Provincial or Preferential?

In looking back at our posts I have always enjoyed re-visiting the places we have been and I seem to never tire of the almost boundless opportunities we have for adventures in our country.  And - we have had such great times in Canada and Mexico that I suppose you could say the whole North American continent has been our chosen "stomping grounds" in recent years.  I was thinking about that as I realized a number of my friends and relatives have chosen to spend their vacation time in Europe or on cruises around the Caribbean.  It started me to wondering if my decision to concentrate on places within the United States as my choice for traveling was a sign of "provincialism" on my part.  After all ... there are incredibly beautiful places all over this planet and, to the extent we are able, it would be great to see as many as possible.


 I think I have mentioned before that I had the opportunity to see a fairly good chunk of the world during my military service and I can certainly vouch for the scenic beauty, the dynamic architecture, the wealth of art and the wonderful people that are can be found in every corner of the globe.  I spent time in the Caribbean, Great Britain (especially Scotland), Portugal, France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco and islands throughout the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and the North Atlantic and truly loved every new place I got to see.  But, think about it folks ... even those travels have touched only a tiny portion of this fabulous planet of ours and as wonderful as my trips have been, think about all the stuff there is yet to see!!!!  I'm not sure I can give a really cogent answer to the question I posed to myself above but I'll try.

As you have seen from some of our earlier posts, we find it extremely easy to spend an entire week exploring nooks and crannies of our tiny little state of South Carolina.  In fact, as I have mentioned, I absolutely love our little village of Ridgeway and all the neat places there are to see here.  And, I guess, that is my way of saying whether you are circling the world in eighty days or spending several hours looking around in your own little back yard... if you can allow yourself to look at your environment with "mouth-wide-open-wonderment" it really doesn't matter where you choose for your adventures.  You're gonna have a great time!!!

We have been doing some talking and we will likely branch out a bit in the not too distant future.  There are a couple of venues in South America, the South Pacific and Scandinavia that are really attractive to us and we might just surprise you and head out for really distant places before long.  But - we've gotta recover from our last trip and save up some money for bus fare so it might be a while before we head out.  But - whether it is Switzerland or Sumter, Belize or Barnwell, Papua or Pelion -  we want you with us wherever we go.  We'll be back soon.  See ya.

Some Final Thoughts ...

Well folks, we've shared quite a few photos of the things we saw on our trip with you and we certainly hope you have experienced at least a tiny bit of the wonder we felt as we saw those amazing sights.  We know, of course, that you have seen things that are just as spectacular and we hope that one day you will be able to share them with us.  Just yesterday afternoon I was sitting on the front porch looking at the evolving sunset and thinking how great it is to be able to see and appreciate the beauty of God's creations.  (Those of you who have been with us a while are aware that I came pretty close to not being able to see anything a few years back!!!)  I never tire of watching the sun set - wherever we are - and this picture taken from the porch explains why!!!!  But - as we talked about the other day, the important thing is being able to stop and take the time to actually see what is in front of us.  There is so much beauty and such a profusion of miracles around us that it is almost incomprehensible that people spend their time in conflict with each other rather than celebrating the life that we share only once.  I mean, sometimes we show a higher level of regard and concern for our "non-human" friends than we do for our brothers and sisters.  Take a look at the photo on the left.   All along the Trans-Canada Highway there are these enormous bridge-like structures that appear to be tunnels underneath trees, rocks, etc.  In actuality, they are safe passages for the wildlife to use to cross the busy highways.  There are miles of fencing alongside the road that keep the animals from wandering onto the highway and gently channel them toward one of the pass-overs.  Wonderful, huh??  And think about what we do for our pets ....  seems like we could do as much for each other!!  Enough philosophy for now.  There are so many breathtaking photos in our collection and we have tried to show you the best of the best but there are also those pics that, somehow, you just can't help but taking - even though they might not be the most dramatic.  It's nice to share them too.  I know you have your own but here are some of the small wonders we saw.  The lakes, mountains, trees and birds; flowers, waterfalls, streams and creatures all seem to be shouting ...  Stop!!!  Slow down!!!!  Look what's around you!!!!  You only get one chance at this!!!!  It's not a dress rehearsal!!!!!! 



Shouldn't we be paying attention???





 















 I'm of the opinion that when God was thinking up color schemes that would make us smile, yellow was one of his finer choices!!!






And what better resting place could there be for a bee who has been working hard all day than a soft, welcoming Sunflower!!






And, when He was working on ways to use color and structural design to give us something to ponder about ....  I think he came up with the Rose to show us how things could really get interesting when you take a bit of time!!








To quote from a song I wrote a while back .......  "The fragrance of a rainbow's hues; The color of an old, old, love song; The sound of a blooming rose ... Your love taught those things to me."

 


Share some of these photos with some old 'Grumpy Gus' who doesn't seem to appreciate what they have and remind them of how fortunate they really are. We'll stop for now so we won't put you into "overload."But don't get complacent .. we'll be back before you know it with plans for other adventures and we expect you to be ready to go!! Thanks for your patience as we wander through this beautiful world. Sometimes we've just gotta stop and smell the roses.  See ya.

Take A Look At This!!!!

When we were visiting Seattle I tried to show you several things I thought were quite interesting but I had a lot of trouble getting them uploaded.  As we have talked about before - we are using quite varied types of media - photos, videos, etc., - and I'm not the most techno-savvy person on the block.  But ... we keep trying!!!!!  And - eventually (most of the time) we get the job done.  Here is a video showing a really unique table at the Microsoft Headquarters in Renton, WA.  As I mentioned when I tried to upload it at the time, it is a "table" with a screen that is essentially a "picture" but with very strange capabilities.  The pixels in the screen are, themselves, tiny cameras so they are looking at you as you are looking at them.  The result is a screen surface manifestation that is really cool.  Take a look at some of our gang taking it for a test drive.

 

The stuff we saw at Microsoft really blew us away and we really had a fantastic time on our tour. 
We saw technology that is "cutting edge" and had a chance to see ourselves captured in "infrared images."  Take a look at the screen images here:

 The images are "real-time" and, as you can see, as we watched they reversed the format from positive to negative and many variations in between.  It was amazing!!

But just to show you the diversity of things you can see in this "edgy" community - let me take you to a whole other dimension.   Earlier we had gone to Pike's Market and I insisted that we visit the famed "gum wall!!!"  The following pics show .... you guessed it .... walls that are totally coated with millions of "chewing gum deposits."  Once you get past the obvious issue ....  (is there a germ or two here???) ... you begin to get a sense of something that borders on art.  Yeah ... I know that's a stretch but, really, take a look at this stuff!!!

And, yes, we left our own contribution to the cultural life of Seattle!!!  If you really get interested, write to us and we'll show you where our "contribution" is.  I'm not sure how long this practice has been going on but, believe me, it's been a while!!!  There must be twenty ka-jillion pieces of gum on the walls in this area.  Note the window sill and the development of "gum stalactites" along the edge.   It's pretty cool until you start thinking about where this all came from.  Whoa!!!!!

Yeah, this has got to be one of the stranger areas we have visited in our travels.  But - hey - I guess there are stranger things out there.  We've just gotta go find them!  Anyway, we wanted to share these with you since we missed them first time around.  We'll close for now and come back soon with some "real" wonders of nature.  (As if this were not one!!!)  See ya.

The Incredible Forests

Journeying southward from Cape Flattery we reached the Quinalt Rain Forest, home of the worlds largest Spruce tree.  It was also home to Cascade Falls which we showed in an earlier post - but which bears re-visiting for another look.  The rainforests that lie in the Quinalt Valley are also home to at least five other world record and/or North American record trees.  Unfortunately we didn't get to visit them all but, after having seen what we did see - I'll take their word for it!!!  Cascade Falls is a relatively short walk from the Quinalt Visitor's Center and if you are in the neighborhood, please go see it.  It is about as peaceful a spot as you could hope to find for a bit of quiet reflection.

The paths in Quinalt are very well marked and range from very short to "lengthy" with quite a few in between.


One is the trail that leads to the big Spruce tree we were tracking but the vegetation along the way is a treat all by itself.  The abundance of thick moss, ferns of every description and thickly woven tree branches and roots create scenery that would give any abstract artist a run for their money. 


Rick stopped to strike a pose for us to show off an example of the "tree weaving" we saw.

Continuing along another route we reached a very pretty bridge that crossed a stretch of marsh.  The vegetation growing here was quite varied but the thing that was especially noteworthy was the size of some of the plants.  We couldn't all agree exactly what we were seeing but plants which we were certain were identical (in type) to some we had seen a short way back were enormous in this site. Shortly afterward we came upon "The Tree".  It is, indeed, a huge specimen and we got another visitor to capture this photo of the entire gang nestled in the folds of the root system.  As we noted above - and in the picture to the right - the vegetation growing here is phenomenal.  We crossed over one stream with some type of aquatic grass growing on the bottom of the stream bed that really defied description.  I've included a photo of it here and it comes pretty close to showing the actual color.  In reality, though, it was even more vivid than you see it here.  There was another phenomenon that was prevalent throughout both the Quinalt and Hoh Rain Forests - the "Nursery Trees."  We had seen them in the Redwood and Sequoia Groves we visited in California but they were even more prominent here.  It seems that even though this is a "for real" rain forest, the forest floor is not always the most hospitable environment for young seedlings.  The soil, moisture, warmth, sunlight and protection factors seem to fall short on the ground so nature has taken care of the problem by making the deteriorating bark of old, fallen trees a perfect place for new life to spring forth. 

All over the forest you can see huge fallen logs with seedlings popping out of the bark.  Sometimes there are very unusual configurations like the "archway" created by a tree that appears to have bent over, continued to grow and later adopted some new offspring. 

Sometimes the trees are approaching maturity and you can still see the "Nursery Tree" that is their host.  In fact, if you look closely it is possible to see traces of the mother tree in almost every grove.  I have to admit, the more I see of Mother Nature's handiwork the more impressed I am with the incredible, magical things that happen within a remarkable place like this.  It is as we have said so many times before, it really causes you to think hard about the world we inhabit and our obligation to it - and each other.  Although the forest segments have been given names by those who study them and those responsible for their ongoing management, it seems a bit mis-leading to me.  For example, there are three principal "named" rainforests - Hoh, Quinalt and Queets.  In reality though, their names correspond to the rivers - of the same names - running through the area and emptying into the Pacific and, to me, they seem to merge together.  Whatever you call them (or the area) it/they are truly places of special wonders and fantastic places to visit.  We have talked about the various types of trees that are here and I found it interesting that there are so many "soft" hardwoods such as Maples.  One grove of Maples occupies a serene grove, separated from the surrounding forest by some mysterious plan of nature which we might never fully understand. One particular tree in the grove seems to serve as almost a living advertisement for the moss that proliferates so abundantly here.  In looking at the growth on some of the trees you get the feeling that it has to cause problems for the host.  In reality, though, it does no harm (with the exception of an occasional broken branch when the weight of the moss gets to be too burdensome) and if you look closely you can even see where trees have put forth new root systems in the apex of some branches to take advantage of the water and nutrients collecting there.  Another one of those examples of the incredible creativity of Mother Nature.

All in all, a visit to the rainforests is educational in many, many ways; not the least of which is to remind us of the delicate balance our planet maintains.  The way they are maintained by the Park Service and the tremendously enlightening signs that are strategically placed in every spot of significance just about ensure that you will come away better informed and educated than you went in.  I know we certainly did.  As you can imagine (knowing our bunch) there are even more photos and we hope that we will be able to make them available to you in some format in the future.  But - there are also tons and tons of pictures, articles and comments about the rainforests and the Olympic Peninsula in countless places on the internet.  If you are interested in these special places there are entire sections of the National Park System websites devoted to the rainforests themselves.  We'll stop for now and let the wonders of these fascinating places sink in.  Thanks for joining us, we'll be back soon.  See ya!! 

Where To Start .... ???

This trip is especially difficult to recap - from the standpoint of what pictures to add - because there were so many extremely beautiful sights along the way.  And - we kept the cameras clicking just about all of the time.   Our earlier posts included mostly pictures taken with our iPhones or the iPad.  There were several that we included from Rick's camera but those that were taken with Linda's Nikon camera couldn't be loaded directly onto the iPad so we had to wait to transfer them.  (For those of you who might have joined us recently, we use an app called "Blogpress" that is really cool for use in preparing posts on Google's "Blogger - or - Blogspot."  It is relatively easy to use with a bit of practice but it does have a couple of pesky limitations when trying to use media such as videos or photos from some other devices.)  At any rate - we have now had a chance to look at the Nikon pics and we'd really like for you to see them.  What I think we'll do, though, is take things slowly and let you see those from one area at a time so we won't overload you.  We'll start off on the Olympic Peninsula and will concentrate on photos we got in several key areas. 
Although we showed some stuff from there - we want to add pictures from around Cape Flattery (including the Strait of San Juan de Fuca), Ruby Beach, Kalaloch and two of the temperate rain forests, the Quinalt and the Hoh.

We actually got our first good look at the  Strait of San Juan de Fuca from an unusual vantage point - the highway to Hurricane Ridge.  (See our post from Port Angeles.)  As we were traveling to the ridge, we reached a point where we had a great view of distant Vancouver Island on one side and the majestic, snow covered peaks of Hurricane Ridge on the other.  The road that travels almost due West along the strait provides numerous opportunities to see beautiful sites along the way.  The strait occupies a place of tremendous importance in the life of the surrounding area since it connects the Pacific Ocean (at Cape Flattery) to the Puget Sound (at the San Juan Islands.)  The countless species of fish, birds, insects and animals here are just amazing.

When we reached the end of the drive up to Cape Flattery we still had a pretty good walk to get to the coastline but that, alone, was mesmerizing!!!  We saw countless varieties of flowers  .... trees in the most unusual formations .....  and even Mr. Spider put up a welcome sign to illustrate the open-armed hospitality that abounds here.



Looking North toward Vancouver Island from the Cape one is struck with the immenseness of the land and water formations and with the pristine beauty of the vegetation and the water.  It is hard to describe the colors; and the sound of the gulls and cormorants shouting out their seafood orders, the wind in the evergreens and the waves busily carving new formations in the timeless rocks along the coast are like something from a movie sound-track. 

Another of natures astonishing miracles - rich, nurturing kelp beds - also occupy the strait and provide habitat for countless species of creatures upon which the entire ecosystem depends so heavily.

Where the Pacific Ocean funnels into the stormy entrance of the Strait of San Juan de Fuca - where both Vancouver Island and the State of Washington reach their westernmost points - on remote, lonely and exquisitely beautiful Tatoosh Island a solitary sentinel - The Cape Flattery Lighthouse - provides for the safety of mariners traversing the coast with it's brilliant light. Built in 1857, one year after construction of one of my favorite places in the whole country - Cape Disappointment Lighthouse near where the Columbia River separates Washington and Oregon - the Cape Flattery Light occupies ground sacred to the Makah Indians - their tribal burial ground.  Although the light is still operated and maintained by the U. S. Coast Guard I have heard that there is a plan to return the land to the Makah Tribe at some point in the future. 




The sparkling clarity of water that rushes in and out of the narrow passages separating tiny islands and rocky outcrops along the coast just has to make one smile and the astonishing turquoise color you see when you look down into the kelp colonies is really hard to believe.  I really, really hope you get to come to this area some day.  If you do I am certain that you will come away spiritually refreshed and uplifted for days or weeks!!  I know it did - not only for us "old-folks" but for the young Traveler who was doing his apprenticeship with us this trip.

We'll stop now and get ready to mosey South to re-visit the rainforests.  There are things there we are really excited for you to see.  The rainforests are just as compelling, in their way, in reminding us of the miracles that surround us.  Come on back in a bit and we'll share some of them with you.  See ya.