Olympic National Forest

I realized that I have not posted pictures that I took during my vacation in October to the Olympic National Forest. Normally when I'm on vacation, I take my computer and post as I go. But where we stayed in the forest, there was not even cell phone coverage! So here are some photos ... better late than never.

This first one is of the Lodge at Lake Quinault where we stayed.

This next one is of a water fall near the lake.

I'm not at all sure how this one is going to how up. We were taking a drive around the lake and it was dusk. We stopped to take a photo of a waterfall and just stood for a minute soaking in the quite sounds of the forest. We looked forward and back and were completely alone. I took this photo hoping to capture some of the feelings we had. ... a long a deserted back woods path.

This one was taken along the coast.

This is the cabin we stayed at when we visited Sol Duc Hot Springs. In the evening, the deer would come right up to the porch looking for a hand out.

Here I was trying to capture the simply awesome light that was coming through the clouds at Sol Duc.

The days just fly by

I remember when I was growing up, the grown-ups would say how fast the year, week, month, whatever went by. I never really understood that until I became a grown-up. The months just seem to flow by so quickly. My husband and I had an opportunity back in May to take a brief vacation. We traveled to Estes Park, CO. We had very limited cell phone coverage and no internet access ... ok, actually, if we had visited the coffee shops, we would have had internet access ... but the point was to get away from all that.

We rented a lovely little cottage along the river, had fires each night and cooked smores. More than once, I thought to myself, capture this moment, tuck it away, I want to remember this forever. It was all in all a very lovely time. This is a view from our cottage.

We also took the time, although, not anywhere near enough time, to visit our niece in Laramie. She is beautiful, intelligent and very grounded. We are quite proud of her and wish we had arranged to spend more time there ... the time went by so fast. I feel so old and grown up.

Photos of Rancho Bernardo Inn

Rancho Bernardo Inn - decorated for Christmas.A few days ago I got around to uploading the pictures I took at the Rancho Bernardo Inn back in December. I was surprised to discover that many of the photos I took were of the fountains around the property. On Friday while I was there, I had a massage, then lunch with my niece and then just walked around the property taking pictures. Apparently, I the pictures I took were almost entirely of the fountains and other water features. I wonder what I was thinking and feeling that made me focus unknowingly on the water. Here are some of the pictures.

On the Road - Tennessee Vacation Last Day

We overnighted in Chattanooga and chilled out in the room ... enjoyed the hotel pool and hot tub. Then it was up and about it again. We toured the Chickamauga battleground and were struck by the site. It has been kept much as it was during the battle in Sept of 1863. Open fields are surrounded by dense forest. Over 2000 men were never found and were presumed dead. Seeing the forest, it is easy to believe that a wounded man could die alone and never be found. The battleground is dotted with monuments to the divisions and regiments that fought on both sides (Union and Confederate). The park is also lined with informational boards that tell what happened at the place in the line; color coded blue for Union soldiers and red for the Rebels. The boards are situated in such a way so that if you are reading it, you would be looking in the same direction that a soldier would have been.

This picture is of the battle line of at Snodgrass Field which was the last battle at the site. You can see the monuments, cannon placements and the board with descriptions. The picture also show how dense the forest is at the edge of the field. The Snodgrass family had cleared this field and were farming it when the battle took place.


After touring the battleground, we went to Chattanooga and took the Incline railway up to the top of Lookout Mountain. The incline is a whopping 72.7 degrees! You start out sitting in the car in a reclining position and by the time you get to the top, you are sitting up straight. The first picture is one I took from inside the car. It is a really neat view and the top of the car is glass so you can see it all. The second picture is of the car leaving. In this one you can get a good feel for the incline. Lastly, here is a panorama of Chattanooga taken at the top of Lookout Mountain. Kinda hazy, but still I wanted to share it

On the Road - Tennessee Vacation Day 2

Leaving Gatlinburg and driving along the Cherohala Skyway a wonderfully curvy winding road. The highest point is Santeetlah at 5390 ft. We saw some color along the skyway but it was not as spectular as we had hoped. We may have been a little early and/or the drought is causing the leaves to turn from green to brown and drop with no color change.

I did manage to get some good shots of the mountains that make it live up to its name as the Smoky Mountains. I couldn’t decide which I liked best so here are the three best.

On the Road - Tennessee Vacation

We are in Tennessee on vacation and it is beautiful. On the first night, we drove through alittle town in Roan County and thought ... hm, we could live here!

The waterfall at the left is from our drive.

We spent the day getting to Gatlinburg and then driving the Cades Cove auto tour in the Smoky Mountain National Park. A lovely little valley surrounded by the mountains, Cades Cove was occupied until the early 1930's when the land was purchased by the Park service. Many of the original rough hewn homes and the old mill were preserved and is now a historic exhibit. The pastures and fields are farmed and/or being used to try to repopulate the area with natural grasses.

Here are some pictures from our drive. The first is from the Primative Baptist Church.

These pictures are of the Cable Mill. The first is a shot of the house, grounds with a barn in the background. This was taken from the porch of the General Store. The second picture is of the mill.

This is a picture of the Dan Lawson homestead.

And finally, this is a pictue of a very fearless deer. Dusk was falling as we neared the end of our drive. This deer and many others were coming right up to the roadway and cars. Unfortuneately, the deer have learned to beg for food instead of foraging.

Brothers Camp

This weekend my husband and I had the opportunity to spend some quality time with his brothers and sisters-in-law. We truly had a wonderful time. One sister-in-law made two games for us to play: a trivia game of family history and a variation of the old newlywed game. Both were fun and caused a lot of conversation. The trivia game stirred memories and laughs and some "I didn't know that"s. The newlywed game was really a challenge. Hm, do I answer this the way I think he will answer or do I choose the answer that is the kindest? Very challenging and we are still talking about it!

One sister-in-law had brought an old family photo of our husbands' great-grandmother. We were all amazed at how much she looks like my husband's youngest son.

One sister-in-law was not able to be there for the entire time because she was moving her daughter into the dorm. Our niece is a freshman so this is a big event in her life and that of her mother. This marks the starting point of her adult life. I'm glad they had the opportunity to spend some one-on-one time together at this transitional point in their lives.

My husband and I came away from the weekend refreshed and very much at peace. I am very thankful to have these people in my life and hope that this becomes a yearly event. We all want to do it again so here's hoping!

Vacation - Day Seven

From Twin Falls, Idaho, we drove the Thousands Falls scenic loop, which took us by the Hagerman fossil beds, ruts from the Oregon Trail and a thousand falls!
Here is a picture of the ruts. It is amazing that they are still viewable. It really makes me ponder the "foot print" that I (and we as a society) are leaving. What ruts are we making that future generations will be able to see long after we are gone? Did the people on the wagon trains making those ruts know, wonder or even care about the evidence their passing was leaving?













This is a nice scenery shot from an Oregon Trail rut viewpoint.

And finally, the last photo of our vacation … another shot of a waterfall. This is one of the "thousand falls" that pour into the Snake River.

Vacation - Day Six

Day six had us leaving Jackson and on our way to Twin Falls, Idaho. Over a high pass in the mountain and through farmland. Once we got to Twin Falls, we took a detour to see the Shoshone Falls. Shoshone Falls have a longer drop than Niagara Falls. It was beautiful as this picture shows.

Vacation - Day Five

In Jackson, WY. We had planned this to be a rest and relax, down day. My husband had planned to play bridge at the Senior Center. I had planned to go horse back riding and then get a massage. Unfortunately, my husband woke up with a cold. So he stayed in the hotel, reading and generally being quiet while I went about my day. Here’s a picture of me on my rented horse Dolla at Eagle Rock.

Vacation - Day Four

It started snowing while we were having breakfast and continued until we were out of Yellowstone. We stopped and took this picture as we were leaving. There was about 4 inches of snow.







As we were turning onto the Jenny Lake Scenic byway, we saw vehicles on both sides of the road. Slowing down, we asked what was happening and were told that there was a brown bear mother and her three cubs in the meadow. So naturally, I pulled over too (ever the tourist). This is the best shot I could get because the bears were a little far away for my camera. But I saw them with my own eyes and you will just have to trust me that the brown blobs in this picture are bears!

Jenny Lake












Just past Jenny Lake, we saw this gray wolf. The day was gray, the sage brush was gray and the wolf was gray. I cropped it and enhanced the color so the wolf stands out a little better.











Again working with the panorama on my camera. Here is a panorama of the Tetons.

Vacation - Day Three

We spent the night at the Lake Yellowstone Lodge. Built in 1891, it is the oldest standing lodge in the park and has been added on to a couple of times. Our large room that faced the lake was in the original portion of the lodge. The floor creaked and slopped. The bathroom was huge and had wonderful original tile. The glass in the windows in both the bedroom and the bath was original and had a few visual flaws and drips. I tried taking a picture, but it did not show up very well.

It turns out our visit to the park was just 3 days after it opened. Everyone was nice, but very new and therefore not everyone was very knowledgeable. We decided the best way to see the park was to let someone else do the driving.

Since we visited so early in the season, not all attractions, excursions and areas were fully open. We took the only tour available, the Circle of Fire tour. Our tour bus departed early in the morning and made a circle around the major geothermal features as well as by the falls. My husband sometimes opted to sit on the bus instead of walking around as his knees were hurting (turns out he was also coming down with a cold, but I digress and there will be more about that later). The weather was cool but not bad when we started out or when we ended. In between, there was snow. Cold, blowing snow. He sat the coldest, blowingest, snowyest one out, but I was a trooper and braved the weather to get some shots of the geysers. Here are the photo highlights of the tour.

Lake Yellowstone lodge – from the lobby looking out at the lake













Bluebell pool – One of the first of the thermal pools we saw. The color was bright blue.

Cooking pool – Actually in the lake. There are written accounts of settlers in the area fishing in the lake and cooking their catch in this pool. Our guide said that it probably was not a good idea as the pool has been tested and has large amounts of arsenic and mercury.













Here is a shot of our tour bus at the continental divide. Yep! that's snow!!

Cute little chipmunk watching for Old Faithful to blow. It was actually facing the geyser and looked like it was waiting.

What trip to Yellowstone would be complete without a visit to Old Faithful. I took several shots of the geyser, but this one is shows the gush at the highest point. Note the beautiful clear blue sky.

Here is a shot just an hour later of a geyser. I cannot remember the name, but the story is that this geyser was unpredictable until a few years ago when it blew really big. Since then, it has been a constant geyser, going off every few minutes. Not large like Old Faithful because it does not have time to build up as much pressure. If you look closely, you can see the snow falling in the picture. The little white dots of snow were really much bigger and the wind was blowing so it was very, very cold.

Down the road, we took a break and walked out in a meadow to see some wildlife. This shot is actually a three-fer, although you might be hard pressed to see the third animal. The bison mom and calf was my focal point. The geese and the ground squirrel (lower left hand corner) rounded out the triad. There was a large (30+) herd of bison and a large flock of geese. This photo only shows the mom and calf because I cropped it to get the "madonna" shot.

Water falls – I took way too many photos of water falls. Here are just a few.

Lower Falls

Upper falls

Little falls

Artist Falls Close up

Artist Falls panorama – I tried my hand at using the panorama feature on my camera.

Other wildlife shots

Here is a shot of a raven. Notice the ruts? Those are wagon ruts from the Oregon trail, still visible after over a hundred years. Between 1841 and 1869, the Oregon Trail was used by settlers migrating to the Pacific Northwest

Another ... much smaller, bison herd. These were right by the road and fearless. They were aware of us, but ignored us.














A lone male elk