(Fall colors in Bellevue Botanical Garden)
In honor of Valentine’s Day I thought it might be fun – and therapeutic in the midst of a long, gray winter – to showcase some color and flowers and greenery so here’s my take on the Bellevue Botanical Garden…and Happy Valentine’s Day!
(There’s a lot of flowers in this place)
(On the Summerland trail – Mt. Rainier in autumn)
So what do you do when it’s the middle of January and every time you gaze out the window you’re slapped in the face by endless days of gray drizzly gloom and depressed by the prospect of another six months before the snow recedes enough to hit the high country? For me, one remedy is to go for a digital hike down memory lane and revisit some of my favorite footsore stomping grounds via my photo libraries. So sit back, feast your eyes and salve your soul with some photos and stories of hikes gone by and maybe get some ideas for spring and summer this year. Whether you live near or far from these beautiful places, it’s never too early to plan a hiking getaway!
(Along the Summerland trail)
Mt. Rainier is always beckoning me for two reasons – the sheer spectacular awesomeness of the Great Mountain, and it’s proximity. Lucky me being an hour or so from the mountain’s doorstep. I’ve already opined on these pages about the Eunice Lake-Tolmie Peak day hike and it’s splendors. This time I’m highlighting another all-time fave of mine, the Summerland-Panhandle Gap trail.
Continue reading “Hiking in Washington, Part Two – Summerland-Panhandle Gap”
(Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park, Washington)
If you want to see the Pacific Coast of the USA, and if you plan on driving to do this, there’s only way to do it right and that is by driving U.S. Highway 101. Highway 101 is, to my mind, the Route 66 of the west coast. Starting from Olympia, the state capital of Washington, circuiting the Olympic peninsula and then rambling south all the way to Los Angeles, it probably features more miles of stunning scenery than any other highway in the USA.
(Heceta Head Lighthouse, Oregon)
(Posing with friends on the dock at Port Townsend)
Continue reading “The Pacific Northwest Coast of Washington and Oregon”
