Seattle Tours

For three months (April May June) i kept some notes about the doings, but then the computer got too boggy. Now i learned some ways to do this faster, so here are some photos taken during July August September.

My friend V, crossing through the ditch brambleberries and leaving the train yard in Eugene, Oregon. She and I rode to Eugene on the blue Golden West grainer you see in the background.
















Your humble correspondant, in Vancouver, hugging chicory and razor-wire.

















My friend T drives me up the Columbia River and to Wyoming.

















My friend C looks out at the sagebrush-steppe in eastern Idaho, on a boxcar bound for the Hinkle classification yard in Oregon. We only made it to Nampa -- ran into Johnny Law.



















View from left side of double stack train NE of Pasco, Washington, headed to Spokane, late afternoon of August 24. This was a trip around the state of Washington that jonah and i did one weekend.

















Enjoying the sun near Stevens Pass on a west-bound double stack. We boarded in Wenatchee and got off the train within 100 yards of the Seattle amtrak station.






















Below, taken during a hike up to mailbox peak (middle fork snoqualmie) on a foggy day in September. Red huckleberries, as seen in the foreground, were plentiful, as were at least two other types of huckleberries (Vaccinium spp.)


















Not much to see from mailbox peak on this day, but we checked the mail. On the walk there were still several flowers in bloom, or hanging on: indian paintbrush, gentian, yarrow, blue bells, pearly everlasting, penstemon (seen below right), and others. We even found two ripe thimbleberries -- i was amazed, since the peak for these was mid-July, as far as I could tell. But elevation and aspect does some things, I s'pose.


















On the south fork of the snoqualmie near North Bend, in mid-September. See similar photo from five months ago in my "Cottonwood collecting" post of April.























Back in the city: one of my new favorite places within a fairly easy bike ride: Grandmother Hill. The best collections of native madrones and hawthornes that i have seen in seattle. Plus exposed bedrock and a view of the Duwamish river. This hill has a lot of stories connected to it in native tradition but they (the hill and the stories) are guarded for fear of exploitation.

















Back in the city city: T & A Supply moved from Westlake Avenue; you'll have to get it elsewhere.

















Spirit still exists in Fremont: these people located within view of the Burke-Gilman trail have a cool readerboard.


















The below side-by-sides show views of my garden in late June and mid-September.









































Now you see it, now you don't: and thus ends summer. Already we are nearing October, the nights are longer than the days. It is time to gather things in, and celebrate passings.

And so I introduce the next chapter of this website. No longer will it be the scattered wanderings of a summer sin rumbo. This winter we will have a focus: a celebration of the buildings that are being destroyed with frightening frequency in our city. See the next post.