Category Archives: Around Washington

Fort Casey Through a Plastic Lens

Posted on May 15, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Smartz and I took a trip to Fort Casey two weekends ago. I brought along the Holga. I’m still trying to figure out which film I like best. So far the Kodak Porta 400 is the most realistic-looking, but I’m not totally sure that’s what I’m going for.

This shot is of Deception Pass.

Every other time we’ve been to Fort Casey, the lighthouse has been closed. This time, we could go up in it. I quite dug that.

Fort Casey was a pre-WW2 fort. Its guns were called “disappearing guns.”

That was because they could be lowered when being reloaded or not in use. It made them “invisible” to ships at sea. This was, of course, rendered obsolete when airplanes were invented.

Spring means bright yellow flowers! This was the first picture of a person I took with the Holga. I don’t like taking pictures of people. Too unpredictable or something.

The fort contains emplacements for a bunch of guns. Only two are armed, so you’ve got big holes like this all over the place.

Fort Casey!

Smartz is taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!

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Planning for the Weekend

Posted on April 26, 2012 by | Leave a comment

Smartz and I are ironing out the details of a day trip for Saturday. We’re heading east to Frenchman Coulee and (hopefully) Othello.

We’ve been to Frenchman Coulee a couple of times, but we never poked around much. This time, we plan to explore it. I’ve talked a bit about that here, not long ago.

Taunton Substation a few years ago.

The second stop is about forty miles east, along an old spur of the Milwaukee Road. The Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad was the last of the transcontinentals, being finished in 1909. Starting in 1919, everything from Montana to Seattle was electrified. The engines were run on electricity, not coal, wood or diesel. The line was powered by twenty-two substations. The one near Othello is one of seven that remain.

Taunton in the mid 70s

It’s not persevered, and so may not be around much longer. The rails (as of last year, anyway) that ran by the facility are still there, but I believe the state of Washington owns the track now and soon it will be converted into a trail. That’s not a bad thing, of course, but it will be nice to see old track from 1909.

No, not THAT tauntaun!

I’ll be taking the Holga and the digital camera. I’ll also have a big write up of the trek on Hey I’m Over Here.

At first, I was excited to be hitting Frenchmans Coulee. Now I’m even more excited about the substation. Looks like Saturday will be a whole lot of fun.

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Let’s Show Mom & Dad Western Washington! (Day Two)

Posted on September 28, 2011 by | 3 Comments

As reported yesterday, my parents visited us in (well, near, but not near enough) Seattle and we took a three day trip around the Peninsula. I took a ton of pics and I’d like to share some with you, okay?

Let’s go!

We started out the morning in Forks, WA. I was pretty okay with this. Not because of Twilight, but because there's an old Shay locomotive there. Yeah, I've gotten pretty bad about this stuff. Sorry.

I even managed to get inside, even though you're not *technically* supposed to.

Heading down US 101, we stumbled upon the world's largest western red cedar! How big is it?

This big! Check out my silly, amateur photography!

Our first real stop was Ruby Beach - one of my favorite spots ever.

Smartz!

I believe this is where Cedar Creek flows into the Pacific.

Taking people to places you really, really like is always fun, but it does create a little anxiety. You're never quite sure if they'll like it. This was my parents' visit sight of the Pacific Ocean. I think we picked a nice spot for them.

Where we saw this little guy! Hi!

Smartz has more about this on her blog.

The coolest playground ever. Raymond, WA.

Due to.. um.. problems with the rental car my folks' got, we had to exchange it for a new one near Astoria, OR. There was a Coast Guard air show going on there.

My dad was pretty thrilled about it. This guy gave the thumbs up!

We stuck around long enough to watch this fellow take off.

Our next stop was Fort Stevens, which was originally a Civil War-era fort.

My dad and I ventured into the old earthworks.

This is, I think, Battery Russell at Fort Stevens. It's from the early 1900s.

My dad and I checked this out a bit and found their bathroom! See the shower on the left and the two holes for the toilets on the right? Bingo!

It rained a lot of the day, so it was nice to get into the cozy warmth of the fireplace.

At Fort Stevens is also the wreck of the Peter Iredale. It was pouring, so Smartz and I had to enjoy this on our own.

Smartz!

We stayed for the night at Seaside, Oregon. It’s a nice enough town. The next day was our final day and it was supposed to include Mt. St. Helens. However, the weather was looking pretty crappy, so we decided upon a change of plans. Tune in tomorrow to see the fun!

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Let’s Show Mom & Dad Western Washington! (Day One)

Posted on September 27, 2011 by | 3 Comments

For my parents’ first visit to Washington, I wanted to show them around some. My mom had a list of things she wanted to see, so I had a good head start in the planning. She wanted to see lighthouses, seals, the Pacific Ocean, Oregon and a handful of other things.

They arrived on a Wednesday, and we gave them a little tour of Seattle the next day. We had planned a big three-day trek around the peninsula, down to Oregon and then to Mt. St. Helens. Due to rain (a LOT of rain), some things had to be changed, but that was the original plan.

So let’s see what we did on the first day of the trip, okay?

Ready to go? We sure are!

After a ferry ride to the Peninsula, our first stop was the beach at Fort Flagler State Park, where you can NOT karate chop the seals.

Fort Flagler also had a lighthouse. My mom quite likes lighthouses. Now, this might not look like a lighthouse, but it is. Trust me.

The hippies apparently became useful and built a nice little beach shelter out of driftwood.

We found this fairly amazing building in Port Townsend. A library?

It's Port Townsend's lighthouse! Hey!

I believe this is another lighthouse near Port Townsend.

Welcome to Fort Worden, built in 1902. Both An Officer and a Gentleman and The Ring were filmed here (apparently).

This was where the gun was at Fort Worden.

Fort Worden!

We then stopped at a Lavender Farm where I took a picture of a peacock. This was in Sequim.

This is looking out upon Dungeness Bay towards the lighthouse.

Dungeness Lighthouse!

This was along US 101 heading towards Forks.

We stopped in Forks for the night, but not because of Twilight or anything. Seriously. Look at a map. It’s the last town for a long, long time.

The next day we got up early and hit the road for a fun-filled day of fun. I’ll post about that tomorrow.

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San Juan Island (Day the Second)

Posted on August 22, 2011 by | 3 Comments

For our second (and last) day on the island, we visited the English Camp, had lunch at a wonderful Meditation restaurant and went whale watching. San Juan is the home to three different pods of killer whales, the world’s largest dolphins!

We saw a bunch and even had a very up close encounter. We also got to circle the entire island. I was pretty thrilled about that.

You can see all of the pics of the day here.

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Trip to San Juan Island (Day the First)

Posted on August 21, 2011 by | 3 Comments

Smartz’s folks visited us this past week, so I’m just getting around to posting about the trip we took to San Juan Island (with her parents).

We spent two days on the island and had a grand time. Two days requires two posts, so this is the first.

Until I figure out a better way to do it, you can check out all of the pictures (and the captions, which tell the story) here.

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Clark County Fair and REO Speedwagon!

Posted on August 9, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Sometimes you just have to give in and enjoy a county fair and a classic rock band. That’s what Smartz and I did this past weekend.

The Clark County Fair played host to REO Speedwagon. I know, it sounds like something the hipsters would do just for whatever they call giggles, but I actually like fairs and Smartz likes REO Speedwagon.

Getting to the fair a few hours before the show, we had a chance to walk around. We saw a large display of vintage fire trucks (I got a bunch of pics for Smartz’s dad), a bunch of rides that I didn’t ride, and some really weird people.

We ate some amazing kettle corn and some so-so cotton candy. We saw cows, sheep, bunnies, chickens and even cats (thanks to the local 4-H Club).

Wondering what to do, we checked the schedule and saw that there was some Renaissance Festival jousting thing, so we found it and planned on enjoying the event. Ohh we did!

While the jousting was the main event, there was some business to take care of before then. A large castle was erected and used to introduce a couple of beauty queens (including a traveling bee queen from Pennsylvania). Scholarships were also awarded and, right before the jousting, the National Anthem was sung (for some reason) and then a really strange bald man in an almost British accent brought out the knights.

There were for. One from Ireland, Spain, England and France. They strutted around and finally got to the competition. First they snatched hoops from a hoop holding thing, and then they sliced watermelons with swords as they rode on by. Finally came the actual jousting.

This was pretty intense, actually. They knocked each other off their horses and eventually fought each other “to the DEAAAAATH!” with swords.

Things like this are hard to describe. Check out the pictures.

It was then time for the REO show. We found out that there was an opening band and we tried to miss them, but unfortunately we weren’t late enough. This band was… well… I never imagined that I’d ever wish for REO Speedwagon to take the stage so badly!

But when REO finally did, they put on a good show. The crowd was mostly trashy women in their 50s, but still. There was one guy in front of us with a mustache and Hawaiian shirt who played a LOT of air guitar. Once, he pumped his fist in the air and yelled out “YEAH! I LOVE 70s ROCK!” It was freaky.

I guess all of this doesn’t sound too terribly interesting. But we had a great time, I promise.

You can check out the photos here, if you like.

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