Arriving in Virginia

I am finally recovering from a long and tiring trip across the us to visit Staunton. We are taking care of Dougal and Maguire for our friends the Mickels. I thought you'd appreciate a few shots of the rather large specimens in our charge.

An Outing with Seamus

Now that it is officially summer in the northern hemisphere, this means it is finally spring in Snohomish. A warm day with few clouds and Seamus is ready to go with mom and dad to explore town a bit.

Finding things to photograph in Snohomish

You can find the darnedest things in some of the shops in Snohomish.

Woodlawn Cemetery

Not far along the road from the Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery is Woodlawn Cemetery. Lots of ground-level markers here although the one above has an interesting addition of stone/cement boots.

Grand Army of the Republic Cemetery

Now that it finally beginning to act like spring time (since summer is almost upon us), we've had enough sunshine and lack of rain to make a trip into a grassy cemetery possible. Quite a different experience from such visits in Australia. There, the burial fields seldom have much grass or rain. Here, everywhere is a lawn, well manicured and cared for.

Rusty Relics in Monroe

This past weekend, we went to Monroe, a few miles away to the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. First, I must clarify a bit of confusion. The Washington State Fair is held in Puyallup, away south of Seattle. So, must because this is indeed the Evergreen State, the state fair is not held at the Evergreen State Fairgrounds. Think of it more like one of the many showgrounds found in Australia. It is a place for events, including a country fair.

The event this past weekend was Rustly Relics, an antique and junk exhibition.

Lan Su Chinese Garden

Our last stop on the tour of Portland took us the solitude of the Lan Su Chinese Garden. Actually, it wasn't very quite since it was pretty full of people.

Pittock Mansion

A visit to the Pittock Mansion takes us to the highest point in the city. From here we get a good view of the surrounding areas.

A golden Korean fir tree putting out cones for the summer.

 Of course, it is only PNW summer now seeing as how it is still in the 60’s #NoBetterLife4Us.

via Instagram

The International Rose Test Garden

Wouldn't be a trip to the City of Roses without I show you a few roses, now would it? A stop on our city tour took us to Washington Park to sample the International Rose Test Garden. Here we found oodles of roses of every size, shape, and color.

The Willamette River

We signed on to a half-day tour of Portland to get a feel for the place. Our first stop was by the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) on the banks of the Willamette River. While there was no time to visit the large, modern museum (we will certainly need to return for an extended visit), we did get to walk down to the river to see the city and a few of the many bridges.

Portland Farmer's Market

Not all our trips were to see lots of water located in various directions out of town. We also spend time in the city exploring. One of our first expeditions was to the Portland Farmer's Market located in a park near Portland State University.