Sunday, July 19, 2009

Star of the Show

I took a drive over to my cousin's house in Spanaway. Along the way...I took these photos. I consider this a Great Mount Rainier Day.















This is taken from 176th Street at the Sunrise Clinic.
















This was taken from 176th Street and Meridian in the Walgreens parking lot. About 10 minutes later than the photo above.





















This was taken on the way home from the cousin's. I was on 144th above Orting. I just love it when the mountain is peaking through.
















This too was taken at the Sunrise Clinic on 176th. I really liked the flow of the green grass.

















This is my day's favorite. I was driving down a familiar road by Cedar Crest Jr. High...can't remember what street I was on...I could take you there though. As I came to the top of a hill I saw the barn...didn't stop. As I got to the bottom of the hill...there was that Mountain peeking through again. I turned my truck around, parked it on the side of the road...walked about a block to get the view and Ta Da...
Apple Orchard, Red Barn, Fir Trees, and the absolutel star of the show...Mount Rainier.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

My favorite Mt Rainier of all Mt Rainier's


Camaron and I went out on another drive. I had him drive my junior high and high school bus route. We went out to 192nd off Mt. Highway and cruised the old back roads, that aren't all old any more. A lot of building has been going on. But we kept driving and finally came to the ol' homestead. I don't know who it belongs to, but How lucky are they? This was the perfect view. It has such a country...count your blessings kind of feel.
Hope you like it as much as I did.

North Tacoma Driving

At lunch I drove around North Tacoma and took more pictures of flowers and scenery. You'd think as many a time I went driving around in Tacoma, I'd run out of scenery...but heck no...there is a lot more to see.






























As usual...More pretty flowers




























Daisies

My son, Camaron and I took a 30 minute drive to just get some practice so that he can get his license. Along the way I took several photos of flowers. He had made the comment...."why are you taking so many photos of so many daisies?" I had to explain that it wasn't always about the flower, but about the scenery.































Monday, July 6, 2009

Fluffy Fish

From a Waterproof Camera

I didn't dare take my camera on the river, but Jamie brought her new waterproof camera she bought. We weren't sure how well the photos would be, or how well the waterproof function would work, but we tested it, and got some nice photos. The only thing I would have wanted different of the photos, was less glare. I can honestly say that it might not have been the camera. It was most likely from the 94° sunshine.







The road overlooked the river and when cars would go by, they would honk and wave as people floated down the river. It was a lot of fun.

A few rock walls. There were lots of different kinds and colors of the rock walls



A Good Day of Flowers






These two photos are from the same plant. They are absolutely amazing. The colors are so perfect.
























These flowers aren't as brilliant in color, but they are still lovely.



















More Awesome Lily Color



I thought this might be a weed when it first began blooming, but it turned out looking like fireworks.
This Lily looks like it's on fire almost.





And these are cactus flowers. They came from Eastern Washington. Nobody thought they would grow, but when the sun comes out....there is no holding them back.


Saturday, July 4, 2009

July 4th - Yakima River Float

After we took my truck to our ending spot of the float we all got into the van and went up river with all our equipment. We took everything out of the van to start preparing for the trip down the river. We finally got it all tied together, placement for everyone and the coolers. The rafts started floating down the river but The New Guy, Bush and Ginger didn't have it quite together. The first four of the group detached and floated down a little bit and waited. Bush got on her horeshoe innertube, The New Guy was on his New Guy Raft (cooler and airmattress, superman redneck hat, beer, oar and rope) and Ginger...sat in her raft finally with some bush persuasion and hit the bottom of the river. As Ginger and Bush were finally getting it together, we realized the keys to the truck that is sitting at the end is in the van at the beginning and we were on the river to the end. We started floating to catch up with the others. We got too close to the edge where the bushes were hanging over the river. Bush got tangled and flipped. She lost her prescription sunglasses in the bush, but was able to right herself back on her float. Thank God!! I was so scared for her. We all gathered together and started floating down river. We managed to hit bushes a couple more times down river and unfortunately Bush was the target. But she was a very good sport.
Pedro was the Guide. He was the float skipper. He was the rope holder. He was the drink passer. and he was the water scooper. Not to mention the Spanish/English translator. Did I mention bikini watcher? Over-all Pedro was a great Mexican that played the game well, even though we picked him up hitchhiking at Toys R Us on South Hill.
Chrysta and Malissa found it very hard to pee in the ice cold river. They had to go .... but once that cold water hit their most inner parts... it no longer wanted to exit the body. They had to float for a good few minutes before they were able to go.
Malissa's husband (sorry I can't remember the name) the muscles of the power oar on one side of the raft, while The New Guy was the muscles of the power oar on the other side. They are the reason we didn't hit too many rocks, trees, walls or bushes.
Ginger and Bush later were designated beer holders for The New Guy when he had to steer us to safety.
We had a relaxing time for the most part with an absolutely cool scenic view. Bush brought a waterproof camera that we used to take a few scenic photos.
We floated by this big rock wall, there were a bunch of mud nests built onto the rocks. As we floated by, birds flew out of the nests. It was awesome to watch.
We made it to our destination and got lucky to find a couple of nice guys to run The New Guy and Malissa's husband back to the van to get the keys to my truck and all of our belongings to us.
Ginger and Bush decided to head back to the other side of the mountain...and the rest of the group stated they were heading back too. So we loaded all the gear and headed out.





These three birds (didn't see the third until we drove away) were sitting atop a wooden utility pole in their nice size nest. I couldn't pass the photo up.































On the Road to and from River Rafting


Going to Yakima River in Ellensburg to go river rafting.


We are on the way home after a 10-12 mile float on the Yakima River.

Pretty tiny little pine cones





Part of the scenery on the trip.