And finally......some photos!!!!

Tonight we are in Orem, Utah.   Yes, we hit all the high spots.  Nothing but the best.  Actually, we have nothing bad to say about Utah, or Orem.  Nothing......

As I sit in our comfortable room at the Comfort Inn (69 bucks a night! Including breakfast) I finally got around to downloading a few photos from the trip to date.  I ran them through *Adobe Lightroom CC to enhance your viewing pleasure.  I hope you like them.  Remember, if you want the photo enlarged, just click on the photo.

"All Aboard"!!!!  Departure from Victoria on December 22nd.

The cast of "Gilligan's Island"....No, No.  These are my people.  This was the traditional
family walk to Lily Point on South Beach at Point Roberts, Wa.

South Beach at Point Roberts on Christmas Day.  

Yes, this is the "Snow" on Snoqualmie Pass.  The road was mostly bare but the traffic sucked!

*Adobe Lightroom CC - I receive no renumeration from Adobe for this cheap, gratuitous plug....

Putting the "Snow" in Snoqualmie Pass

On the road - Day 1....wait, wait, Day 3.....No wait, Day 7....What day is it anyway???

Whatever day it is we are definitely on the road.  We said farewell to Lynda and Bob, and Midnight on Whidbey Island early this morning.  Our plan for today was to drive over the Snoqualmie Pass on I-90 then head southeast to the Tri-Cities and hook on to Interstate 84, East and overnight on Ontario, Oregon.  Under the heading of "best laid plan", the day did not go quite according to plan.

First of all, apart from the destination, we did what we had planned to do.  Tonight we are in Baker City, Oregon, a city we normally pass by on our way West on return from Arizona.  How did we end up in Baker City, 90 miles short of our planned destination?  In a word.  Snow.  We hit snow almost right out of the blocks this morning.  Once we headed up Snoqualmie Pass on I-90, east of Seattle, Wa., the traffic slowed, in some cases to a crawl.  In my experience I have never seen as many transport trucks on the road as we saw today.  It was bumper to bumper transport trucks from North Bend to Cle Elum.  What caused most of the delays were trucks parked on the side of the road with putting on chains or taking them off.  Of course the truck drivers travelling on the road did not help matters by performing their normal traffic slowing antics - passing each other and moving in and out of the fast lane.  Gold Star for Dana as she took the wheel this morning and got us over the pass and on to Ellensburg.

Once we turned off I-90 on to I-82 traffic volume eased.  This gave us a chance to count raptors.  In a 40 mile stretch Dana and I counted 60 Red-tailed Hawks, plus several Rough-legged Hawks and Northern Harriers, 1 Eagle and 20 Kestrels.  Great fun!

Back to the traffic.  Interstate 84 was great for the first 25 miles, then we headed up Deadman Pass.  Half way up the pass visibility was reduced to near zero.  Snow covered the road but the road was well sanded so traction was not a problem.  Near the summit traffic slowed to a crawl.  Transport trucks littered the right hand lane.  Dozens, if not hundreds of transport trucks were on the road, either crawling along or parked.  We picked our way through and made a steady slow pace towards Baker City.  After about 20 miles of crawling along the road finally cleared and we were able to ramp up the speed to near 50 mph!  Whoopee!!  This went on for awhile until we were back up to the speed limit of 65 mph.

So, here we are at the Best Western, Baker City, Oregon.  It is snowing big flakes but it does not look like there will be much accumulation over night.  It is however very cold.  The current temperature is 19F, about -7C.  Low tonight will be around 11F or -11C.  I'm still saying this route is better than going through California.  Sort of....

I've got some photos of the snow but really, white is white.  If they look any good when I download them I will post them in a later post.

Stay warm and dry out there.  2015 is going out like a lion.  Of course I am a Leo....

Chilling at the Point.... Merry Christmas to all....

Here it is.  Christmas 2015.  We are hanging out at the farm in Point Roberts enjoying some down time with Dana's family before we hit the road tomorrow.  We had Christmas dinner yesterday.  A small crowd on hand, only 25.  Plenty of food on hand plus a few awesome bottles of wine that were sent by Auntie M for all to enjoy with their turkey dinner.  Thanks M.

We got up this morning and went for Christmas breakfast at Val's.  Bacon and ham, egg scramble with caramelized mushrooms and peppers, spuds and toast.  Enjoyed the Christmas music playing from a turntable and 33 LPs.  Bonus this morning was a FaceTime with Val's daughter Naomi who is visiting friends and family in New York.  Naomi was still buzzing with the news of her engagement to Lee.  Lee surprised her a couple of days ago with a storybook engagement.  Lee took Naomi to Rockefeller Centre's famous skating rink where, while they were skating got down on his knee, proposed and presented a diamond ring in exchange for a "Yes".   Witnesses (other skaters) cheered when Naomi said "Yes!"   Wow, way to go Lee and Naomi.

This afternoon I took advantage of a bit of sunlight to shoot a few photos of the family dogs.  These wonderful hounds cooperated and I was able to get a photo of each one plus a group shot.

We hit the road tomorrow morning.  I am including a link to a short YouTube clip of the shots of the dogs today.  Enjoy....


Dogging at the Farm, Christmas 2015


Here is a group shot of the dogs:

Angie, Jet, Lilah and Ole

Winter storm slams into Cadboro Bay. Local residents prepare to leave for drier, warmer climes.

These changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes,

Nothing remains quite the same.

Through all of the islands and all of the highlands,

If we couldn't laugh we would all go insane

9 days and counting......

Even as wave after wave of winter storms systems slam into our coast I am near giddy with the knowledge that we have less than 10 days to go before we launch from these shores and begin our journey to the Valley of the Sun.  Our adventure is about to begin.  Time to put away all our Gortex outerwear, Muck boots and Icebreaker Wool clothing.   Time to reconnect with friends and enjoy the wonders of the Sonoran desert.

Come with us via our blog.  Follow us or just check in once in awhile.  You will see what we see.  I will share stories about what we see and where we go.   I may even throw in the odd editorial on subjects near and dear to me.

If you want to automatically receive a copy of a new blog post, you can request this by submitting your email in the box under "Follow By Email" which you can find to the right of this post.  Then just click on "Submit".  Easy as pie.....

I will write again once we get underway.  In the meantime, Happy Solstice everyone!

I shot this photo on December 12 at Gyro Park, Cadboro Bay, Saanich, B.C.

Looking ahead to another adventure in the Valley of the Sun

It is only October 8th but after 2 rainy days my thoughts are shifting to our next adventure in Arizona.  Dana and I will return to Arizona in January, 2016.  This will be our 7th winter visit to Arizona and our 6th to the Valley of the Sun.  Wow!  7 years.

The background photo for the 2016 blog is an Acorn Woodpecker.  This particular bird was observed and photographed at Madera Canyon, one of our favourite birding hotspots in Arizona.  The Acorn Woodpecker is only one of 191 species of birds that we observed during our near 3 month stay in Az. in 2015.  If I had better blog development skills the 5 Striped Sparrow would have been the star bird on our blog home page.  Observing and photographing the 5 Striped Sparrow was a highlight of our birding adventures in 2015.  In order to observe this species we had to travel on rough roads to California Gulch in the Pajaritos Mountains of southern Arizona, very near the Mexican border.  That was an adventure unto itself and a story for another day, or perhaps never....

We are very much looking forward to our 2016 adventure.  I will attempt to blog often and share with you what we see and do.  Birds will no doubt be prominent but this year  we hope to do a bit more hiking.  I have been working on my landscape photography so maybe I will post a few non-bird photos to go along with the many bird photos that will make it into the blog.

I'm looking forward to bringing you along with us on our 7th winter adventure in Arizona.  Yes, we are keeping the dream alive!

In closing, I have included a link to a slide show I put together of mainly landscape photos from our recent hikes on trails near Mt Baker in the North Cascade Mountains.  Check it out by clicking on this link.  Enjoy!

Hiking trails near Mt Baker Fall 2015