A Western Odyssey (very photo heavy)

[carld]

Really nice photos. How are you able to post them and at what resolution? It seems to me that the limit is 500k per post. Nice photos, what kind of lens are you using for the wide angle shots?

 

[Bseek]

And I love the color saturation. They seem to just glow and jump off the page.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

How long are you hanging out in Spokane? Depending on how long you have to get to Seattle I would recommend taking Highway 2 instead of the Interstate.

If you are/were at 1401 N Fancher in Spokane you're within about 10 blocks of me right now. Normally I'd offer to meet for a beer when I get off work but I'm heading to Post Falls climbing with friends right after work. Check your PM's for my contact infor if you're going to be around for a couple days.

(I wasn't at that address, it's just where I happened to click in Spokane while making the map.)

I should probably start posting where I plan to be, rather than only posting after I've left places or when I'm about to leave, so I can meet up with people when they offer. But now I'm long gone from Spokane and I'm in a suburb south of Seattle spending time with an old friend. I'll be in the Seattle area for the next two weeks, and then I'll be going down to Portland.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

Really nice photos. How are you able to post them and at what resolution? It seems to me that the limit is 500k per post. Nice photos, what kind of lens are you using for the wide angle shots?

Thank you. I upload them to Flickr and embed them in my post with forum coding. Since I'm not uploading to the forum server, there isn't any size limit. The really wide shots are done with a Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye lense (so, a super super wide lens). I often crop a bit off of them. I've been wondering if I should try to buy a really wide non-fisheye lens so I won't be bothered by all the distortion of the fisheye. I have a 24mm, but I'd like even wider.

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

Thank you. I upload them to Flickr and embed them in my post with forum coding. Since I'm not uploading to the forum server, there isn't any size limit. The really wide shots are done with a Nikon 10.5mm Fisheye lense (so, a super super wide lens). I often crop a bit off of them. I've been wondering if I should try to buy a really wide non-fisheye lens so I won't be bothered by all the distortion of the fisheye. I have a 24mm, but I'd like even wider.

Depending on sensor size, either of the Tokina ultra wide f2.8 lenses are afordable and quite good. The 11-16 for APSC, or 16-28 for full frame.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

Yeah if I got that Tokina 11-16, I would probably sell off both my Fisheye and 24mm (both Nikons) and probably come out about even on money.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CAMPING IN OKANOGAN-WENATCHEE N.F.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



DRIVING FROM SPOKANE TO LEAVENWORTH WA

I’d decided to drive a lot and pass quickly through a lot of area in order to get to Seattle without stopping in a different place each night.


Here’s the route I took. The drive from Lakeview to Coulee City was the best part by far.

CAMPING NEAR LAKE WENATCHEE

I drove into Leavenworth and stopped at the Ranger/Visitors station to ask about camping spots. Leavenworth is a very touristy town with an old German theme. In some parts of the town, every single building was build in the same style and follows a consistent design theme - even down to the exact same typeface being used on all the signs. It’s kind of cheesy, but it looks nice. I admire their ability to stick to that decision and get all occupants to follow the design theme.

The lady at the visitors center had told me about a few free improved campsites a bit past lake XXX, so I decided to check them out before going further into the National Forest. I found a spot in one of those sites right next to a river, so I parked there. The campsite, and the entire area has a lot of trees, but the spot I parked in has a clearing above, and with the river being west of the van, I’d get full sun for about 6 hours a day.

I stayed in this spot from Thursday to Sunday. I went bike riding most days, and hiking one. It felt great staying in the same place for a few days. The weather was nearly perfect. I spent a few afternoons sitting in the van reading a book with the doors open and a nice breeze flowing through.


Camping spot:

Tea, reading, and note-taking.

Had a pretty good view of the stars. I saw a few small meteors but didn’t connect that it being August, they were probably early parts of the Perseid shower.

This kind of shooting is about the only time I wish I had a newer camera - one that could shoot at higher ISO with less noise. My camera has a tough time capturing the stars well without the exposure being so long that the stars move too much.

Pen cleaning and re-inking

I went for a few bike rides but didn’t take any pictures of that. I do have some video from it, but I’m WAY behind in dealing with my video clips. The dirt roads out in this area are great for riding.

The vegetation near the banks of this river was very thick. I was wishing I had some shoes that I could use to walk the river in. (I ended up buying some sandals that will work for this once I got to Seattle)

I spent a couple afternoons like this

On Sunday, my last day there, I went for a hike up the trailhead that starts right by the campsite.

It went up to this lake. Can’t remember the name.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

Next up: Seattle. I'll be there for two weeks to visit an old friend and his wife and bum around the city. Those two weeks have actually came and went and I've left Seattle. I'll get around to that post pretty soon. I'll be heading down to Portland this week.

 

[hoyden]

So very pretty! Makes me really miss the NW.
I lived in Seattle for a number of years, and visited Leavenworth once. It is quite kitchy, but also quaint and nice.
Some dear friends live in Wenatchee and I hope to get up there in the not-too-distant future.

Your camera does pretty darn good!
As always, thanks for posting up!

 

[GroovyDad]

I think your desk has the best views imaginable. What beautiful country. Keep em coming.

 

[clikrf8]

You mentioned pen cleaning and re-inking. Do you illustrate? Being an illustrator I would be interested in your drawings. One of the members of this forum does watercolor illustrations of his travels which are stunning. We live north of you in Bellingham and it is beautiful around here but you are off to Portland to the south. So many places to see out here. We will be traveling into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming in the early fall so will check out your back roads. Your photos really show how gorgeous that area is. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Following.

 

[park]

Will be following along. Thanks for posting. You should point that van south and spend the winter in Baja. You won't regret it. You can check out my blogsite if you want to find out a little bit about travelling in Baja. Have fun out there.......

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

You mentioned pen cleaning and re-inking. Do you illustrate? Being an illustrator I would be interested in your drawings. One of the members of this forum does watercolor illustrations of his travels which are stunning. We live north of you in Bellingham and it is beautiful around here but you are off to Portland to the south. So many places to see out here. We will be traveling into Idaho, Montana, Wyoming in the early fall so will check out your back roads. Your photos really show how gorgeous that area is. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Following.

Nope, I just use the pens for writing. Thank you

Will be following along. Thanks for posting. You should point that van south and spend the winter in Baja. You won't regret it. You can check out my blogsite if you want to find out a little bit about travelling in Baja. Have fun out there.......

Yes, thank you. I've been thinking and talking more and more about going into Mexico. I still think I'm going to wait until next winter which will give me more time to learn Spanish.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

---------------------------------------------
SEATTLE
--------------------------------------------


A WEEK WITH AN OLD FRIEND

An old friend of mine from college live in a suburb south of Seattle with his wife, toddler, and purse dog. I spent a week hanging out with them / at their house. It was great seeing my old friend, getting updates, new stories, old stories I hadn’t heard, etc.

We spent a day doing tourist stuff. This was at the locks - there was some live music and sort of a car show

Gasworks Park:

Near the Space Needle:

We stumbled upon this outdoor movie set up and ready to go. We had to wait a bit for it to get dark and start

HANGING OUT IN SEATTLE

Then I spent a week on my own hanging out in various Seattle neighborhoods. I really like Seattle. It has some normal nice aspects cities can like being in good shape, relatively clean, feeling safe, having young people, etc. But one thing I really liked is that it doesn’t feel spread out. There is a lot of water that prevents this - the sound on the west side and lake Washington on the east. So all of Seattle that is ‘in the city of Seattle’ is between those bodies of water. Once I was in that area, there was very little reason to leave it. When I drove from one side of the city to the other, it took 15 minutes or less. Contrast this with a city like Denver that has no geographic boundaries. It has developed into a sprawl now covering hundreds of square miles. When I’m in Denver I end up with reasons to go from one side of the metro area to the other, and end up driving a lot.

After spending 10 days or so bumming around Seattle, I felt like I could spend an entire summer in the city without even leaving. The weather was nearly perfect while I was there. From what I hear, that perfection doesn’t last long.

Real estate prices are crazy there. I spent some time in a two million dollar house in Capital hill that was definitely nice, but that would cost $250k in the midwest. I also saw a basement studio apartment that was really small and not that nice, for which rent is about $1,000 per month. wow. So, I don’t think I’ll live in Seattle unless it’s under the following conditions:
- My net worth grows quicker than I expect and I have a lot of extra money to play with
- I find some kind of alternative living arrangement there
- I decide to get a career type job again and it happens to be there

Given that I haven’t been there any time other than summer, I’m not even sure how much I’d want to actually live there.

Anyways, Seattle is awesome and I was very surprised how much I like it.


Volunteer Park

Parked by lake Washington

I spent three afternoons on Madison Beach.

Met a nice girl up here at Kerry Park

 

[hoyden]

Oh, I miss Seattle. Lived there for four years 1990 - 1994. Such a great place. Have only been back once since, in 2000. I've heard it has changed quite a bit - gone crazy expensive like you saw. :-(

Did you make it over to Fremont or the Sound Garden or Discovery Park?
If you are still there, a trip over the Archie McFee's is always a good time

Thanks for taking me down memory lane!

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

I'm down in Portland now for the next few weeks.

I did hang out in Fremont a bit and went to Discovery park (and quite a few other parks - Volunteer park, Lincoln Park, Madison beach, seward park, and some more)

I didn't know of or go to the sound garden though.

 

[hoyden]

It's pretty neat. I had no idea it was a NOAA thing. Ha! They must have changed the security since the early 1990's because we just wandered over there and hung out.

Have fun in Portland!

'A Sound Garden'

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

--------------------------------------------------------
OLYMPIC NATIONAL FOREST
--------------------------------------------------------



I went out to Olympic National Forest for a weekend of camping and hiking with my friends from Seattle. I drove out there on a Friday morning, and they came out in the evening after work to join me. I had been planning to do some research and see if I could find what look like good spots for dispersed camping. My friends have a small car so I wanted to find a good spot up a forest service road their car could handle. Come Friday morning, I had failed to do any research. So I left town worrying that I wouldn’t find a good place.

I called a few different National Forest places hoping to connect with a person who could give me good advice, but didn’t have much luck. I’ve found that the National Forest folks I speak with either know EVERYTHING I’m looking for, or not much at all. There hasn’t been much middle ground. This time, I spoke to three different people and got three strikes in a row. So I picked a road that is paved well into the Forest and tried my luck. I ventured off on a Forest Service road. It was in good condition, but there were no good camping spots. There were only a few areas where you could pull off just barely to the side of the road. I encountered a couple sitting and relaxing next to their Vanagon parked in this manor and asked their advice. They informed me that I wouldn’t find what I was looking for on this road. I didn’t want to spend all day driving around FS roads, so I went back down to a pay campsite and got a spot.

Leftovers from dinner with a friend in Seattle:

Big trees near our campsite:

We went on a hike. I think it was called Lena Lake Trail. The trail goes up to Lower Lena Lake, and then Continues into the National Park to Upper Lena Lake. We just went to the Lower Lake. There were a lot of really cool campsites at the lake. There are also more at upper Lena. This would be a good place to hike up to and camp.

We also went to another lake. The name escapes me. This one was just a few minute’s hike form the F.S. road. It’s a wonderful place to spend a day.

After my friends headed back, I explored a bit more. I went up another FS road and found more of the same - no good campsites. There were some good sites on the roads that did not go uphill. I stayed in those one more night and then drove back to Seattle.

 

[GroovyDad]

Beautiful country. It looks like you avoided getting rained on, which I hear is kind of rare in the Olympic NF.

 

[my_wild_dreams_]

Yeah, no rain! :-D we had wonderful weather