outcome. Granted, there are some animals that many or most would not want to encounter except under very controlled circumstances if at all. Vipers, sharks, Kodiak bears, Black Widow spiders, and Ted Nugent, as examples! Some people go pretty far in this, such as the guy in Utah that has dressed himself up as a Mountain Goat and trying to keep up with said animals in the mountains in that gorgeous state. I just hope he isn’t still romping on the trails come mating season or has left this off before Mr. Nugent decides to show up there for hunting season. Not sure which would be worse for the goat guy. I don’t know if he is dressed as a male or female goat but both present potential issues that could be quite threatening or uncomfortable.
Digression! Mea culpa! The kids, from the Papa and Nana perspective, had the good fortune of going out in a Zodiac to whale watch and ended up about 100 yards off where we were staying on Pender Island, as was reported in an earlier post. This would be an active search. Far better than the zoo, as you get to see the animals in their habitat, in this case, as pod units.
Orcas off Gowland Point.
A day or so after their journey back to where they woke up that morning, we were down at Gowland Point, exploring the beach.The whole gang was there. We worked around towards Brooks Point watching the geese, duck, sailboats and freighters that were in the strait. Someone, I don’t know who, was creating a bit of noise out on this peaceful end of South Pender. Others were gathering along the shore. And so there they were, sometimes 20 or 30 yards off shore, casually working their way along their course around the southwest edge of the Penders. It was only a small group, a family perhaps, but did not appear to be an entire pod. This was exciting. The serendipitous encounter. People, including ourselves, ran along the shore, climbing over rock and trying to stay even with the Orcas who pressed slowly ahead through the midst of boats that were already there. And not a Zodiac in sight, just the serendipity crew to observe at that time.
A small group with at least one youthful Orca.
Only yards from shore. Or meters!
But this was not the only encounter. Nana, one morning, decided to be the early bird. Well the early bird didn’t get the worm but got the bird. An eagle sat just outside our house, looking down over the kelp beds below, scouting for breakfast. Lightening quick, Nana snapped a couple of pictures before it moved on.
Eagle just off the deck of our rental house on North Pender Island. Looking for food or enjoying the sunrise? Way to go Nana!
Here’s one to fawn over.
Fawn on the heights over Poets’ Cove
While traveling by car we ran into, not literally, other species. These guys are apparently considering whether or not to risk the falling rock!
Bighorn sheep considering their next move.
Sometimes you can just be too slow to the camera. As a Where’s Waldo experiment, see if you can spot one of the two bears encountered along our path?
Got to move fast to the camera…where’s the bear??
Find him? He actually is barely, or bearly in the picture but looks like a shadow. So this one is just for the memory book of the brain. As to the appropriate travimal experience, my vote is for encounters! But I will still enjoy the searches and the zoos and aquariums, as well. Considering the areas we drove through on the mainland, it is remarkable, but we did not bag that moose we were looking for. I bet it was there, though, just didn’t have eyes sharp enough to see him. Next time!
A tree that is not native to just the northwest coastal areas, but is also found in Mediterranean climates and other areas is the Arbutus tree. In areas outside this area in Canada it is known by other names but usually as a Madrone. Nana fell in love with the Arbutus and took this picture on Pender Island on a tiny peninsula from which you can look out at the strait separating North Pender from other islands such as Salt Spring.
The Arbutus or Madrone tree. Nana’s pictures!
The Saanich First Nation peoples had great respect for the tree and would not burn it for firewood as it had saved them during a great flood, yeah, that BIG one that everyone seems to have had, as it gave them something to grab onto on a high spot of land. It was used for medicinal purposes and somehow or another used for contraception. Anyway, it is a beautiful tree. Unfortunately, it peeled exposed bark area just invites engravers, such as in the second picture. I promise, “Rob” is not me!
I have trouble reading this after “Rob”. Help anyone?!
Here are a few other images I think Nana took.
I won’t do a Rorshach on this one!
This next one does the best job of showing how the bark peals.
Papa and Nana On the Go 