While in Seattle

Summer/Fall 1999

Olympic National Park

The coastline of Washington's Olympic Peninsula is amazing. Rocky outcrops, called seastacks, complete with a miniature forest atop its plateau, jut out of the ocean and rise as high as 150 feet. The beach itself is a beautiful golden sand, so the contrast created by these masses of rock is especially interesting. Another feature of the Pacific Northwest coast is the constant moisture, which I witnessed in the form of fog. The fog was like a living creature, constantly changing. One moment, we were enveloped in a fog so thick that I could only see a few hundred yards in front of me. Then as that rolled out, visibility was drastically improved, until it rolled back in. But this time, it may not be as dense. Or it may be denser. It was like the waves of the ocean, constantly coming in and going out, but never the same one twice.

The sunset was simply spectacular. As the slanted rays of the sun tried to cut through the heavy moisture in the air, it was refracted more, adding to the brilliant color in the sky. That combined with the movement of the fog created a dramatic scene. After the sun had dropped below the horizon and the colors in the sky had begun to fade, I made my way back along the mile long trail through the woods back to my car.

Oregon

The Columbia River separates the states of Washington and Oregon. The mighty river has cut a gorge which is several hundred feet deep in some places. As rivers and streams from the many peaks of the Cascade Range flow towards the Columbia River on their way to the Pacific Ocean, they plunge over the walls of the gorge creating spectacular waterfalls like Latourell Falls shown here.

Just south of Portland, the Willamette River Valley is one of the best wine producing regions in the United States. The region is really making a name for itself with its Pinot Noir wines, the same variety used for the red Burgundy wines of France. These grapes are from the vineyards of Cristom Winery.

Death Valley

Near the end of October, I went down to Death Valley National Park with a couple of friends. The place is completely desolate. Fortunately for us, it was the end of October, so it was only in the upper 80's. And it was a dry heat. This photo was taken near Badwater, 282 feet below sea level!

In and around Seattle

My parents visited over the Thanksgiving weekend, and we took an afternoon to visit some of the wineries in Woodinville, just north of Seattle. Here, we are at the Columbia Winery.

We had one spectacularly clear day over the Thanksgiving weekend, so we took the ferry across Puget Sound to Bainbridge Island. From there we drove to Olympic National Park and up to Hurrican Ridge. This photo was taken from the ferry, looking across the sound towards the Olympic Range. A ferry inbound to Seattle is passing to our right.

On clear days (which was just about every day until mid-November), this is what I woke up to. Mt. Rainier, about 50 miles south of Seattle, shows its summit above the nearby hills as the rising sun colors the sky in shades of pink and purple. Commuting to work was much more enjoyable when I had these scenes to keep me company.

The volcanic peaks of the northern Cascades - Left: Glacier Peak, as seen from suburban Everett, five minutes from the Boeing plant where I worked. Right: Mt. Baker, covered in snow.

Skiing at Whistler

In January, my friend Gunter and I went up to Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia to go skiing for the weekend. Whistler/Blackcomb is a two mountain resort (one named Whistler and the other Blackcomb, naturally) about an hour and a half north of Vancouver. It consistently gets rated as one of the top ski resorts in North America, although the weather is supposedly bad more often than not. This is the Pacific Northwest in winter after all. We were lucky though, with good weather for two out of the three days. Above is a photo of Whistler Village taken from the mountain. At left is Gunter taking a break from skiing the heavy powder of Blackcomb Glacier.

Tree skiing on the "Unsanctioned" trail.