ramblings of a Seattle travel, food and photography hound
The Bellevue Demonstration Garden in my neck of the woods is featuring an entire row of zinnias, flowers I never paid much attention to until now. The specimen above is already fully matured with the outer (ray) florets beginning to wilt, but what struck me was the crown of disk florets that even the bee was... Continue Reading →
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 →
What do dinosaurs, pizza and Israel have it common? Trick question. The city of Vernal is close to Dinosaur National Monument, located in the little visited corner of northeastern Utah, the state with the most bang for the National Park Service buck. The monument has 1,500 dinosaur bone fossils on display in situ, making it a... 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.
Exasperation sometimes ends up for the better. Along the San Gabriel Valley Asian food mecca of Valley Boulevard, I was looking for a restaurant (whose name I couldn't recall) where several of us had wonderful noodle soups many years ago. (At my age, my memory plays tricks; Kam Hong Garden is in fact in Monterey... Continue Reading →
I love cactus flowers. They are for me the most arresting sight in the desert. Come springtime, from out of these spiny plants pop up these spectacular flowers. The contrast is remarkable, delicate beauties that seem to float on a bed of thorns.
Monday was a fine sunny day to visit Seattle Center. The Space Needle is so tall (605ft/184m) that it can be seen from anywhere on the 40-acre campus, even through leafy trees.
zoomeboshi 