ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
People are fascinated with dinosaurs. I'm one of them. Like for most people, it all started out when I was a kid. I learned all I could about T-Rex, triceratops, stegosaurus, brontosaurus, diplodocus. When Life magazine published its groundbreaking illustrations that appeared in an early 1950s issue, they grabbed my attention from the start. With... Continue Reading →
The idleberry pie ranks as one of America's great pies. It's served deliciously warm at Idle Isle Cafe in Brigham City, Utah, a dessert for which I'd deliberately hold back on the main course to make room for it. A la mode, with scoops of their excellent vanilla ice cream, it serves henceforth as a reason to make... Continue Reading →
"Spokane Doesn't Suck." Did it take a young, Texas migrant who moved here recently to defend his new home by marketing apparel decorated with these words? Derrick Oliver loves Spokane. Spokane is Washington state's second largest city—for now—with over 200,000 residents. It could be overtaken by Tacoma any day now. Yet, if you ask folks... Continue Reading →
"It doesn't get any better than this." So beamed the driver to a passenger on the park shuttle to Logan Pass. "I love this job," he added, admitting he'd been doing it for many years and still amazed by the mountainous spectacles he sees day in and day out. You can imagine the effect they... Continue Reading →
How much more reward could I get when I first got to Glacier National Park than to have this view just steps from my room? Lake McDonald was only a teaser for the best was yet to come.
It amazes me that seabirds can find comfort in daunting places. Below an overlook somewhere south of Cape Perpetua on the Oregon coast, I saw this gull resting on a rocky ledge high above crashing waves, not bothered by a stiff wind ruffling its feathers nor a loud colony of sea lions barking from the beach below.
I kept my eyes open throughout Death Valley for signs of wildflowers. It was one reason why we wanted to visit. Last year, the national park experienced a superbloom that happens once in a blue moon because of specific environmental conditions. It's not enough that California got literally drenched this January and February, a record downpour that broke a years-long... Continue Reading →
From a distance, it could be mistaken for snow, a vast, flat valley of blinding whiteness. Except the temperature is 100o F (38o C). And it's Death Valley. The field is instead a salt flat so big that from the middle of Badwater Basin, it seems to stretch to infinity, if it weren't for the abrupt Panamint Mountains jutting up that... Continue Reading →
The recent torrential downpours in California threatened to put an end to a road trip to Death Valley that my wife and I had been planning since last October. The Oroville Dam disaster, flooding, washed out roads and mudslides have the effect of putting a damper on best-laid plans. There were also forecasts of snow... Continue Reading →
Part of the thrill of walking on the intertidal lava rocks near Cape Perpetua in Oregon is to watch the seething currents offshore. If I stood too close to shore's edge, a sneaker wave could easily claim me victim. Yet, there are sheltered tidepools that are a remarkable contrast to the chaos nearby. Devil's Churn is a narrow channel that... Continue Reading →
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