It’s August, so the Radiation challenge is on. But our ride to Lummi Peninsula was a few days ago when Blue was still the order of the day. Confusing, but I’ve got both challenges covered so I’m claiming double credit. The blues were easy, but interesting examples of radiation took a bit more thought. There’s some … Continue reading "Two in one blow"
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Yes, I know it’s not August yet, but it feels like it. We’re having a bit of a heat wave here, even up here in mild Bellingham. To beat the heat a bit we got started early biked as far north as current customs allow, right along the border. Along the way, I saw one … Continue reading "Warming up for August"
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I hadn’t been aware that the Nooksack even had a Middle Fork until hearing the news that its dam had been eliminated earlier this month. For the first time in sixty years, the Nooksack runs free from Mount Baker to its mouth on the Lummi reservation on Bellingham Bay. Great news for the salmon! Also … Continue reading "The Middle Fork of the Nooksack"
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Rachael and I bicycled out to the Lummi Reservation this week, out on the opposite side of Bellingham Bay. A beautiful ride on a grey day, but the highlight was discovering that they were waiting for me and somehow knew that blue was my color for the month. Uncanny! That was more than enough to … Continue reading "A visit to the Lummi Nation"
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After proposing this month’s challenge, I’ve been remiss in rising to it myself. We’ve been getting out on our bikes almost daily here in Bellingham, and between the bay, the sky, and my blue bike there’s no shortage of blue subjects around. So, no excuse other than sloth. Fortunately, Suzanne observed that one of the … Continue reading "Blue, schmoo, Semiahmoo"
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There’s just enough blue here that I can claim this as a submission for both the July and Holiday challenges. Today’s loop along the Nooksack River made the best of a generally grey Independence Day. No big sights, just a mostly quiet, peaceful fifty miler (one for each state!). Perfect. Video sound track: Fanfare for … Continue reading "Independence Day, Whatcom County"
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No biking today. We took a day off from the bikes and just took a walk in the state park around the cabin on Coeur d’Alene Lake. The photo is from yesterday’s beautiful ride to Tekoa. Today’s walk was nice too, if less dramatic. The main point to posting it here though is to invite you … Continue reading "Rage Against the Machine"
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Rachael has some problems with allergies that seem to affect her more over time. Given that, she was a bit skeptical about my recommendation for today’s ride: a loop from Dusty to Hay and back. It doesn’t sound that promising, when you think about it. It was fine though. Dusty and Hay, towns from the … Continue reading "The Allergy Ride"
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Today’s loop through the beautiful Palouse takes us across the Idaho border to a spot I’m sure you won’t want to miss: Viola. Miles from anywhere, tiny Viola features several blocks of gravel streets, a few houses, some rusty implements, the usual. Probably there’s a barking, vicious dog loose there too if we explored it … Continue reading "Voila: Viola!"
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I’m pleased with how this month’s challenge is going so far. Lots of participation, lots of creative contributions. Keep it up! Here are my entries for now, but I’m sure more will follow. The featured image is from our ride up Bakeoven Road to Shaniko through the high desert. A great ride, through a beautiful … Continue reading "September’s challenge: Bakeoven Road"
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The Sitka Spruce is a pretty amazing tree. Previously we had a look at the largest known Sitka Spruce in the world, soaring nearly two hundred feet into the sky. Today’s featured image is a much smaller example, but nearly as remarkable. The Kalaloch Tree of Life ekes out its precarious existence on the wild … Continue reading "August challenge: the Kalaloch Tree of Life"
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We’re pretty busy at the moment and working through a blog backlog. We’ve been circling Olympic National Park for the last four days, and parts of it are remote enough that there is little or no network service. If I’m going to add to the backlog and go to the bother of putting up a … Continue reading "August challenge: a very big tree"
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Here’s another of my favorite trees, and characteristic of our region. We’ll be further into the Olympic rain forest in a few days and will undoubtedly see some truly massive ones – they can grow to over 200 feet tall and live over a thousand years – but this one we saw at the Purple … Continue reading "August challenge: western red cedar"
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We saw this great tree in La Conner, a small historical riverside village north of Seattle. I think it’s a California Black Oak, but am not positive. It’s a bit north of its primary range, but everything else looks right to me. The tree grows up to 120 feet tall, with a characteristic shape … Continue reading "August challenge: California Black Oak"
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As I mentioned earlier, this is a particularly easy challenge for me. You don’t have to look far in the Northwest before finding something old, decrepit, and rusting away. Our ride to Willow Grove had plenty of material, and it was hard to chose a featured image. I went with the Elgin in the Longview … Continue reading "July’s Challenge: Willow Grove"
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