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.

The Look of Spring in Snohomish

Here we have a bit unconventional look at the coming of spring to the Pacific Northwest. The big news is that the sun is out (finally!) and we can enjoy the out of doors.

On a short perambulation about 1st Street, I spotted this young lady dressed for the warmer, sunnier weather and asked if I could take her photo. I didn't have enough sense to get her name, but I got a nice photo next to the primroses.

Buying Spring Flowers

Now that Easter has passed and the sun is finally appearing more frequently, we headed out for a Saturday of flower shopping. First stop was the Farm at Swan's Trail where the Snohomish Garden Club was having it's annual sale. This was a madhouse. Lots of people with determination on their faces going for plants. So while Seth shopped, Anna, Seamus, Elizabeth and I investigated a tractor parked nearby.

Scenery

With a bit of sunshine available for a change, I went out and about to see what I could find to shoot. My first stop was this barn above. This shot, like the rest in this post, were taken near noon and the bright sun washes out the colors and textures. As a result, I converted them all to B&W where I have more control over such things.

Christmas in April!

After an excessively long wait, I have had my first Christmas in April! I have finally bit the bullet and purchased a medium format camera; the Fuji GFX-50R. Since it has been raining here (?!?), today was the first chance I had to go out for a few test shot. And this still required that I work between the misty showers.

The photo above is not the greatest composition, but the rain was coming and going and I couldn't be too selective.

Seamus Finds an Easter Egg

The McDonagh family tradition is to gather for lunch on Easter and then hide plastic eggs in the backyard with either candy or cash(!) in them for the kids. Since the youngest go first, Seamus got in on the ground floor.

Snohomish Easter Parade

We have been treated to the spectacle of an Easter Parade here in Snohomish. I surprised by the turn out. First Street is pretty long and it was filled all the way along with people on both sides. Not a Macy's Thanksgiving parade or anything, but a well-attended one nonetheless.

Brackett's Landing

Just by the ferry from Edmonds to Kingston across the Puget Sound, we find Brackett's Landing. There a stone jetty and a bit of beach to walk on heading farther north.

Everett Waterfront

Everett has a large naval base located (oddly enough) on the waterfront. Just north of this is an area that seems to be slowly building up. This part of the waterfront has a few restaurants and lots of places to launch a boat. This time of year, there aren't any people trying to launch a boat.

A Walk in Snohomish

In one of periodic walkabouts in Snohomish, I found several place to take a few snaps.

Along the Skykomish River

I made a visit to a city park in Monroe to have a look at the Skykomish River. This is a tributary of the Snohomish River that joins up between Monroe and Snohomish. With the cloudy sky portending rain, I have elected to make it a significant part of this image looking downstream.

An Evening Out with Seamus

Strapped in and dressed in his fox raincoat, Seamus is ready for an evening out on the town.

Picnic Point Beach

Another visit to Picnic Point Beach, this time armed with my trusty graduated neutral density filter. This allows me to darken the bright sky so that the ground and sky are no so different in brightness. This, along with the magic of software, allows me to greatly add to the drama of the scene so there is not simply a washed out sky above a boring beach.

At this park, the parking lot is separated from the beach by a railroad track and there is a walkway that goes up and over the trains to keep people and trains from being in the same place together. The image above is take from near the top of the walkway and shows the beach and the distant land.

Around Snohomish

Not far from our house is a section of low land along the Snohomish River. Some bits are marshy and other parts are mostly flat and, no doubt, flood prone. Near one of these areas is this old house or store.

The signs seem relatively recent but the building is clearly is sad shape. It is in a location that doesn't get much traffic so I really don't see how a store of any kind (except maybe for a general store) would make any sense here. Nevertheless, here stands the bones of a, now extinct, place of business.

La Clemenza di Tito

In case you've been wondering what we've been up to, I'll tell you. We have for some time been wanting to see an opera live at the Met. When Joyce DiDonato and Matthew Polenzani were scheduled to sing Mozart's

La clemenza di Tito, we jumped at the opportunity. We loaded our smallest suitcase and headed to NYC for two nights...one to recover from the plane ride and one to see the opera.

Irving Lawson access Area

Although we are still enjoying clear blue skies overhead, the Cascades to the east of us gather clouds above them. I went down to the Irving Lawson Access Area, a dead end road with access to a berm along the Snohomish River,  to see what I could see of the mountains and clouds.

Rotary Park in B&W

After I thought about the images from yesterday and bit, I realized that some of the images would work very well in B&W. So, here's my go at some monochrome versions of a few of them.

Rotary Park

We are just on the edge of having some bad weather. As a result, we are starting to get some clouds but the weather hasn't set in yet so there is plenty of blue sky. This seemed like a good time to visit the Snohomish river at Rotary Park, just inside the near edge of Everett.

Picnic Point Park

A brief trip to Picnic Point Park to check out the beach and the Olympic mountains was productive. The most interesting part of the beach is the remnants of the pylons that once held a pier. They make a nice leading line to the mountains across the sound.

Granite Falls Fish Ladder

Not so far from Snohomish is the small town of Granite Falls. It is farther north than Snohomish and farther east towards the mountains. Just outside this settlement is the granite waterfall for which the town is named.

Along the Snohomish River

Between Everett and Marysville, along I-5, you cross over the Snohomish river delta. This area is filled with industries and surrounded by noisy road. Yet, out in the middle of this is the Langus Riverfront Park. A spot of calmness in the middle of the bustling roads.

Seamus is Two!

We arrived bach in Snohomish in time to get settled in to our digs once again and celebrate Seamus' second birthday. While the party happens this weekend, we did have a bit of sugar and presents on the day of.

Puerto Rican Flora and Fauna

Rain showers come and go easily in Puerto Rico so we decided to take the car for a ride about the community instead the golf cart. This gave me a dry retreat in case of a downpour.

When not raining, I was able to get a few shots of interesting bits around us. Above is the Antillean Grackle apparently in a mating or territorial display.

Arecibo

It seemed silly to visit Puerto Rico and not visit the radio telescope at Arecibo so we drove over for a look about. Turns out that the telescope is sited in a region of karst south of the town of Arecibo. As you might imagine, there are no primary roads from the expressway south, so we wound about for a long time on very narrow roads never sure that we actually getting anywhere until we finally popped out right at the entrance.

Old San Juan

After the cathedral, we wandered Old San Juan a bit to get a feel for the place. We found Calle Fortaleza decked out with a roof of pink umbrellas. And for some reason, the fellow by the orange traffic barrel was wearing his iguana on his head, I suppose for hands-free lizard transport.

Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista

In Old San Juan one find a real gem, the Catedral Metropolitana Basílica de San Juan Bautista. Although the ceiling decorations are painted rather than carved, it is still a interestingly ornate and imposing.

Cementerio Santa María Magdalena de Pazzi: A City of Angels

The old part of San Juan is located on an island that protects the harbor. On this island is Old San Juan and the famous fort that you see all the photos of. But the fascinating place for us is just next to the old fort, the cemetery. This place is crowded city of angels by the sea. It is filled with beautiful statues to honor the dead.

Puerto Rico

After out short excursion in Glasgow, we loaded up for a flight south to Puerto Rico. It was a long day. We went through security in Glasgow (of course), again in London when we changed terminals, once more in London at the gate when they decided that we won the lottery to have our carry-on inspected, again in Miami when we came into the US and boarded our flight to Puerto Rico. Lordy! We felt really secure!!

So, on this trip we've been as far north as 55.9 degrees in Glasgow, as far east as 3.6 degrees east in Grenada, as far south as 18.5 degrees in San Juan, and end up in Snohomish at 122 degrees west. Even though the trip from Glasgow to San Juan was shorter than a flight from LAX to Melbourne, the terminal changing and frequent safety checks made our travel day feel like we'd had all that travel in one day.

Glengoyne Distillery

What would be the point of a visit to Glasgow with a side trip to the mother ship of whisky? I walked over to the Buchanan Bus station and purchased a return ticket to Dumgoyne on the B10 bus. An hour later riding up the A81, Bob's your uncle! I'm standing looking at the water once used to make the Glengoyne whisky but is now the cooling water for the various vats.

Clydeside Distillery

We stopped for lunch at the Clydeside Distillery. The food was great and the people were terrific. We almost immediately struck up a lasting friendship with Linnie and Sam. This was good for Elizabeth since I vanished after lunch to take the tour. This left here with someone to talk to while she waited.

Above is the preparation of the mash, extracting the starch from the barley.

Back on the Bus

After the Cathedral and Necropolis, we hopped back on the bus to see more of the city. Our ride took us through parts of the city not within easy walking distance of the city center where we were staying. This gave us a broader view of the place.

Glasgow Necropolis

From the Cathedral churchyard, there is a cobblestone pedestrian bridge over a highway to the hill where the dead lie, the Glasgow Necropolis. One of the first markers you are greeted with as you climb the switchback lane that climbs the hill is that of William Miller, As you see above, he is known for his children's literature of the 19th century.

Glasgow Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral, we found a much more plainly decorated church than even the relatively unadorned St. Paul's in London, but it was still an impressive place filled with light and impressive arches. The darker stone work inside give the place the feel of being an older building. And, in fact, it is, dating from 1136. This building was built on the site originally chosen by St. Mungo in the 6th century. The view above is of the door opposite the altar.

Glasgow Cathedral Church Yard

Our first stop on the bus was the Glasgow Cathedral. Since we arrived a few minutes early, we toured about the outside of the church and had a look about the graves in the churchyard.

Heading Out for Our Hop-on/Hop-off Bus Ride

I thought I'd show you a little of what the train station looks like during the morning rush. We headed over for some breakfast at the M&S and Costa in the station before walking down to the bus stop.

A Little Bit of Glasgow

After we finished our pet sit in London, we boarded the train at Euston Station and headed north to Glasgow for a few days. Our hotel was right in the central train station making the entire process most convenient. If any one should wonder why the US need a respectable passenger train system, this is it: journey from city-center to city-center and stay within walking distance to everything you need.

Greenwich Market

There are still some places in the world that eat eels. apparently, Greenwich is one of them. From the sign on the window, people have been eating eels here since 1890. I think I'll take a raincheck on that.

Art of Divers Kinds

We decided to visit an antique market in Islington and found it to be a bust when we got there. Either it not longer happens or we were simply there on the wrong day. So we went exploring. Our next stop was Shoreditch, known for its street art.

Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret

Not far from the Borough Market, on the way toward the Shard is the Old Operating Theatre Museum and Herb Garret. After climbing 52 steps up an very narrow spiral staircase we are treated to this attic loft of a Herb Garret filled with 19th century medical instruments and potions.

Wyndham's Theater

We ventured down to Leicester Square to the Wyndham's Theater to see the Arthur Miller play The Price. It starred Brendan Coyle (of Downton Abbey fame), David Suchet (of Poirot Fame), Adrian Lukas, and Sara Stewart. It was exceedingly well done.