Tag Archives: Which Way Photo Challenge

Picture Galleries, Snapshots from a Happy Life

I think I can’t, but then I do

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The Golden Gate Trail is the skinny zigzag up the side of the hill.

One of the more breathtaking (and, for me, breathless) loop trails that I hike at Mount Rainier is to go up Golden Gate trail to the skyline trail to Panorama Point.

Skyline Trail is well named.

The lower skyline trail is permanently closed, except for those adept with ice axes. So up one goes even farther.

There is a spot on the Upper Skyline Trail that has much better views than Panorama Point does:

But Panorama Point has a potty (as well as crowds of the many folk who hike directly to and from it starting at the visitor center.

I never go into this hike thinking I will make it, I give myself permission before I start to just go as far as I can and enjoy the beauty that I see, but I always do.

If you ever get a chance to go to Paradise, this is a great loop since many do not go beyond the there and back to Panorama Point, so you have less crowded trails. By hiking up Golden Gate in the morning you get shade for the steepest uphill. When you get above the tree line there is usually a nice breeze for the (not entirely insignificant) remainder of the uphill. There is some scree scramble but not too bad. If it helps you to gauge: I hike in hiking shoes (not boots), carry a mono-pod/hiking stick and don’t have exceptionally good balance. I am a bit nervous, but have never had a problem.

For Son of a Beach’s Which Way Challenge

Snapshots from a Happy Life

Which way to the Apricots?

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Last Sunday we took an outing to get apricots in Eastern Washington. An almost annual trek. Almost because time goes so quickly that I miss the brief period when you can get them some years.

Our little trip took us through a lot of the landscapes of Washington State. From an island in Puget Sound, through the Cascade mountains to areas of Eastern Washington that are both fertile and arid. All beautiful, but each with its own personality.

Even though it was only a day trip the summer heat led us to leave the dogs at dad’s so they could have a day on the beach instead of a hot car ride. He lives on an island.

Tahlequah ferry dock and a paddle boarder.
Two ways to go places: Paddle board and ferry.
View of and from the Tahlequah-Point Defiance ferry.
View from the deck of the ferry as we set off.
At a stop light in Enumclaw it looks like you will be driving straight at Mount Rainier.
This road headed straight to the mountain (Rainier).
A road in Eastern Washington with dry landscape.
The other side of the mountain is very dry (and hot).
Yakima Canyon road runs beside the very blue Yakima river, but the surrounding hills are very dry.
Even beside a full river there isn’t much green.

Son of a Beach’s Which Way Photo Challenge

China, Guilin

Rainy Day Walk-about in Guilin

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A solid wood tea table and "chairs" made of sliced tree crosssections beside an elegant Chinese screen and door. This is the lobby of the Aroma Tea House in Guilin, China.
A woman with an umbrella walking on a wet walkway paved with stone being swept by an orange vested worker wearing a broad brimmed woven bamboo hat, in Guilin, China.
A group of people singing in a floating pavilion with a dragon head on Rong Lake in Guilin, China.
A wet pathway of alternating square cut stone and embedded pebbles running along the edge of the lakes in Guilin, China.
Lovely bas-relief art, inspired by the local landscape, adorns this boat and pedestrian underpass, a very busy street runs above it. Guilin, China.
The sun and moon pagodas on Rong Lake in Guilin, China, on a gray, rainy day.
People with umbrellas fishing in the lake in Guilin, China.
An ornate gate along the path around the lakes in Guilin, China.
A large puddle reflects the moon pagoda and a walker with an umbrella, in Guilin, China.
Variety of paths and a boardwalk over a small stream in Guilin, China.

No matter how I try, I can’t seem to be systematic about publishing photos. These are from my May trip to Guilin, in China, during their rainy season. The last full day we were there we wandered around the lakes in the middle of town in the rain. We were wet through and through, but we didn’t want to waste any time in that lovely city.

Some other posts from that trip are: Rainy Season on the Li River, Which Way to the Karst?, Sun and Moon Illuminated and Illuminating, A Few Rainy Days in Guilin China-Day 1, A Few Rainy Days in Guilin China-Day 2, Misty Vistas.

Son of a Beach’s Which Way Photo Challenge

China, Snapshots from a Happy Life

A wall that connected

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One thing that fascinated me when I researched about the Great Wall of China is that it was used more for communication than for separation. In the days before cell phones, messages could be sent quickly over long distances along the wall using smoke, flares and flags.

These are photos from the reconstructed area called Mutianyu. It is less crowded than Badaling, which is more easily accessed from Beijing. As I mentioned we had a private driver to our hotel as part of Wild Great Wall’s self-guided tour so we did not have to figure out how to get back to the city.

Comparing from the photos I posted last week, Which Way. You can see that the reconstruction and maintenance are a monumental endeavor. The wall is along the crest of the hills and the area is not accessed by roads, the materials are heavy and there is a lot of territory to cover.

Traveling this section there are a lot of stairs, steep and uneven in many places.

For Son of a Beach’s Which Way Photo Challenge

England, Hadrian's Wall Walk

Back to the Wall

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I never finished the series of posts I intended to write about walking Hadrian’s Wall last June. 

Here is a gallery of pictures from the Hadrian’s Wall National Trail between Housesteads Fort and Chester’s Fort.

In this stretch, while not including the highest point on the walk, it passes something equivalent to the Continental divide in North America, the texture of the clouds changed, and it got way less windy.

Sheep with its fleece being blown by the wind.
The wind blew so hard it was shearing the sheep.

Son of a Beach’s Which Way Photo Challenge

home, Picture Galleries, Snapshots from a Happy Life

Streets of Downtown Seattle

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Different ages and architecture styles looking up Columbia Street.
Similar view climbing Columbia during the blue hour to catch our bus.
Our favorite watering hole is on Post Alley.
Passage to the waterfront.
Pike Street runs through Washington State Convention Center.
Freeway Park is a pleasant way to cross over I5 which runs through downtown.

I used to go downtown pretty often. Of late I take the whopping 20 minute bus ride two or three times a year. This past weekend I attended a conference downtown so went in twice. That takes me to above my annual average this year.

Son of a Beach’s Which Way Photo Challenge