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Longwood Gardens - July 18 - part 1

My sister and I went to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania last weekend.

Usually we start with the Flower Garden Walk and work our way around the gardens to the Conservatory but this time we decided that heading straight for the Conservatory was the best choice, in an attempt to be inside with the smallest possible number of other people. It was the right choice. There were only a few other people in there. Less people also means easier photography.

The East Conservatory had plenty of banana plants, both outside and inside.

the outside of the East Conservatory, with banana trees in big pots near the doors

the view from inside the East Conservatory entrance, with two fountains in a pool and plenty of banana trees

( A few more photos in the East Conservatory )

This is Exhibition Hall, looking towards the Orangery

Exhibition Hall - a large room mostly filled with a sunken with a few inches of water on the floor, lined with tall potted tree ferns

big balls of hanging plants above the pool in Exhibition Hall

( More Exhibition Hall photos )

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Washington Trip Report part 44 - The End

As I continued east towards Spokane on November 20th, I didn't do much stopping. I just drove through lots of agricultural fields. The fields didn't look a lot different from similar fields at home except there was a lot more sky to go with them. Nothing at home ever looks that wide open.

( More photos from along the highway )

I had plenty of time so I drove down some dirt side roads to see if I could find any birds or anything else of interest. I found a lake with geese on it but they were rather far off. I also found some Red-tailed Hawks but not much else.

This is Jameson Lake

This was pretty much my last view of the Cascades in the distance behind me.

( More )

I found a place to pull off the highway just before going into Coulee City, where there was a good view looking towards Dry Falls.

( More )

And finally, at the end of the day I got meal in Spokane, found a post office where I could ship a box of stuff that I didn't want to put in my suitcase home, and went to the airport to wait for my flight. I got there a couple hours earlier than I needed to, but I couldn't think of anything else to do in Spokane at that time of the evening. The airport was empty when I got there. There was no one in front of me when I checked my bag and no one else in the TSA line. I've never seen anything like it. The flight I was on was the last flight out that night and apparently there weren't any other flights for a couple of hours before it, at least not at that terminal. Eventually other people started showing up, but I had a nice time sitting by myself in a rocking chair for a while.

This Christmas "tree" was in the middle of the area where the airport shops were located.

And that was pretty much the end of my trip. I had a short layover in Chicago at about dawn then arrived in Baltimore, having slept for an hour here and an hour there along the way. Needless to say, I did not feel like driving home from Baltimore that day. I took a good long nap and spent the evening with my sister then drove home the next morning.

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Washington Trip Report part 43 - the beginning of the end

November 20 was my final day in Washington. It was a bright sunny day. This was the view from my hotel room not long before I left.

Heading east from Wenatchee the road went up and up and up some more. I stopped and took a few photos looking back at the city.

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( A wider view )

I went north on Route 2. The scenery was very, very different from what I saw 24 hours earlier.

( More )

After this I drove through a lot of cropland, which I'll get to in my next post.

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Washington Trip Report part 42 - the Methow Valley as darkness arrives

This is the end of the day on November 19. Coming out of the North Cascades the scenery changes rapidly. No more snow-covered trees and mountains. They were replaced with a lot more open space and other signs of a drier climate. The next couple of photos were taken between leaving the national forest and Winthrop, followed by a few taken between Winthrop and Twisp. I went through Twisp at sunset so these photos get increasingly dark. It was a pretty drive. I clearly need to drive through the Methow Valley in proper daylight some day. There are some places to stop and look for birds that I would have liked to have checked out, but not in the dark. Having the sun set at 4 PM made it difficult to do as much as I wanted to do.

( A panorama and other photos )

After it got dark I picked up my travelling speed and headed for Wenatchee to find dinner and a hotel. I ended up eating at Denny's where there was wifi so that I could book a room at one of the nearby hotels. Denny's isn't my favorite restaurant but it is generally decent and this one was easy to find and relatively quiet inside. I had some kind of chicken that was quite tasty so I guess it was a good choice. I'd really rather eat at local restaurants rather than big chain restaurants but I was more concerned with keeping things easy and finding wifi that night.

Coming next - more driving eastward toward Spokane and the airport there

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Washington Trip Report part 41 - past Washington Pass

The views going downhill from Washington Pass were stunning. The sun was getting lower in the sky and the lighting on the mountain tops was golden. I had to limit the number of photos I took because I'd lost one of my camera batteries a few days earlier and the two I had left were both running out of juice.

Here you can see a bit of the golden lighting. It didn't photograph all that well.

( More, including panoramas )

Coming next: back to the dry side of Washington

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Washington Trip Report part 40 - Washington Pass

Continuing over the North Cascades passes....

From Rainy Pass I went down a bit before going up some more to Washington Pass. Everything but the road was covered in fresh snow and the scenery was stunning. There weren't many places to pull off the road, but there were almost no other cars on the road so I was able to just slow down or stop on the road to get photos. I'm sure some of these mountains have names, but I haven't had much luck figuring most of them out. (Anyone who knows their names should feel free to tell me.)

( More photos from between Rainy and Washington Passes )

This is Washington Pass, elevation 5477 feet. I think this was the highest point of my trip. Due to the time of the year I really didn't get up into the mountains much. The car said the outside temperature was 31F when I got to the pass which was slightly concerning, but the road was mostly dry and I just made sure to proceed slowly and carefully any time I had to cross wet places on the road. I never found any ice on the road, so it was all good.

The views coming down from Washington Pass were even more spectacular. I think they deserve a post of there own ... coming up soon.

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Washington Trip Report part 39 - Onward to Rainy Pass

More photos from the North Cascades on November 19. I left North Cascades National Park and continued east on the North Cascades Scenic Highway into Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest.

As I drove, I got closer and closer to the fresh snow that had fallen overnight.

( More photos )

My drive took me over two mountain passes. This is Rainy Pass, elevation 4875 ft. According to the car, the temperature at Rainy Pass was 33F. Despite the snow from the previous night, the road was clean and dry so I wasn't worried about it. Washington is definitely not Pennsylvania. They know how to make roads passable after snow falls.

That's enough for now. I'll save Washington Pass for my next post.

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Washington Trip Report part 38 - waterfalls and other scenery

These are the last of my photos from North Cascades National Park, although not the last photos from the North Cascades.

I loved seeing all the waterfalls, short and long. Both of these waterfalls were along the highway to the west of Diablo Lake. (Yes, these photos were taken before the photos in the last post and are thus out of order. They fit better here.)

After leaving the Diablo Lake overlook, I was headed for higher elevations and more snow.

At times it looked like I was going to drive right into a cloud, but for the most part I didn't.

( More photos )

Coming next: Snowy scenery from Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest

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Washington Trip Report part 37 - Diablo Lake

More photos from driving through the North Cascades on November 19.

This is the first view I got of Diablo Lake, taken from the highway.

A bit further east on the highway there was a place to park that overlooked the lake, allowing me to walk around a bit and take better photos.

( Panoramic view behind a cut )

I saw this little Pika peering out from among some rocks

Colonial Peak

( More Photos )

More later....

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Washington Trip Report part 36 - Gorge Lake

Continuing eastward on my way through North Cascades National Park....

There are several hydroelectric dams on the river along the highway. This one is Gorge Dam.

The Gorge Overlook Trail is a short walk that offers nice views of the dam and lake.

There were a few birds along the trail, including this Varied Thrush.

( More photos )

More later....

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Washington Trip Report part 34 - Milepost 100

The spot where I took this set of photos had a very dull name. It is simply called the Milepost 100 Rest Area. Unsurprisingly, it is at mile marker 100 on State Route 20. Boring name or not, it was a nice place to take a break and do some photography before continuing my drive.

The Skagit River

There was still a lot of mist here and there.

A Western Red-cedar tree

Song Sparrow on a fence post

( More photos )

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Washington Trip Report part 33 - Eastward!

After leaving Fir Island I headed east on SR towards the town of Concrete on my way to North Cascades National Park, and eventually to the dry side of Washington.

( More photos from along the way )

The highway runs along the Skagit River for quite a while. These trees were at a place where I could pull off the road.

I took a lot of photos at the next spot I stopped, so I think I'll stop this post right here.

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Washington Trip Report part 32 - Fir Island

In my last post I mentioned going to Fir Island with my cousin in absolutely horrible weather. I really did want to look for the Gyrfalcon that people were seeing there, so I went back the next morning before heading east back towards Spokane.

When I arrived, there were a bunch of birders with scopes looking at a big falcon on a big fallen tree way out in the water. Initially they told me it was the Gyrfalcon. Further examination, including the bird turning its head to give a better view, showed that it was actually a Peregrine Falcon - a nice bird to see, but not a rarity.

This is a wider view of the scenery there - a combination of open water and marshy fields.

There were plenty of Bald Eagles, a bunch of them in one tree.

( More photos )

Eventually I gave up on seeing the Gyrfalcon and got going, heading back north a bit before turning east.

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Washington Trip Report part 31 - Chuckanut Drive

After having had our fill of looking for swans we decided to head south to Fir Island. We needed to buy a state lands pass to go there and there's no way to get one there, so we went via another state park that had an honor box for buying passes and bought one. (This was a problem for me for pretty much the whole trip. I would have bought an annual pass if I'd been able to find a place to buy one but November is not a good time to find a way to do that. Most of the places I wanted to go didn't even offer a way to buy a day pass. Next time I make a trip to Washington it will hopefully be planned enough in advance to buy a pass in advance and have it sent to me.)

The route we took involved driving south on Chuckanut Drive, which offers spectacular views, or at least it would have offered them if there had been less fog and rain.

(Clicking on any photo will take you to a larger version)

A foggy view of Bellingham Bay

And an even foggier view

Here's a great rarity - a photo of me, taken by my cousin who has at times been a professional photographer. Notice all the rain spots on my jacket.

( More photos )

Eventually we got back on the interstate highway for a while and found our way to Fir Island. It was very rainy and windy by then. People had been seeing a Gyrfalcon at Fir Island and I wanted to look for it since I've never seen one, but the weather was utterly terrible by the time we got there and we didn't have much time because it was getting dark. We walked around in the cold, windy rain a little bit but I didn't take any photos. I did go back the next morning, which I'll get to in my next post.

Current Mood: satisfied

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Washington Trip Report part 30 - Trumpeter Swans

November 18 started with me having to get up, go out, and move my car before 9 AM. It wasn't a big deal, but it meant I got up and crept out before my cousin was up. I took my laptop with me and after moving the car I went over to the nearby coffee shop where there was internet service.

This is the view looking out across the water from near my cousin's building.

Once my cousin was up and ready to go she came over to the coffee shop. We set out for the Skagit Valley to look for Trumpeter Swans. My cousin had been wanting to see them since moving there several years ago but she doesn't have a car and she couldn't find anyone who wanted to go with her. She got some advice on where to go from a friend, and off we went. Unsurprisingly, the weather was overcast and gray. At least it wasn't raining when we started out. (It eventually got really nasty and poured, but that was later.) We got to the area where we'd been told to go and drove around for a while until we found a big flock of swans in a field in a place where we could pull off the road. After a while the swans left and so did we. We drove around some more and found more swans, but no more big flocks where we could stop.

( More swan photos, plus some geese. )

There was one oddball bird in the field with the swans and geese - a Sandhill Crane - not something I was expecting.

The scenery was gorgeous, although sometimes hidden from sight.

These are some of the North Cascades. I have not been successful in figuring out a name for them.

( More mountains and scenery )

I'd call it a successful swan-watching outing.

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Washington Trip Report - part 29 - more family stuff

My uncle asked if I'd go out and show him some birds before I left, so we went over to Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge. We took one of my younger cousins with us. As usual with my relatives, we left the house much later than planned. The weather was not at all good. We got wet. We borrowed binoculars for both my uncle and cousin but I don't think either of them was particularly successful in using them. It also turned out that my uncle really isn't capable of walking very far. Still, I think he was pleased with the outing. (I think my cousin was bored stiff though.)

This does not look like good weather for a walk at the wildlife refuge, does it?

The birds we saw weren't anything new or different from what I'd seen over the past several days. I enjoyed seeing them again though. My uncle wanted to see an eagle. I checked the spots where I'd seen them on my earlier visit but there were none to see. As we were almost back to the parking area, I spotted a big bird at the top of a tall evergreen tree.

It was indeed an immature Bald Eagle.

( More birds )

We went back to the house where my cousin S. wanted to take me out for breakfast (it was lunchtime by then) before I left. I really wanted to get going, but I also liked the idea of spending a little more time with him and I did need something to eat, so I said I'd go but it had to be a relatively quick meal. We went back to almost the same place I'd just come from, eating at the little restaurant across from the entrance to Nisqually. I had halibut fish and chips. They were very good. My cousin, who generally drives like a maniac, drove very slow on the way home. He admitted it was because he wanted to spend more time with me. I thought that was sweet, but annoying. I really, really need to get out to Washington to spend time with my family on a more regular basis. I was planning on going back next month, but that's not happening now thanks to the coronavirus.

After lunch I tossed the rest of my stuff into my car and got going pretty quickly and set off to visit another cousin who lives in Bellingham, a couple of hours north of Seattle. Have I mentioned that I don't like Interstate highways in general and specifically really don't like driving around Seattle? The freeways around Seattle were the first freeways I ever drove on alone, when I was 16 or 17 and working for my uncle's photography studio during the summer, but Seattle was a different place back then. Now it is just a big traffic jam. I hate traffic jams.

The weather cleared up for a while as I was driving, and there was some blue sky for a short time. I took this photo of the blue sky over Tacoma while I was stuck in non-moving traffic.

( A few more photos from the road )

By the time I got to Bellingham it was dark. I had the address for my cousin's apartment building but I couldn't find the building. I drove around in circles trying to spot something to identify it by and finally gave up and drove around some more until I found a parking spot where I could leave my car for a while. I called and left a message for my cousin then started walking in what I thought was the right direction. I was in the right general area when she called back so she came out and met me and we went back to my car and moved it to a closer spot where it could stay until 9 AM, by which point I needed to move it again. We talked, ate supper, and talked some more before eventually going to bed.

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Washington Trip Report - part 28 - going to the zoo

November 17 was my last full day with my relatives in Lacey. One of my cousins has a daughter who is pretty severely physically disabled. He got tickets to the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle through some organization connected to her needs. We were going to spend the day at the zoo. Unfortunately, nothing that involves my Washington relatives ever gets started early in the day. It doesn't matter what the plan is, as a group, they're incapable of getting moving in a timely way in the morning. So it was after noon when we finally got going, and then we couldn't go straight to the zoo because people needed coffee and the first place we stopped for coffee wasn't good enough. We also had to go pick up S.'s son from his grandmother's house. After much todo, coffee and my younger cousin were acquired and we got on the freeway going towards Seattle. As we're driving through Seattle, S. suddenly admitted that he didn't know how to get to the zoo. S.'s phone doesn't have data, so it wasn't useful for finding the zoo. My other cousin, N.'s phone has the location stuff disabled because she's afraid of being tracked, so it wasn't useful. I don't have a smartphone and my iPad was refusing to use GPS without being connected to wifi which meant I had to figure out where we were before I could try to figure out how to get where we needed to be. (My iPad got over its snit with GPS at some point after I came home. I have no idea why it had the snit or why it got over it.) The solution we eventually came up with was to make N.'s phone create a wifi hotspot that S.'s phone could connect to. Why couldn't anyone say they didn't know how to get there before we left the house? Or even before we were past the correct exit on the freeway? I could have gotten us good directions before we left. It isn't very hard to get there, but I hadn't been there in 30 or 40 years and didn't exactly remember where it was. So we finally got there at 2 PM. Then my cousin couldn't find the tickets. He ended up talking us in without them. N. had brought her little emotional support dog with her and the zoo only allows properly trained service animals, so the little dog had to go back in the van. Once we finally got through the gate, we had to find my uncle and my other younger cousins, who it turned out parked on the opposite side of the zoo. By then it was raining. Soon after it was pouring. The zoo closed at 5. We did see a few animals. We also rode the carousel multiple times. I ended up feeling very frustrated with all of them. Still, it was good to spend time with them even if we didn't see much of the zoo.

Woodland Park has Humboldt Penguins.

( More penguins )

The Malayan Tiger was fairly active, although getting a decent photo of it through the glass and the crowd wasn't easy.

( Another tiger photo and a few other animals )

The carousel was the star of the day though. My younger cousins all wanted to ride it over and over. I think the attendant was rather lax about counting how many rides we got for our tickets.

Carousel PTC 45 was made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company in 1918. Its deck is 50 feet across and it has 48 hand-carved horses and 2 chariots, each one unique. It was built for the Cincinnati Zoo then sold to an amusement park in California in the 1970s. They put it in storage in the 1990s. It was eventually tracked down and purchased for Woodland Park by a couple of carousel lovers.

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Washington Trip Report - part 27 - Point No Point vegetation

More photos from Point No Point on November 16

This is the trail that goes through the field then up the hill into the woods.

There were some tall trees in the woods

There were maple trees as well, shedding their leaves as trees are inclined to do in the fall.

( Ferns, fungus, and flowers )

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Washington Trip Report - part 26 - Point No Point birds and a seal

More photos from Point No Point on November 16

I'll start with the sparrowy birds. This is a Spotted Towhee.

( More towhee and sparrow photos )

I saw two hummingbirds while I was in Washington. The first one was buzzing around high up in the trees at my friend's house in the rain. I didn't even come close to seeing it well enough to identify. This Anna's Hummingbird was the second one. It was sitting in a place where I was looking almost directly into the sun, so the photos didn't come out all that well and I had to adjust them quite a bit to show the colors at all.

( Another hummingbird photo )

I saw some chickadees and nuthatches in the woods, but most of the birds I saw where on the water.

There were a lot of grebes, almost all Horned Grebes.

( More grebes )

There were also ducks, loons, and guillemots. ( Read more... )

I saw two mammals at Point No Point. One was this seal, which I think is a Harbor Seal. The other was a huge sea lion. I didn't get a photo of the sea lion and I'm not sure which species it was but it whichever it was, it was a really big one. I talked to a man on the beach who told me he'd seen a large whale the previous day but I didn't see any whales.