ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
Driving on my current roadtrip, I was hard-pressed not to stare at the explosions of color on the southern and central California hillsides. Not only were the hills an uncharacteristic green, but they were carpeted with mostly yellow wildflowers, some of them so densely packed and widespread that the effect was immediately mesmerizing. The recent historic rains... Continue Reading →
It was just to take a quick look at Pismo Beach State Park in California. My wife and I wound up hanging around for almost two hours, enjoying the ride in our Jeep rental onto the sandy beach to watch the pounding surf. Then, we noticed what we first thought were sandpipers but were instead whimbrels. If... Continue Reading →
They were everywhere, the caterpillars of the white-lined Sphinx moth, in a field of wildflowers at Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in southern California. I saw one, then noticed more—and more. Some plants had as many as four chomping away at their flowers. What seemed like different species of bug turns out to be the same,... Continue Reading →
It was surprising to me that there is so much exposed salt at Death Valley. Ancient lakes didn't have an escape route to the oceans, so they simply dried up and left behind enormous salt deposits. At the Devil's Golf Course, salt got sculpted into complex, intricate formations from weathering, a phenomenon that prompted the National Park... Continue Reading →
My breath is taken away every time I see Mount Shasta from Interstate 5, just south of the Oregon-California border. Even when skies aren't always clear, its majesty dominates the horizon. Today, spectacular lenticular clouds were hovering over the mountain.
Don't let the modest place fool you. Xi'an Noodles has some of the best noodles in Seattle. It's one of the rare restaurants that specialize in one thing and do it extremely well. In this case, the specialty is the kind of noodles made in the Chinese province of Shaanxi (which touches Sichuan at its southwest corner), hand-made and pulled... Continue Reading →
Getting good poké in Seattle was like getting good ramen used to be, a challenge. Now, very good ramenya are popping up with increasing regularity. Anyone who's had ahi poké in Hawaii might agree with me that in Seattle, it's been a disappointment. The primary reason is the fish quality. There's something about tuna freshly caught off Hawaiian shores that makes it... Continue Reading →
Orcas Island has been one of our favorite local spots to vacation. Our family used to camp regularly in the summers at Moran State Park, memories that our daughters still hold today. Lately, with the kids now grown and having their own families, my wife and I have been going to Orcas during off-seasons to avoid crowds.... Continue Reading →
zoomeboshi 