4th of July Week (Blaine, WA)

37 years!

We celebrated our 37th anniversary in Bellingham one day early on 29 June.

We ate lunch at a Greek restaurant, walked through an amazing park, and did a little shopping.

 

Dan found Whatcom Falls Park online and thought we should visit it while we were in Bellingham.  We were very surprised to find this little emerald jewel of a city park.  Neighborhoods surround the park giving easy access to families, joggers, and walkers to visit by taking one of the many paths leading into the park.

We felt like we were back in the North Cascades with the water, tall trees, the green vegetation, and silence all around us.  It was hard to believe there was a city bustling within walking distance.  Besides walking paths and play areas, we were able to view a fish hatchery, a small dam, natural waterfalls, and our favorite - this beautiful stone bridge.

 

One path took us to the Whatcom Falls and another took us along the Gorge.  If you happen to be in the area, this is a must see!

Along the Gorge Path

The Surrounding Area

The past couple of days have been very overcast with lots of rain so Sandy wasn't packing her usual camera gear...like her telephoto lens.  She regretted it later.

We sighted this Bald Eagle sitting on a rock during low tide and not too far from the road....just far enough though to be out of range for Sandy's 300mm lens.  She took the shot anyway, because she wanted proof that we actually saw the Bald Eagle sitting there...

After that exciting sighting, we drove out to Semiahmoo Resort and point.  We viewed Canada from across the water with a bunch of Seagulls watching us.

We checked out this old boat.  It has a lot of character and those are Seagulls sitting in a row on the rooftop.

We also took a stroll through the Peace Arch Park.  Within the park, we were able to walk across the border into Canada and back.  We walked out to the center near the arch where we could see both border gates staying busy with a long line of cars.

They have some beautiful gardens to stroll around in and artwork on display from both countries.

4th of July
How was everyone's 4th of July celebration?  Lots of eating, visiting, and viewing fireworks?

Not a rain cloud in the sky!

Us?  Well, the rain stopped and the sun came out!  Talk about good timing!  We went to Blaine to see the street festival and the classic car show.  We were not expecting it to be so busy!  Wow, where did all of the people come from?   The classic car show was spread out over quite a few blocks so it was easy to view most of the cars.

Classic Car Show

It wasn't so easy to view the vendors.  The area was so packed with people that we gave up on seeing what was good to eat or for sale.

Sandy managed to get a few candid shots of people enjoying their day...

Cute!  Eagle kissing? the young lady...

A young patriot

Even the dogs were looking patriotic!

We were too tired to go watch fireworks.  Between the commercial fireworks and home-bought fireworks, it sounded like quite a joyful celebration...that went on until after midnight. We finally fell asleep around 1 pm surrounded by two scared cats.  Poor guys did not know what to think of all that booming.  Not to worry - they are back to their old selves - begging to go outside, getting into things, and the list goes on....

Last, but not least...we traded in our 2005 Subaru WRX for a 2012 Honda Fit Sport with 5 speed automatic transmission.  We made the trade on Monday and so far, we are quite happy with it.

Dan's left ankle has been detoriating over the years, and we needed to move from a manual transmission with clutch to an automatic transmission.  Cars with automatic transmissions that can be towed four wheels down behind motorhomes is much more limited than manual transmission cars. 

The Honda Fit is small, light weight, handles well, and has good interior space for a small car.  We will miss the all wheel drive of the Subaru, and the turbo charged engine power.  The turbo Subaru did require premium fuel though.   It will be nice to use lower price regular fuel in the Honda, and more miles per gallon as well. 

Travel day on Wednesday.  We are moving to La Conner, WA.  Happy Trails!

North Cascades and Concrete WA

Today we moved to Birch Bay near Blaine, WA which is just south of the Canada border.   Catching up from the last several weeks, here are some pictures from the Concrete WA area we just left.

Here are some  photos from our walks in the North Cascade National Park. 

Part of the Skagit River

Sun peeking through the tall trees

A very tall moss-covered Cedar

Moss covered pathways

Newhalem River

One lone mushroom

Ladder Creek

Ladder Creek Falls

Lacey looking Fiddleheads

Inside a burned out tree

New and fresh looking helicopter seeds

It's all about location

We finally got a break in the rainy weather. Not that it kept us from going outside, but we did not do much sightseeing since the clouds were hanging very low around us.

We dusted off our raincoats that we rarely wear in the south and went for a couple of walks around the RV park. Walking in the rain is rather relaxing as long as it is a gentle rain, of course. We did go through a couple of pairs of pants and shoes. I think the soggy pants and shoes were worth the extra hassle of washing and cleaning. It is so quiet here except for the wind in the trees and the rain on our roof.

The clouds started to lift and the sun finally peaked out.

We took advantage of the nice weather and spent some time driving around the surrounding areas. We visited Baker Lake with low hanging clouds, but no rain. By the second day, the sky was blue. So we drove the mountain loop around Mt. Baker.

Baker Lake

Mt. Baker with clear skies

The best is yet to come! The blackberries are getting nice and plump. I can't wait to pick ripe berries from the bushes! Yum! I'm already enjoying fresh cherries and raspberries from the markets...delicious!

Happy Trails!

Winthrop to Concrete, WA (North Cascades Hwy)

Dan's Mom had great improvement in her medical situation, so we decided it was time to move on down the road.  After spending one night in Winthrop Washington, we drove across Washington Pass on highway 20 into the North Cascades National Park.

Great view of the Liberty Bell

Stepping outside to feel the cool moist air that is filled with rich earthy smells of soil and trees brings back memories of camping during our early years.
  
We don't remember seeing Cottonwood seedlings floating in the woods when we went camping many years ago, however here in the national park, they were everywhere.  Giving the illusions of tiny fairies floating and swirling around in a magical forest….
                 .....delightful….enchanting....
                                            tickling my nose....sneezing..........a lot!
.....despite the hay-fever, we are enjoying every new discovery. 

                                    

Sandy took a lot of photos between waterfalls, moss covered trees, and wildflowers.  She has loaded them into our Webshots albums into 2 separate folders.  One folder has a lot of Macro shots.  Our first day was perfect with the sun shining through the treetops giving her plenty of photo ops.  Our walks turned into long ones because she spent more time taking Macro shots then walking.

  
Here are the links to our two new albums in Webshots:  Textures and Colors  and Views of the North Cascades

This area has so many textures and different shades of green with occasional pops of brilliant colors from wildflowers.  It is almost an overload of color, textures, and smells.

While walking the cats, Sandy and Hitch were driving each other crazy.  She wanted to take pictures and he actually wanted to walk.  Sandy spent a lot of time trying to coax Hitch in going her direction, but he would not change his mind.  He was on the move and he wanted to go his way.  In the meantime, Dusty was doing his own exploring.  He was walking on top of fallen logs and actually trying to climb a few trees.  Meowing quite often.  He was a very happy cat.  Squirrel and Max also enjoyed their time outdoors, but not like the other two.  We think all the cats wore out their sniffers because they were all in a deep sleep that afternoon.

The last couple of days were perfect for water shots with overcast weather and an occasional sprinkle of rain.  We drove back up the pass and stopped several times to view waterfalls.  The rivers are running deep and swift from all the snow runoff.

Newhalem is a company owned town.   Seattle City Light built the small town of Newhalem and maintains the dams on the west side of the North Cascades.   The town is small, but beautiful as they tried to keep much of Mother Nature present with large green areas filled with trees and flowers.  There is a small grocery store and the company’s old housing looks well-maintained and spacious.

They even have a gazebo built from recycled parts from Diablo's switchyard.  The shadows it makes are interesting, but not much cover when it rains.

Temple of Power Gazebo

With no hook-ups, we decided to spend only three nights in the National Park.  We will be staying in Concrete, WA for two weeks before moving on to Blaine, WA.

Since our arrival, it has been raining.  We are hoping for a break in the weather later this week so we can go visit Baker Lake and Mt. Baker's National Park.

By the way, if you are active duty, now is a good time to get an annual pass from the National Park Service.  They are free with proper ID information.  Go to http://www.store.usgs.gov/pass/military.html.


For the past couple of days, we have been following  a Scottish nine-year-old's blog on school lunch food and raising money for an under-privileged kitchen for children.  She was recently in the news when the school officials told her she could no longer critic or take photos of her school meals for her blog.  The blog has gone viral.  We have added Neverseconds to our Blog list at the right.

We plan to spend the next several months on the Washington and Oregon coastline using our Thousand Trails membership campground chain.

Spokane, WA

Since leaving the Zion National Park area, we did quite a bit of traveling.  We stopped for a few days at Hill AFB, UT.  The cats enjoyed the green grass and watching the Magpies fly by.

Magpie

The view was wonderful with mountains on one side and on the other side, we could see the valley all the way to the Great Salt Lake.

View from Hill's FamCamp

We spent one afternoon in downtown Ogden.  We had a great lunch, saw a bike race, and visited the Train museum.

Flowered trees at a rest area in Idaho

We also stopped on the Idaho and Oregon border in a state park, followed by a stop on the Columbia river at the Oregon Washington border in a Corps of Engineers park.

Oh! My! Gosh!  What is that?!

It is so nice to be back in the NW area.  Sandy says she misses all the green, the crystal clear rivers, the tall snow-capped mountains, and the rocky coast.  Oregon and Washington will always have a special place in my heart.

Spokane

We are currently in Spokane, WA. We may be here for a quite a while as Dan's mother is experiencing health issues.

We managed to get here just before Mother's Day so we were able to have a wonderful day celebrating with Dan's Mom along with his sister Sue, and his father Howard.  Dan's sister Kristy also arrived in Spokane this week for some family time and assistance for her mom.

While Dan spends time with his mother's health issues and recovery, Sandy stays busy in the military campground on Fairchild Air Force base:

Everywhere I look in on base and in Spokane, I see flowers.  Of course, most of them are in people's yards and I don't want to be standing in front of their house taking photographs.  Spring time here in Spokane is wonderful!  Not great for the allergies, but it is worth taking a pill to enjoy the beauty.  

I saw some Quail on my way to the campground  dumpster, so I ran back to our motorhome for my camera.  I only got a couple of pictures.  This guy seemed to be the leader.  While the others moved away, he stayed behind to see what I was doing.  Once the others were safe, he took off.

I did spend some time outside before the rain came.  Our first week was filled with sunshine and all the cats were begging to go outdoors.  Of course, I had to take pictures...which the cats were not happy about...

Stop playing with the camera!

Pay no attention to the cat...er..Wizard! behind the curtain!

Now that it is raining, I should get back to my quilting and get off this computer.  Well, maybe after I visit a couple of more quilting blogs....

Lilacs are blooming