Welcome to our Charlotte!

Just a little shy of 3:00 AM today, we welcomed a new addition to our family: Charlotte Elizabeth McDonagh!

Seamus and the Cupcake

The process of toilet training has started and this, naturally, involves a certain amount of bribery. In reward for a day of progress and a minimum of errors, Seamus got a sugar covered cupcake after dinner.

The Superb Lyrebird

I came across this video of the David Attenborough talking about and listening to the Superb Lyrebird and I couldn't resist posting it for those you have not yet seen it. These animals are truly amazing.

A Monochrome Walkabout

A short walk about town to see what I could see resulted in a few B&W images that are respectable. Something I've noticed since we've been in Washington are the fences and trees filled with shoes. Never seen this anywhere else and I don't really know what it means. It does make an interesting photo.

Sky Valley Motorcycle Show

After my adventure across the mountains, Snohomish was treated to the annual Sky Valley Motorcycle Show. First street is blocked off and people bring motorcycles from miles around to compete for trophies and bragging rights. There is also food and lots of bike/biker related stuff for sale.

Taking the North Cascades Highway Home

My last day of adventure started along the shores of Banks Lake not far from Steamboat Rock. Here we find a small quiet pool reflecting the rocky cliff above it.

Grand Coulee Dam

Driving onward from Steamboat Rock State Park, I passed through Electric City and to the Grand Coulee Dam in the city of Grand Coulee. all the photos I have here are from the downstream side of the dam. Upstream is Lake Roosevelt.

Steamboat Rock State Park

As I drove past the motel where I was staying, I noticed the large "Motel" sign across the road and through it would make a good photo with all the dramatic clouds behind it. I think you will agree.

Lake Lenore Caves

A bit farther south from Dry Falls State Park is Lake Lenore and a series of caves that were created by the floods. Above is a small community, no doubt containing many vacation homes, along the opposite shore of the lake.

Dry Falls State Park

Those of you who pay attention to such things will know about the Missoula Flood. Since this is such a mind bogglingly large event, I will give a longer than usual quote from Wikipedia below the fold.

On the Road to Coulee City

So, after finally getting my new Fuji GFX camera and lens sorted out I decided I needed a "shakedown cruise" to learn my way around using the camera. Looking about a place to drive that wasn't too far away, I settled on a visit to Coulee City and Grand Coulee to see what there was to see. Nominally, this was a trip to the dam and Grand Coulee, but I discovered much more.

I took US 2 all the way. On the west side of the Cascade Mountains, I detoured toward a fish hatchery not far from Gold Bar (actual town name) where I could get a clearer look at the mountains in the clouds and fog. As you can see above, the weather was pretty thick.

Lowell Riverfront Park

Since we now, finally, have some proper spring weather with real sunshine and everything, E and I went out to Lowell Riverfront Park to relax a bit in the sun. There's a place to stand where you can look north down the river and see Mt. Baker in the distance.

Lake Eyre in Flood

You may recall that when in Australia, we had a plane flight over Lake Eyre. Follow the link for a reminder of what this place looked like.

Once you have set your notion of what a salt pan in the desert looks like, have a look at this video from the ABC News about where all the water from the typhoons that hit northern and eastern Australia went. The change is not only remarkable, it is dumbfounding. The roadhouse shown in the early part of the video is one we visited and had lunch in.

Makes us what to return for another visit.

Turtles!

Another visit to Flower World, not so much for flowers as for an opportunity for Seamus to visit the turtles again. The turtles were in a posing mood, so I thought I'd bring you one of the poses.

Flowers are Blooming

Today we learned that later this week it may well get to 80 F! Oh. My. God. We are going to melt into little puddles of soylent green and flow into Puget Sound. How will we survive it simply not being cold any longer?

In celebration of this record breaking (no, really!) heat wave that is coming our way, here some flowers I found in the greenhouses of the local nursery.

Bob Heirman Wildlife Park at Thomas' Eddy

I found a new park to check out. It is the Bob Heirman Wildlife Park at Thomas' Eddy (like there are more Bob Heirman Wildlife Parks about). Since it is a sunny day with no clouds, it is a good test of what can be done with no clouds to make it (more) interesting.

Along the way to the park, I found this peaceful bucolic scene.

A Few Antiques

On the east end of town is an antique store that seems to have one of everything and two of most things. And it is overflowing onto the street.

The Snohomish River

On the west end of the central business district in Snohomish is a bridge for the vehicular traffic in town. On the east end is this railroad trestle. Today I got there at low tide (yes, the river is tidal where we are) and got a few images.