Another Summit

 Shortly after I met my logger friend, Wayne Ratcliff, I convinced him to come with me to see another pair of friends, Carol and Joe, in the Bellingham area.

I loved the message on this trailer:"I go where I'm towed."

We had a lovely drive over there, July 27, catching the early ferry in Port Townsend, and arrived in time for lunch; a feast that Carol prepared. We still had daylight and Carol knew that Wayne would like going up on Mt. Baker. And further, it was an item on his bucket list, so off we went.

No one thought anything about footwear, and when we arrived at Artist's Point with me in my sandals and Wayne in his dancing sneakers, we were not daunted by over 10 feet of snow.

Here are the photos of that day including a stop at the Nooksack River Falls, which was just as impressive as the first time only I think it was a little bit warmer.

A man and his dawg... at Artist's Point, Mt. Baker, WA.

Wayne at the 'summit' of Artist's Point.

When I first moved to the Sequim area, there was an expectation that perhaps Carol was going to live there, too. Only she ended up in Bellingham instead.

Carol, right, pokes fun at Joe, left.

So we end up going back and forth visiting each other. Only now what was just two good friends has evolved into four good friends.

So first, there was Carol at the top of Mt. Baker. Then she invited me over to go up there (See earlier blog entries about that trip.) Then she got together with Joe and they made the trip up there. And now we've all introduced Wayne to this wonderful experience.

Joe and Carol at Artist's Point, Mt. Baker, WA.

Wayne practices the 'scissors' and 'vine' steps from dance class.

First on the Point is Carol.

Next, it's Carol and me on the Point.

Then it was me with Joe and Carol at the Point.

Now, it's the Four Communeros at the Point!

So what was the point? It's that through the remarkable process of thought and manifestation, dreams are being realized and it's all good!

Mt. Shuksan as we departed Artist's Point, Mt. Baker, WA.

Wayne at Nooksack Falls trail entry.

Peaches and I at the Nooksack Falls overlook.

This is the view from the bridge over the river,
looking down at the head of the falls.

Great meal to end the day in a roadside eatery.

Heading to the Coupevdlle Ferry Landing, the Olympics are
calling us home.

A long, but glorious day ends with a quarter moon over the
Strait of Juan de Fuca near Port Townsend, WA.

Anacortes and Ferry Fun

A placid August morning on the Puget Sound, heading for
Coupeville from Port Townsend, WA.

The tide is high and the sun is on it's way as I catch the ferry for Coupeville so I can drive up to Anacortes, WA. A dear friend and I have planned a couple of days of riding on ferries in the sunshine with some good food and other entertainments as they manifest. 

The approach to Coupeville is serene; great for anyone
making their first docking. I don't know if there was a new
captain on board, but that's what I was thinking when I
took this shot.

Mt. Baker rises up from the Cascade rim.

With such clear skies, the opportunity for taking some good photos is more than likely. And Lady Baker has lifted her cloud skirts so we can see her fulsome beauty. 

I opened up my sunroof and the side windows and cruised along with a fresh cup of latte to my destination. I was thinking, "Everything is going just great in my world!"

And so it continued.

Carol and I met in person almost exactly four years ago at the Chihuly glass museum in Seattle. This was a nice way to commemorate our friendship and to celebrate some of the least expensive fun things to do in Washington: ride the ferries around the San Juan Islands. It was only about $6 to be a walk on passenger and it lasted all day!

Friday Harbor... boats...

We caught the 11:45 ferry to Friday Harbor, walked around, saw art stores, museums, boats and folks.

Self-contained island near Orcas Island in the San Juan Island chair in
Washington. The dock is on the other side of the island.

Then the 5 p.m. ferry to Orcas was a quick stop, another at Shaw Island and finally we got off at Lopez. Not so much by choice as by requirement; the inter-island ferries do not go to Anacortes.

Shaw Island is the smallest of all.

Lopez Island ferry dock seen on approach.

Arriving at Lopez Island, WA in the San Juan islands.

Lopez Island ferry dock has a whimsical flower display.

Mount Baker as seen from Lopez Island ferry dock.

Our wait at Lopez was too long to be idyllic and too short to either walk or get a ride into downtown Lopez. So we chatted with the ferry folks, met a former coach and his wife who were there for a wedding, took some pictures and enjoyed the fact that it was warm, but cool in the shade where we found seats.

By the time the big ferry arrived to return us to Anacortes, the air was cooling down and we were lagging in our steps. (I logged over 10,800 steps on this day alone!)

View from the ferry as we were arriving in Anacortes, WA.

Sunday morning was another sunny day, but the wind chill was brisk with a small craft advisory. Nevertheless, Carol had it in her mind to drag me out of the hotel and take a drive up to Cap Sante to watch the sunrise. And I got some great shots; here are a couple of them.

Cap Sante, Anacortes, WA at sunrise, August 14, 2016.

Another Cap Sante shot at sunrise.

On our way to have lunch, we saw this interesting sight.
It appears to be the hull of a wooden ship that has been put
on the rocks to make a breakwater and harbor.

Here is a closer view of the prow of the old ship... wow.

 It was well worth it!! Even if I was still in my pjs! (True!)

We returned to the B&B (breakfast was not worth mentioning there) to shower and prep ourselves for our 'religious education' portion of the trip.

The delicious Crab and Bay Shrimp over Linguini with a
lobster cream sauce, bread with cheese could have been a little
more crisped under the broiler... but very good overall!

And the treat I liked a lot: a restaurant lunch overlooking the water so we could see boats of all kinds moving against the tide and wind while we enjoyed bay shrimp and fresh crab in linguini with a lobster cream sauce, followed by a key lime pie and now, a diet.

That was enough to hold us through the rest of the day and so it was a drive to the top of Mount Erie to view the entire area with some side visits and lots of photo opps.

Back up to Cap Sante for a closing sunset shot...

Anacortes at sunset, Sunday, August 14, 2016. This was
taken with my Samsung phone.

Now I have a very thorough view of Anacortes and its environs and can easily see why my friend Wes enjoys it so much. And could even think about relocating there with all the water and mountain views. But affordability for me requires a rather large influx of cash and Source hasn't delivered that yet.

Eagles, eagles everywhere

I enjoyed a weekend in Lynden, WA, recently with my dear friend Carol. Met some more of her local friends and danced at the Bellingham contra. It was one of those special set of days with weather, folks and food that made it quite memorable.

North Fork of the Nooksack River... eagles looked like
sparrows there were so many of them!!!

My friend drove me to this magical place where the eagles were taking turns getting dinner from the river... I want to go back there because I needed more time to watch them and their patterns for better photos.

This is what it means to get "the eagle eye."

They seemed to be unaffected by the hoards of folks snapping digital shots of them.

I am using these photos to get a better artistic sense of these glorious birds as I have an eagle in a tree acrylic painting I am working on.

After an hour we left, as did almost everyone else, but there were still a lot of birds... truly wonderful and great for children to see this national bird up close.

Beautiful to see them in flight so closely!

I think this is a juvenile, but I bow to the orthnologists.

To get to this location, you head up to Bellingham and get off I-5 just after the main city exits. Head up toward Mount Baker and look for the Mosquito River Road. Or just ask the folks who live there; they know where they are. I will try and post an actual map.

There are a fair number of eagles in Sequim, too, and regularly people blame the disappearance of their cats and small dogs on some 'napper, but it's just these hungry birds of prey looking for a good lunch. 

I have them in the trees around my home, too. I just don't seem to catch them as easily as I did on this particular journey.

And the only caution is not to let your little dog Toto run around near the river... easy pickin's.

By the way, if you are going to make this trip, absolutely do not miss out on ACME. 

Go into the little general store there and get the local ice cream. It is so delicious, you will be planning your next trip with a freezer truck.

My Ascent on Mt. Baker

When I was younger, but still older than most, I went on a mountain climbing expedition with the company where I was Executive Director for taking inner city kids to the wilderness.

I climbed to 11,203 feet in the Colorado Rockies, lost 17 pounds carrying a 55-lb. pack up and (it was lighter coming down, but not by much) dealt with a child having sickle-cell anemia, a young lady wanting to run away from home for good and a team leader who absolutely refused to take my EMT evaluation of the ill child seriously.

So, I left that company and did other things.

But climbing mountains must be in my blood... thinner at higher altitudes - LOL!

I have read lots of books about Everest and other major peaks, cringed to hear about the recent Nepal earthquake and all that it meant for all the folks involved, and still I risked my life once more to "get to the top, just because it was there..."

This is not me climbing... it was a group of folks learning
how to do this... I already have my own method.

The sky was a little hazy at the base, but the weather report said it would be clearer near the summit. I agreed with my pal, Carol Joy, and her partner, Earl, that it was going to have to be a pretty quick trip - no hanging around for too long once we got up there.

We packed a few essentials, especially plenty of water, and off we went.

As we approached the snow level, it was clear that lots of other folks were going to try for the top as well. You know it's crowded when you have to wait in line to get to the next level.

From a distance we could see there was still a lot of snow at
the top of Mt. Shuksan, east of Mt. Baker. 

Carol was the team leader; she'd gotten part way up once before and she wasn't sure if the route past the last huts (and where the ski lift for Black Diamond skiers starts) would be passable.

Although Earl has limited sight, he was a great motivator for us to keep going, and he seemed to know the route almost by heart.

You can see the mound of dirty snow that I was standing on
just to the lower right. This is the absolute peak of Mt. Baker
beyond that lovely evergreen tree. We just didn't have the
time, energy or resources to achieve that summit.

By the time we reached our destination, getting past the barriers that denied Carol's access in previous years, it was exactly noon.

Here I was, standing incredibly close to the very top of Mt. Baker, (it is 10,701 feet) and the sun broke through the clouds so I could actually see it clearly. It is possible for me to see this mountain from over in Sequim, so after today I would never look at it again in the same way.

I turned around and looked over my shoulder and this is what
I saw... all those other folks who were also vying for the top.

And now, we had to head back down, because sadly my weekend was over, and I had to catch the ferry back to Port Townsend.

The winding road down to the ski huts, with a view of the
Canadian mountains, also bereft of snow in May.

But what an awesome day! What fun we had! Our brief time at over 5,500 feet in elevation only left me breathless because of the views. I kinda wish I was still skiing because this must be an incredible place to enjoy whooshing down the mountain slopes. Hope you enjoyed the views, too...

Redemption

Easter is a new beginning. Spring offers hope for the summer, fall and winter to follow. All the newness of the time is a reminder of the Redemption bought and paid for by the Christ energy of the past. In the Bible, the Old Testament is a story about a time when mankind had to work and work only to receive a reward after death. The New Testament is a story about one man who worked and worked to give the message that rewards of this life are here and now, if we care to see them. "All this and more can you do," Jesus said. It is true a lot of church messages are that if you are "good" in this life, you will be rewarded by a trip through the pearly gates instead of to some dreary hot place. But forgiveness and being redeemed for the "sin" of _______ (fill in the blank) can and should happen now.

Our power is not in the government, but in ourselves. We are all of one "blood," and whether or not you are a believer of the story of Jesus Christ, it is undeniable that no matter the color of an individual's skin, when pierced, the blood flows red. When we allow the governments to segregate us by color of skin, beliefs, status or other means, we forget who we are and we will lose our 'Redemption.'

In Matthew 22:36 the people ask of Jesus: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment.

And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

My grandmother, after losing the love of her life during World War I, vowed to fight for peace. What she did not know, and many other still refuse to see, is that the governments of the world make money on wars. We watched what might be determined to be a "silly" movie called "The Men Who Stare at Goats," (2009) (if you click on the link, you can read a review.) with the premise that the government was working on a team of psychic warriors to infiltrate their enemy's minds. But they are already doing that in various ways when people will not think for themselves, and allow the so-called leaders to tell them what is right or wrong.

I do not propose to be a teller, only to suggest that spring is a time to awaken from the slumber of winter and to take a new look around at what is going on and how you may be being tricked into thinking you are not "One"with all others. Just a thought.

Blessings on this Easter morning.

A Ferry Nice Day

   With remarkable sunshine pouring down on us, it didn't take much to convince Jey-hu it was better to spend the day showing me around his native Washington than to roll logs off his front yard or sort through auto parts in the back garage. "Let's go to Anacortes," he announced just after 1 p.m. "OK," I replied, being the difficult one.

   We weren't alone. This lovely '58 Edsel (I'll admit I thought it was a '57 but was corrected by the professional antique car collector I was riding with...) was being given an outing by a senior couple and we followed them on some back roads for quite awhile. The drive north on Route 9 took us up to Marysville and then over to Mount Vernon, a slightly different version from the eastern village of the same name. Located at the edge of the Skagit (Skah-ghit) Valley where a lot of crops are grown and shipped out, it is home to a large population of immigrants, primarily from Mexico, and the green-white-red flags were flying from many front porches as we drove by. The mountain, hard to see in the haze but rising up behind the other mountains, is Mt. Baker, one of the four highest mountains in Washington. A quiet volcano, it is considered part of a glacier and has snow on it at the top (10,780 feet!) most of the year.

   From Mt. Erie, a considerably smaller hump in the earth by comparison, we could see for miles and miles, and on a less hazy day, the impact of Mt. Baker might have been even more impressive. Still,  Jey-hu was trying to cut through the haze to

get a close up shot with his telephoto lens. After awhile we walked around to the other side of Mt. Erie and got this wrap-around view of the rest of the peninsula - huge! This is a must-stop-and-see spot if one is anywhere near Anacortes.

It's not that hard to reach, and is not very well advertised. The road up to the top is narrow, steep and curvy - 15 mph all the way. 

   Then it was on to the Deception Pass and Jey-hu took me to Rosario Beach first where we could walk around the point to a place where we could see the bridges over the pass from below. Some scary paths, if you ask me, but the view was well worth the challenge. This is one of Je

y-hu's shots. I was breathless watching him take it as he was standing on a path with little edge and it was slanted precariously toward the ocean. Jey-hu said he used to come over to this area to visit relatives when he was growing up and remembered an uncle who had a horse that used to come over to the house when he was ready to have his feet trimmed and just waited for the uncle to do it. As we have been driving around, Jey-hu shares a lot of his memories of his Washington childhood and like so many places, much has changed, but it is wonderful to hear about 'those days.'