Sedro-Wooley Loop

The Sedro-Wooley loop is what I call a motorcycle ride that does a loop about 111 miles.  The towns it goes through are Sedro-Wooley, Concrete, Rockport, Darrington, Arlington and some others.  It runs along the Sauk River and offers majestic views of the Mt. Baker National Forest.  The picture with the roses is a detail of a small cedar house that's about 14 feet by 20 feet, very similar in size to the Blockhouses at Ebey's landing.  Limited to the means they had (manpower) it makes sense that they wouldn't be any larger being that everything was hand made.  They also probably didn't need any more space than that.  The roses were from a plant that the original inhabitants of the house brought from Eastern Canada in 1881.  Pretty kool that the rose bush and the house has lasted this long.  Photo's # 90, 91, 92 and 93:

Vancouver B.C.

A day trip to Vancouver B.C. got us to Gastown and the Classical Chinese Garden nearby.  Gastown was a nice area retaining what the older Vancouver was like, with older buildings and eating establishments.  The Chinese Garden was a small oasis right at the edge of Chinatown.  The garden feels much bigger than it is composed of the classical elements of a garden: buildings, rocks, plants and water. Photos #84 to 89:

July 4th in Kirkland, WA

I never spent a full day devoted to July 4th activities until this past July 4th from the parade early afternoon to the duck races and the fireworks at night.  Here's photos #81, 82 and 83:

Goldbar, WA

Rode out to Goldbar earlier this month saw some interesting things, like a fence made of skis and some old rusty cars.  Photos #79 and 80:

Silverdale

This was taken by the Silverdale library.  Photo #78

Mt. Rainier - Mt. Tahoma

This giant was hard to photograph this first time around other than taking the standard tourist photos.  No photos of flower-strewn praries, or majestic mountain -  I will have to come back at different times of the day and at different weather conditions.  Not sure these are worth posting, hopefully next time they will be better.  Here is photo #77:

 

Rialto Beach - Olympic Penninsula

We went for a short camping trip out to Rialto beach early June.  Hard to come by such a sublimely beautiful beach it's as if untouched from the prehistoric era.  I could imagine a dinasaur tromping out from the trees any moment.  Giant driftwood logs everywhere lining the beach, the intertidal zone teaming with sea specimen, it was hard to think about anything other than the unadorned nature surrounding me.  Here are photos #72, 73, 74, 75 and 76:

Tsubaki Grand Shrine

Appropriately located in the pacific northwest is the first Shinto shrine to be built in North America.  It is the Tsubaki Grand Shrine near Granite Falls, WA. It is a branch of the Tsubaki Okami Yashiro Shrine in Japan (over 2000 years old)   It is the real deal.  Reverend Koichi Barrish moved the shrine from California to it's present location along a small river in 2001.  I had my motorcycle blessed that day.   It definitely feels very spiritual here - a strong connection to nature.  The folded paper hanging from the rope in the photo concentrates the spiritals forces indicating that the path is a spiritual zone.  Pictures # 70, and 71:

Ebey's Landing

Went to Ebey's Landing on Whidbey Island late May.  Ebey's landing is a National Historic Reserve, preserving the land as it were when Whidbey's first caucasian settlers lived on the land.  Lots of farmland and barns.  I was intrigued by the block houses that the settlers developed to protect themselves from attacks on the families.  The houses were essentially two stories and the second story cantelevered out about 2 feet from the first floor.  I have no good pictures (what else is new) of the house, I only have a picture of a detail that I liked, which shows the timber used.  I'll have to go back and study this house more carefully.  I'm interested in the scale of the house the footprint is only about 14' x 20' and this is where the whole family lived.  It's about the same size as a walk-in-closet that I succumbed to design for a mcmansion I regrettably designed a couple of years ago.  Thumbs up to all the people in the new tiny house movement!  Here's photo 67, 68 and 69: