Mom in Accident!

My mother was involved in a car accident Saturday, July 27th. Thank God for modern automotive technology! She had a few bruises and a nasty abrasion on her arm but was released from the hospital ER the same day. She mourns the passing of her 2012 Jeep Grand Cherokee - totaled! I spent a few days taking care of her and moving dad from the hospital to physical therapy.

Mount Walker Again

Al, Stan and I intended to hike up Hurricane Ridge toward Mount Angeles but Stan got a weather report saying the area would be fogged in for most of the day. So, we went back to our old standby, Mt Walker. It almost always seems to be pleasant with just the right amount of uphill effort required.

You could just drive to the top of Mt Walker, which plenty of people do. But just look at all these people needing exercise!










Just four photos this time. See them in my Flickr gallery.

Lavender Festival

Friday, July 19th, Bonita and I went to the yearly Lavender Festival in Sequim with Don, Darlene and Sid. It was a pleasant day with pleasant company and good weather. This festival is always more interesting to the gals but us guys enjoyed tagging along. We saw aging hippies, artsy-craftsy folks and got to pet some nice dogs.

Hot dogs were 5 bucks - Yum! View the whole photo set on my Flickr gallery.

Hike at Stan's

Thursday, July 18th, Al and I were invited to Hike at Stan's place in Gig Harbor. Stan has an exercise walk around his property and some of the surrounding neighborhood that gives him 3.7 miles. Here we are standing in front of one of the two small ponds on his property.

Stan knows his plants and says this is an Onion Plant in bloom. The stalks must have been four feet high.

This is a huge Maple tree. Stan says it is the biggest tree on his property. I think it would have taken all three of us with our arms extended to reach all the way around this monster! Some of the branches seemed larger than most Maple trees as well.




Look for the whole set of photos on my Flickr gallery.

Hurricane Ridge with the Suttons

Saturday, July 13th, I went with the Suttons and two of their church members, John and Robert, to Hurricane Ridge. To my surprise the whole crew wanted to climb to the top of Hurricane Hill.

These pretty things are called Flox and are prolific in the area. They appear in purple color as well as white.

We saw a three-point buck, several two-point and a doe. This is a great place to take kids since the deer can be seen close-up.

We came, we saw, we conquered! The views from atop 5757 ft Hurricane Hill are spectacular. We could see Port Angeles, Victoria and all the northern Olympic Mountain range.



My gallery on Flickr contains 41 photos and 3 videos.

Mount Walker Day Hike

Thursday, July 11th, I went again with Al and Stan to Mount Walker. We agree Mount Walker is the ideal hike for us. It is just south of Quilcene only about an hour away by car, two miles to the summit on a good trail with a constant grade. We use it as a fitness test - how long did it take to summit this time? Views, flowers, Grey Jays always make it interesting. And in the time spent together we solve all the world's problems - if only the powers that be would listen to us the problems would soon be resolved, right?

Here is a portion of the Rhododendron forest we walk through. The Rhodies are typically 15 feet high.

This is a Rhododendron "tree" - again about 15 feet high. I have never seen trunks this big on a wild Rhodie.

Stan calls this a "Star Flower." My camera overexposed the bright white flower.












You can see all the photos I took at Mount Walker on my Flickr gallery.

Day Trip to Hurricane Ridge

Tuesday, July 9th, we went to Hurricane Ridge, stopping for breakfast in Poulsbo and lunch in Port Angeles. We stopped in a couple of thrift stores along the way. We really beat the heat! Instead of 80 degrees in Bremerton it was a comfortable 70 degrees on the ridge - and spectacular views.Port Angeles is in the distance with the Straight of Juan de Fuca covered in fog. Above the fog is Victoria on Vancouver Island. Click on the photos for a larger view.

This panorama photo only shows a quarter of the Olympic Mountains view (or less!)

This a zoomed-in photo of Mount Olympus from the Hurricane Ridge parking lot.

Deer in the parking lot is great for tourists, especially the kids. We saw two this day and they came within a few feet of us.


See my Flickr gallery.