A trip down the Oregon side of the Columbia River Gorge will give you plenty of waterfalls to view like these two - Mulnomah on the left, Latourell on the right.  I climbed Beacon Rock on the Washington side but foolishly didn't charge my camera battery the night before so no pictures except the pretty pitiful ones from my iPhone.  Note to self...  Always charge battery every day and bring and extra.

Jackson at the Park Part 2

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's Superbaby!!!

Aberdeen

It has been about 27 years since I was last in Aberdeen.  I used to spend a lot of time here, mostly work.  Today I walked around the city centre and tried to remember but mostly I just got familiar feelings instead of recall.  A couple of things struck me - it is still a grey city of granite, there are still lots of smokers, there are lots of church steeples but many are no longer churches.  Anyway, it was a very nice day for a walk.

Jackson at the Park

Little things are a lot of fun at this age.

North Oregon Coast

A trip along the northern coast of Oregon - it is spectacular...

Westport, the Columbia River

Cannon Beach

Tillamook Light

Starfish at the Haystack

Haystack

Three Arches

The Ballard Locks

People always ask "don't you get tired of the rain in Seattle?" - they have never been here in the Summer.  It is g-l-o-r-i-o-u-s here in the summer.  Don't tell anyone.  It's a secret.

The Ballard locks have an attractive garden beside them and are interesting for engineers as well.  Yesterday was really nice and the boats were lined up to go in and out of Lake Union.  The silver salmon are running now and you can see them from the observation window at the fish ladder that runs beside the locks.  They are catching them below my house also.  Kings are running too.

La Push

Indian nets at the river mouth

David C., fish on in the Hoh River near La Push

David M., steelhead

Traverse City, Michigan

Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore is on Lake Michigan north of Traverse City.  These are TALL dunes, about 450 feet if I remember right.  You would have to be nuts to go to the bottom of this and climb back up.  The sand is steep and soft.  These people are nuts.

Old Mission Lighthouse

Grand Traverse Lighthouse

As Di says, these aren't really lighthouses.  They are just houses with lights on them.

The Traverse City Film Festival which was started by my favorite director, Michael Moore, was going on.  Unfortunately we didn't bump into Susan Sarandon.  Michael Moore invited us to his apartment for brownies but we were busy and couldn't make it.

The Sheraton Doha

I usually stay at the Doha Sheraton when in Qatar.  It's the pyramid shaped building to the right of the coffee pot.

Here we are in the Sheraton looking down from the walkway outside my room on the restaurant and lobby.

And here is a view from the Sheraton towards new buildings along the Corniche.

Discovery Green

Discovery Green is a small park in Downtown Houston with places for children to play (including a wading fountain), a dog park, regular exercise classes in the evening, and even a small reading room.  Nice.

Random Sights, Victoria BC

The capitol of the province with a statue of Queen Victoria out front

Houseboats and kayaks

A figure from a totem pole

A street performer who calls himself plasterman

Franklin Falls

Franklin Falls is at the end of a nice and easy trail near Snoqualmie Pass.  An old wagon trail runs nearby to the right of the picture and Interstate 90 is to the left and above.  There is still melting snow visible left and center.

Alki Point Light

As I think I've written before, the Alki Point Light is our local lighthouse.  The sign in the top photo reads:

There has been a light showing safe anchorage off the point ever since the Denny Party first founded Seattle.  This light house, one of 13 in the PugetSound area, was built and run by the U.S. Light House Service in 1913 as an aid to navigation.  The service was taken over by Coast Guard in 1939, but it wasn't until 1970 that one of the last two two civilian light house keepers retired here at Alki Point.

The second photo is taken from inside the tower back towards the lighthouse keepers houses where a Coast Guard Admiral lives.

the Arts

It isn't that widely known, but I am a supporter of the Arts.  Here I am with my close personal friends the Assistant Principal Bassist for the San Antonio Symphony and the Principal Bassist for the Houston Opera in back of the Majestic Theatre in San Antonio.

Dubai

Dubai has changed a lot since I was here last.  There is of course the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest building seen here from the train (which wasn't there 4 years ago either).

The artificial penninsula "Palm" is new also.   This was taken from the hotel I stayed in.  "Atlantis" can be seen at the top of the photo.

Here is Atlantis at night from the same viewpoint, just zoomed in.

The lobby in Atlantis.

The Aquarium inside Atlantis.

I was impressed with Dubai as a city, although I didn't expect to be.  It is getting to be quite cosmopolitan.

Doha Skyline

I was in Qatar for a day on my way to Dubai for a meeting.  The Doha skyline just keeps getting larger and the construction doesn't seem to have slowed much.

View from Room, Mount Royal Hotel, Banff

"If we can't export the scenery, we'll import the tourists."

W.C. Van HorneCanadian Pacific Railroad President, 1888-1899

Statue in Houston #1

Statue in Houston #2

Statue in Houston #3

Atyrau, Kazakhstan

Taken from a bridge over the Ural River - to the left is Europe and to the right is Asia.

An Orthodox Church

A Mosque

Kazakhstan is situated on the Silk Route and is a mix of East, West, and Soviet influences as well as their own culture.  The statues in the background are a poet / singer on the left and a warrior who battled the Khans (as in Genghis Khan) on the right.  The giant comic characters are advertisements for the electric kiddy mobiles like the little girl is riding on the left.

Big Four Mountain

Big Four Mountain is in the Northern Cascades and is famous for it's ice caves and avalanches.  The old fireplace in the foreground left is from a hotel that was built in the days of the railroad - this was a mining and logging area.  Today the railroad is gone and in winter the road is gated off because of snow and there is a two mile hike to this point. 

We hiked another mile up to the base of the mountain (don't get too close because of the avalanches).  It was possible to walk today in boots because of the packed trail, but easier in showshoes.  The weather was perfect and there were lots of avalanches to hear and see.

San Jose Mission

On the mission trail in San Antonio....

Texas Trail Riders

Yesterday, the Texas Trail Rides, a tradition of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, ended with a parade in downtown Houston.  Started in 1952, it has grown to over 3000 riders.  The longest trail at 386 miles comes from Hidalgo in the Rio Grande valley and starts on February 3rd for a 3 week journey. 

Crater Lake National Park in Winter

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the United States and widely accepted as the cleanest large body of water in the world.  The shrunken crater is thought to have been formed about 7500 years ago with the island on the left side more recent.  There aren't too many visitors this time of year - saw one car on the way in and one car on the way out.

This is the park hotel closed up for the winter....  REDRUM   REDRUM