Skagit Delta

We decided to drive D and a friend up to Burlington for the second day of Spring Reign (the largest youth Ultimate event in the world?). We dropped them at Skagit River Park for the flying saucer festival and headed for the Rhododendron Cafe for brunch - where the wait wasn't too bad. From there we went south to La Conner, where we wandered 1st Street and the waterfront without buying anything (well, I bought coffee, but no expensive artwork, tempting ceramics, or fine wood furniture). Then back to the tournament to watch Garfield pull out a win in their final game.

Gasworks

Nine hours in a cramped basement office was enough, so I grabbed my bike and rode down the hill. The goal was exercise, after all I did have to ride back up the hill to get home, but of course I had the camera along, too. A shoreline park, industrial design, some color, and late afternoon sun.

Gasworks was always sort of a high risk notion for a public park. Industrial waste and something resembling a big jungle gym. They use fences and signs to keep people away from the contaminated dirt and the rusting climbing equipment. It's still a great view of downtown and a great place to fly kites - not that I've ever actually done that here. And there's probably something appropriate about visiting it on Earth Day - a reminder that just because we've messed things up for a long time, it's never too late to clean our rooms.

M & I almost got married here, 19 years ago next month, but it was threatening rain so we had the ceremony in the living room instead.

Lopez Island

Monday was Whidbey Island; Tuesday was Lopez Island. Long days, but I always enjoy the Beach Watchers classes (hope they enjoy them, too). We wrapped up at Spencer Spit a little after 4PM on Tuesday. I decided I could catch the later ferry, which left time to pick up a sandwich and head for Agate Beach and Iceberg Point. I had never visited the latter - the closest I'd come had been passing it in a boat a few years ago. I didn't quite have the place to myself, but it was awfully close. The Olympic Peninsula was clouded in, but the weather was beautiful.

Columbia Plateau

We spent a couple more hours on the Oregon Coast before heading over to Portland Sunday afternoon. The rain stayed with us - and actually got pretty blustery that evening. Reed was grey and damp, and some combination of quirky, hippy, and intellectual. Monday afternoon D got to drive from Portland to Hood River through a white knuckle rainstorm - at least I was on the right side of the car so I could admire the waterfalls when I wasn't giving advice.

Walla Walla was cool and hazy sunshine this morning. D got to sit in on a physics class while I searched out coffee and outdoor art. We had lunch in town, then visited Palouse Falls and the Hanford Reach before heading over a wet and slightly slushy Snoqualmie Pass.

Astoria

Sunday morning at the Columbia River Coffee Roasters, beneath the south end of the bridge. There's actually some blue sky showing, despite early drizzle and pending storm. By now D is probably up, maybe in shower, but probably watching ESPN. Vacations and road trips open up new vistas and cultural experiences - cable television, for example.

Grayland Beach

D & I started the first day of our brief spring break loop through Washington and Oregon by heading for the coast, arriving at Westport a little after noon. I didn't realize we had timed our visit with a rare razor clam opening, which meant that the beaches were crawling with people, punching holes in the damp sand with PVC tubes.

We walked Washaway Beach, stepping over the remains of homes and cars and recently exposed shipwrecks - Dad reveling in the coastal geology and the human saga, D mainly wondering when we'd get back to the car.

Baker Preserve

We picked up lunch makings at the store and headed off in search of the trailhead. The trail switchbacks up - steeply at first - the high ridge that forms the south end of the island and that includes Lummi Peak. The outlook is well short of the high point, but provides a spectacular view out over Rosario Strait towards Clark, Orcas, and Vancouver Islands (and a few hundred others).

I took pictures while D ate M&Ms.

I suspect my next step should be a contribution to the Lummi Island Heritage Trust for making this place possible.

Lummi Island

I took a much needed day off and spent it with D - some driving time for him (and me, but that's nothing unusual), a Puget Sound place that had been on my list for years, a walk around the WWU campus, and still made it back for his practice!

The ferry runs every 20 minutes, except when we pull up, when it runs every 40. Oh well, I get to wander the beach and D gets to drain the batteries in his ipod. I would have liked to explore the island more, but will save that for another trip. I have been up here before, but it's been a long time.

Mukilteo

For me, Mukilteo, like Edmonds, tends to occur early and late in the day - the details determined by the coincidence of my timing with the ferry's. I passed through Mukilteo at 7:30am and again at 5:30pm, but I also got a nice glimpse from the bluffs above Possession at noon!

South Whidbey

It's been almost three months since I posted something here. My Gravel Beach blog remains a fairly regular stream of photos and words, but this blog suffers long lapses of inactivity. I think it's because it is best suited to travelogue and I have not been traveling. At times, hshipman resembles a family photo album, but I guess I remain hesitant about posting photos of friends and family, so the blog was dormant through Thanksgiving and the December holidays.

Many of my most photogenic adventures are beach-related and end up in Gravel Beach, so posting here requires something new to say or a tolerance for redundancy.

Saturday's trip to Whidbey was the most recent in a series of wonderful weekend beach explorations during the past few months, most (but not all) of which are captured at Gravel Beach: Key Peninsula, Vashon Island, and two trips to Whidbey. I think I've realized that if I really want to visit all the beaches on Puget Sound, I better get moving.

Saturday found me on a beach that I had never visited before, but that I had long wanted to see. It took some walking, but the day was perfect and the beach was better than I could have imagined. (Maple Point, Maxwelton)

Discovery Park

I dropped D at home after our Veteran's Day excursion to Camano Island and then, to avoid spending the afternoon sanding a bunch of cabinet doors or checking my work email, I headed off to another beach. I put the bike on the car and drove to Discovery Park. You can't park at the beach without a permit and although D probably thinks I should have a handicapped permit, I don't. The ride down to the beach at West Point is easy. The ride back up counts as exercise.

Cama Beach

For the third time in as many weeks, D and I headed north to the Stanwood area to find roads less traveled and more suited to learning how that darned clutch works. I don't think he appreciates his ancient parents' reluctance to try new-fangled gadgets like automatic transmissions, but the concept is becoming clearer to him. What I didn't warn him about yesterday was that it was also a chance to go to the beach. We swung by Cama and walked down to the shore - seemed very quiet, although Jeff reported things were staying busy. After half an hour or so we headed back towards Stanwood in search of burgers.