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All images are copyright © James W. Blilie, 2016: All rights reserved
White Salmon:
| 2001 | 2002 |
2003 | 2004 |
2005 | | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 |
Jamie on his special chair at White Salmon that Anne gave him:
View of the Gorge from Krebs Ranch
Whale watching, Orcas Island
Panorama from the top of Mt. Constitution, Orcas Island, WA
This year we had a lovely 2-1/2 weeks in Washington and Oregon.
We took one long detour from our usual plans: We drove up to Orcas Island in the San Juan Islands, north and west of Seattle. We spent three great days at the Inn at Deer Harbor (including eating at their very nice restaurant every night, a 1 minute walk from our cottage), went to the top of Mt. Constitution, poked around the island generally, visited East Sound a couple of times, went Whale Watching with Dear Harbor Charters and had an excellent time. And we visited Obstruction Pass State Park for a short hike to an unspoiled beach.
After Orcas, we spent all too short a visit with friends Eric and Allison Wetzel in West Seattle. This visit included one of the highlights of our trip: Eric gave us a private tour of the Blue Origin rocket design/build facility in Kent, Washington, where he he is the program manager for their new heavy lift rocket system. We toured the design areas (inclduing the amazing kitchen area!), and all through the factory floor. They are doing some amazing stuff there. Having a tour guided by an expert was great! We also visited the Seattle Waterfront, Aquarium, and the Pike Place Market.
In White Salmon, we hiked to Tamanawas Falls with Jeanne, Anne, Kevin, and Karen. Steve had several birthday parties while we were there, those were very fun! We hiked Lookout Mountain woith Nannette Sorensen. We hiked to the top of Catherine Creek for the great views of the Gorge. We hiked to Wahclella Falls and then picniced at the Bonneville Fish Hatchery and Sturgeon Center and visited Herman the Sturgeon. We also hiked to the "Big Ponderosa Pine" on the "Penninsula" just west of our place and to the Gorge overlook on Krebs Ranch, which was spectacular.
I also got a new super-trimmer for cutting our tall grass and brush in the Park; and I broke it in well. I also filled another 13-yard roll-off box with junk from inside the shop building, including all the rest of the insulation that was on the walls (which was basically just mouse attractant) and the remains of the old swing sets, which were mostly just hornet havens by this point. There's still more to go! But we can now see the point, out in the future, when we will no longer need to get a big roll-off dumpster.
All too soon, it was time to head back to PDX.
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