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| We say goodbye to the little family and goodbye to winter in Seattle. |
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| And the sunset on the Puget Sound, if you fall in love with Seattle it is because of the Sound. |
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| In the far distance, Mt Rainier from the ferry. Mostly in cloud but when clear it is a celebration in itself to see this magnificent snow-clad volcano that dominates the Seattle skyline. |
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| F5 Tower, preserving treasured pieces of the city's past, the 1910's First United Methodist Church in the photo above and The Rainier Club just visible in the photo below. The skyline from the historic Smith Tower 35th floor open air observatory.   Taking the period piece elevator to the Observation Deck of the Smith Tower. In 1914 it became Seattle's first skyscraper and a useless bit of information, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River. The building is in the heart of Pioneer Square, an area rich in history but it has fallen on hard times post Covid. Homelessness and boarded up retail storefronts. A fabulous toy store still thrives though on Yesler Way and I bought a game, that Kirstie and James love playing, for the munchkins back home. A final bus ride home. One more sleep and our winter in Seattle comes to an end. |
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| The 1892 red brick, terra cotta and cast iron Pioneer Building and the bust of Chief Seattle, Suquamish Tribe, who died in 1866. He is quoted as saying: "The earth does not belong to us: we belong to the earth. One thing we know which the white man may one day discover, our god is the same god. You may think now that you own him as you wish to own our land: but you cannot." |
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| From Wellington, New Zealand in 2016 to Seattle for afternoon tea. |
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| We enjoyed the immersion in tea cups, teapots and teas |
On a calm clear day in Seattle there is nothing better than to hop on a ferry to take in the beauty of the Puget Sound and the snow peaks of the Olympic's. We choose the longest ride from the downtown ferry terminal which is an hour trip going across to Bremerton.
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| Bremerton harbour in the winter sun. |
With no plan other than being out on the Sound we wandered down to the small boat harbour and noticed a group of women kneeling or lying on the docks peering into the water. And then we were 'dock fouling' too, if I thought birders were rather quirky, this pastime is even more so!
With a dock checklist in hand, kneelers, waterproof cameras the group were finding sea urchins, sea slugs, anemones, sea cucumbers (my favourites), crabs, jellyfish and looking for their own 'lifers'. Fred was soon doing the same. Another photographer was on the dock too, recording the event for Airbnb. If ever in Bremerton, Seattle - I highly recommend.
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| Fred and the 'dock foulers' |
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| Underwater magic! |
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| Fascinating Tube Worms, they retract into their tubes when lightly touched. |
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| A world apart, just under the waterline and thriving on the wooden docks |
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| Glorious old WW2 tugboat just waiting to it's new life. |
Back in Seattle. The little ones have started their new school term, Shawni and Craig are into their working routine and we are riding the 62 bus which takes us into Downtown Seattle.
Fremont has a signpost that says it's the Centre of the Universe. The story goes that two scientists in 1991 concluded that there was no evidence for a centre of the universe, so why not right here in Fremont. Good enough reason for us to hop off the bus and stroll around.
This Seattle neighbourhood is on Union Lake. I had been wanting to watch seaplanes and Gas Works Park on the Lake is the perfect vantage point. The rest of our walk evolved and kept delighting us, especially the marina condos.
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| Gasworks Marina Condominium, sparkling in the winter sun. A glimpse of an alternative lifestyle and a glimpse of a cold water swimmer. Both rather appealed to me in the moment.  |
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| Union Lake, Seattle |
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| Watching the comings and goings of seaplanes on Union Lake from Gas Works Park. |
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| On our way to our lunch venue we found this piece of the Berlin Wall in Fremont, commemorating the role of Seattle and Boeing's C-47 in the Berlin Airlift of 1948. |
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| A day out in Fremont, easy, trendy, quirky, a perfect pretzel and yet another interesting perspective on this fabulous city. |
We were on the Oregon side of the Gorge and the geology of the gorge has created a number of spectacular waterfalls falling precipitously from the steep cliffs.
We headed to the most visited scenic site in Oregon, the Multnomah Falls, apparently the second-highest year-round waterfall in the USA. So two million people visit each year and it will be two million and two this year as the Kersten's have been.
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| The upper falls recede faster than the lower falls and they plunge into a rock pool that seems to roar and rumble before flowing under the historic bridge over the lower falls. |
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| The noise of the two sets of falls is quite something to experience. |
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| A height of 620 feet! |
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| Significance of the height of this plunge waterfall is that we hiked the 11 switchbacks to get right to the top of falls, a 1 1/4 mile path! What an experience to stand on a platform that extends out over the lip of the falls! |
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| A moment of joy when Mt Hood could be seen on our road trip from Central Oregon up to the Columbia River. |
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| A brief detour down the Old Dufur Road, just magical scenery. |
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| Foothills of the Cascades, winter colours so peaceful. |
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| The Bridge of the Gods over the Columbia River. |
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| And of course, I am remembering being here at Mt Hood in the summer of 2014 with Shawni and Craig. It was the year of their wedding in the Bahamas, and Fred and I spent 3 months travelling the west coast of the USA, visiting all the national parks. The kids joined us for a couple of weeks, we were in Oregon to explore Mt Hood and in Montana for Yellowstone. |
A popular Bend activity is to walk the trails that wind around Pilot Butte. The 480 foot butte is an extinct cinder cone right in the town.
The 360 degree views along the way are of the high desert around Bend, the peaks of the Cascades Range were obscured by the low clouds but it was still interesting to see all the evidence of volcanic activity that defines the region.
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| Enjoying the cold, fresh air while we navigated some of the icy conditions on the trail. |
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| This mornings 5 km walk up and down the butte. |
Sisters at the eastern foothills of the Cascades has a small town western feel, with art galleries, vintage stores, and excellent coffee. A good way to spend a morning with the family.
I am bunkered down for the afternoon at the window with a view, the 'boys' are braving a round of golf, the 'girls' are off swimming.
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| Sisters motto: "The West at its Best" |
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| A walk through Sisters is an experience in itself. |
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| The beauty of trees-Western Junipers- along our trail! |
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| Just love these moss covered branches. |
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| An even a bonsai growing valiantly out of the rock |
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| PS: I set out again this afternoon, the skies had cleared, the sun even came out and the trail was calling. So wonderful to have this beauty around me. |
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| The River Trail, our favourite walk, heading out again before we leave. |
To close out this year we chose to be in nature, on a path with a camera and binoculars. Smith Rock is popular High Desert Central Oregon State Park and close to our accommodation here at Eagle Crest Resort.
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| Crooked River, Smith Rock State Park |
The geology of the park is quite unique, the majestic rock formations are welded tuff which is compressed volcanic ash, something new for us, which was formed 30 million years ago!
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| Welded Tuff, compressed volcanic ash |
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| Imposing walls along the trail. |
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| Crooked River and our trail on the right hand bank. We added a pair a Barrow's Goldeneye's and a Townsend's Solitaire to our holiday birding list. |
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| Stark contrast of the Central Oregon high desert landscape and the majestic Cascade Range snow-capped peaks. |
We woke up to a clear morning on the Pacific Coast and I was happily watching Surf Scoters diving in the surf below our Inn.
After our brunch of Dungeness crab cakes we headed off inland to cross the Cascades Range in central Oregon via the Santiam Pass, some 200 kilometres from the coast. From sea spray to snow in a few hours!
There was a severe winter weather cautionary posted for the pass and Fred went off early to buy chains for our vehicle, in itself an adventure, fortunately they were not needed as the pass is heavily salted and frequently graded.
The scenic route is charmingly called 'Over the Rivers & Through the Woods Scenic Byway' with towns like Sweet Home and Sisters along the way and it generally follows the route of the historic Santiam Wagon Road.
Another surprise was that west of the Cascade Range was lush, emerald green with rushing streams and stagnant water everywhere, then up and over the mountains the east is gold tones and dry.
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| From Depoe Bay to Santiam Pass, Central Oregon |
We are now settled onto our timeshare near Redmond and Bend for the week.
So I was intrigued by an Instagram meme defining 'Twixmas'.
Here is my version:
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| An invigorating beach walk in the rain |
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| A roaring fire while I blog Remembering a highlight dinner from last night, a completely delicious ossobucco with mushroom risotto Sharing a bottle of sauvignon blanc, crisp and dry with a tropical fruit note, with Shawni and Craig Watching gulls on the beach Checking into our Marilyn Monroe themed room on the Moolack Shores Inn north of Newport, Oregon |
Tomorrow we make our way across the Cascades towards Bend for a week. And the days will unfold and the New Year is ahead of us.
