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A gorgeous first day of fall in one of my favorite

A gorgeous first day of fall in one of my favorite places to bike 🚲 🍂
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#PureMichigan #KentCountyParks #MillenniumPark #Fall #Autumn #FallColor #LeafPeeping #Colorful #Explore #GetOutside #OptOutside #Biking #BikeRide

Some favorites from Chicago last weekend (horizont

Some favorites from Chicago last weekend (horizontal edition)
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#ChooseChicago #Chicago #Illinois #BuckinghamFountain #GrantPark #MillenniumPark #NavyPier #LouMitchells #CloudGate #TheBean #SheddAquarium #Urban #Travel #Explore #Cityscape #Skyline

Some favorites from Chicago last weekend (vertical

Some favorites from Chicago last weekend (vertical edition)
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#ChooseChicago #Chicago #Illinois #WillisTower #SearsTower #Route66 #NavyPier #FineArtsBuilding #ElTrain #ChicagoLoop #DowntownChicago #Cityscape #MillenniumPark #ChicagoTheatre #UnionStation #Urban #Travel #Explore

It's still officially summer for a week yet, so su

It's still officially summer for a week yet, so sunflowers are still relevant. 🌻🌻🌻
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#PureMichigan #Sunflowers #DeepRootsProduce #Flowers #Summer #SunflowerField #Nature #GetOutside #OptOutside #Explore #Grow #Latergram

Washington Days 10 & 11 (7/21 & 7/22): Our last fu

Washington Days 10 & 11 (7/21 & 7/22): Our last full day in Washington and the city of Seattle. We made it a fairly leisurely day. First, we walked to Lake Union and rented Lime Bikes to ride to Gas Works Park at the north end of the lake. We spen a good amount of time at Gas Works, taking in the skyline, and watching boats and kayaks scud along the water and seaplanes taking off and landing. We had fun being big kids "playing" on the playground equipment there. We then took the Lime Bikes to the Washington Park Arboretum. Even when we are in cities, we seek out nature! We walked a small portion of that park (it is a HUGE park) and then out and across Foster and Marsh Islands trails along Lake Washington toward the University of Washington campus. From UW, we took the light link rail back downtown, to the oldest part of Seattle: Pioneer Square. We explored around there for a bit, then stopped for lunch at our favorite Mod Pizza again. Then we worked our way up the Alaskan Way along the harbor. We discovered a really cool coffee shot and print shop called Pike Street Coffee and Pike Street Press. (I bought 2 letterpress posters that you may have seen me share about before. One is a really cool typography poster I put in my office—exactly my cup of tea!). We took some great clear shots of Mt. Rainier, which decided to come out to play, at Pier 66. It's so cool to see how massive of a volcano it is, and even from so far away! We spent some time watching the ferries and sailboats go by. Later, we had dinner at Old Stove Brewing on the waterfront, then returned to Pier 66 for more night pictures. (We weren't about to return to Kerry Park after last night's incident—see the comments under my previous post's caption if you want to know the story.) Before leaving for the airport the next morning, I took my brother to a doughnut and coffee shop that I had discovered in 2019 when I was in Seattle: TopPot Doughnuts, a delicious treat before heading home and ending our 99.99% wonderful week in Washington State! Thanks for following along.

Washington Day 9 (7/20): From Burlington, we took

Washington Day 9 (7/20): From Burlington, we took a little detour to see Snoqualmie Falls in the morning before returning our rental car to SeaTac before heading into the big city of Seattle. We took the Light Link Rail north into the city; the "nature" portion of our trip was officially over. After we checked into our hotel and oriented ourselves in the city, we went out to explore. Since I had been to Seattle 4 years previous, I knew the city pretty well already, having explored it for a couple days while I was here on a work conference, so I did much of the leading around for my brother, who had never been to Seattle before. We dove right in and went to the ever popular and crowded Pike Place Market first. We figured it was as good as any of a place to start. We enjoyed a lunch break at the Pike Pub, which had a lot of cool beer memorabilia plastered all over the walls and tables. It was a hot day in the city. We just wandered around looking at all the curiosity shops and things for sale on the market tables and watched the famous fishmongers throwing their fish. We visited the infamous Post Alley Gum Wall. Then we decided to do the Space Needle in the evening at sunset. We did the Chihuly Garden & Glass combo ticket, so we first went up to the top of the 520-foot viewing platform and the rotating glass flower below, then we did the Chihuly Garden below. It was awesome to be up in the Needle at golden hour; it gave the city a wonderful warm glow. We could look far across Elliott Bay and the Puget Sound to the Olympic Mountains in the west, Mt. Rainier was hazy in south, and across Lake Union toward, toward Mt. Baker to the north. It was cool to get a visual "summary" of almost every place we had been before coming to the city in one 360-degree view. After a late dinner, we decided to hike up to Kerry Park, a small park in a residential area on the side of a hill that has one of the most famous views of the Seattle cityscape. It's like the city's "balcony" (it's not a very big park). We took a few long exposure/night photos there.

CONTINUED IN COMMENTS

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 4: From Maple Pass,

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 4: From Maple Pass, we drove to the Diablo Lake Vista Overlook. The sun was going down and the lake was kind of washed out, but still really pretty. Diablo Lake is actually a reservoir for the Diablo Dam; the water is a bright glacial blue-green. The mountains were glowing in the setting sun, and we had great views of Colonial Peak, especially. We saw 3 young sisters playing "Shadowland" where they could only walk on shadows at Diablo Vista Overlook (and there were plenty of long shadows to walk on), which was very entertaining to watch. On our way back to Burlington, Philip saw an elk herd in a meadow on the side of the road, so we quick turned off to see it closer. It turned out it was a place called Hurn Field Conservation Area where elk herds are known to roam. We spotted lots of elk babies. A guy was flying a drone over them that was freaking them out though, which somewhat ruined the peace of the moment. We made it back to Burlington pretty late; somehow today turned out to be one of our longest days of the whole trip! We repacked everything in our suitcases to be ready for the big city of Seattle, because we would be dropping off our rental car and going car-free in the city for the last two days!
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #NorthCascadesNationalPark #FindYourPark #NorthCacades #DiabloLake #DiabloDam #Sunset #ColonialPeak

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 3: We had told ourse

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 3: We had told ourselves that we were done with big hikes for the trip after the previous day's hike at Mt. Baker, but we still had quite a bit of the afternoon to kill, and it was another beautiful day, though it was approaching 90°F in the sun. We decided to hike half of the Maple Pass Loop—just go up high enough to see Ann Lake from above and then descend again. We went up counterclockwise from the trailhead at the Rainy Lake Picnic Area. The trail was quite steep in parts, at least for our tired legs; luckily, it was mostly shaded. And boy were we glad we did, despite it being a strenuous climb up (we had been quite exhausted). It was another beautiful view. We made it as high as Heather Meadows, which had a pretty great vista of some North Cascades ranges, wildflower meadows, and some glacial lakes below. Once again we were amazed by all the different types of wildflowers. Highlights on the descent were seeing a pika! So cute. ("Pika! Pika!") (We are not sure if we actually saw more than one, because it kept scurrying in and out of hiding in the rocks and ferns, so it could have actually been multiple.) We had actually heard their cute little squeals and chirps first before spotting them on the rocks. Then shortly after that, we saw a ptarmigan! Pikas and ptarmigans. It took us about an hour up and an hour down altogether. The pika sighting alone, in my opinion, made our decision to do part of this trail very worth it after all. The sun was starting to get lower, though, so we headed back west on the WA-20 so we could see Diablo Lake before sunset.
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #NorthCascadesNationalPark #FindYourPark #NorthCacades #MaplePass #AnnLake #MaplePassLoop #Pika #Ptarmigan #Bird #Rodent #Hiking #Trails

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 2: From Newhalem, we

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 2: From Newhalem, we drove Washington State Route 20 to the eastern edge of the North Cascades and the Washington Pass Overlook near Mazama. From there we had spectacular views of Liberty Bell and Early Winter Spires, where the road winds through the valley below. It was getting pretty hot in the sun, but we had to decide what to do next: to do another hard hike or not? Stay tuned.
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #NorthCascadesNationalPark #FindYourPark #NorthCacades #WashingtonPassOverlook #WashingtonPass #LibertyBell #EarlyWinterSpires

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 1: We did another da

Washington Day 8 (7/19), Part 1: We did another day trip from Burlington today: this time to North Cascades National Park, our final national park of the trip! We headed out to Newhalem for the North Cascades visitor center. From the visitor center with hiked several trails along the Skagit River, with views of the Picket Range: the To-Know-a-Tree Trail, Linking Trail, part of the River Loop, and the Trail of the Cedars. The To-Know-a-Tree Trail had lots of educational signs about all the different types of trees and vegetation that was native to the area. We learned a lot about the We crossed the Skagit River at the Trail of the Cedars pedestrian suspension bridge before turning around and heading back to the visitor center. It was a beautiful walk through the woods that we highly enjoyed. There was lots of information on the dams that helped provide electricity for the city of Seattle in this area of the North Cascades, Newhalem being just one of the towns that ran the hydroelectric dams. It was the beginning to another very full day: our final big day in nature before we would head to the big city of Seattle. More to come!
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #NorthCascadesNationalPark #FindYourPark #NorthCacades #Newhalem #ToKnowATreeTrail #PicketRange #Mountains #SkagitRiver #TrailOfTheCedars #Nature #Hiking

Washington Day 7 (7/18), Part 3: Before exiting th

Washington Day 7 (7/18), Part 3: Before exiting the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, we made one last stop at Nooksack Falls on our way toward Bellingham. It was a pretty last stop—not that we hadn't seen anything pretty that day—but we like to pack it in, and it was an easy thing to check off the list. (See the eyes 👀 under the bridge?). We went back to Burlington via Bellingham. In Bellingham, we stopped at a Taco Time for dinner. We kept seeing Taco Time in different places on our road trip, so we thought we HAD to try it at least once. It was delicious. To describe it: it's like a higher quality version of Taco Bell, made more neatly, but with white people taco ingredients with all the "crunchy granola" feels of compostable and environmentally friendly packaging—started in Washington (so, hey, local food!)—but VERY tasty. My brother had a crisp burrito and I had 2 fish tacos. They came with a side of tater tots, of all things. And let me just tell you, WHO KNEW THAT A TACO PLACE OF ALL PLACES MAKES THE BEST TATER TOTS I'VE EVER HAD!?!? DELICIOUS. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh.
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #MtBaker #MtBakerSnoqualmieNationalForest #NooksackFalls #Waterfall #Bridge #Forest #TacoTime #TaterTots

Washington Day 7 (7/18), Part 2: From our lunch br

Washington Day 7 (7/18), Part 2: From our lunch break at Iceberg Lake, we continued on the Chain Lakes Loop trail. From there we started to ascend over a ridge that stood between Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan, after which the path descended through the beautiful Heather Meadows, where we stopped at the visitor center there before they closed. The final connector trail back to the Artist Point parking lot was the Wild Goose Trail. It was a bit of a steep scramble in spots—and a little hard to follow (hence "Wild Goose" was an appropriate name)—definitely a tough little push after a LONG day hiking, but the day was as gorgeous as ever. But we could see the road again, and the parking lot was soon in sight. Our total hike time was about 6.5 hours, with all our stops and breaks. On our way back down, we stopped at Picture Lake and took in the reflection of Mt. Shuksan, which is said to be the most photographed mountain in all of the USA. Picture Lake is very easy to access, so it's hard not to see why! The water was not super still, but we managed to capture some beautiful images of the famous mountain. Before we left, we saw that a fire had broken out on the hill (or at least the smoke from it was visible), which are outlawed in the national forest, and someone was blowing a whistle to get a park ranger's attention. We never did find out what came of it, but it appeared to be by one of the ski lodge buildings. We hope it was OK! (Side note: one major reason Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie is a national FOREST instead of a national PARK is the recreation aspect, like skiing, would not be possible if it were designated a park. So, there are several recreation buildings and ski lodges in the vicinity.)
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #MtBaker #MtBakerSnoqualmieNationalForest #Hiking #MtShuksan #ChainLakesLoop #Trails #IcebergLake #Wildflowers #HeatherMeadows #WildGooseTrail

Washington Day 7 (7/18), Part 1: We left Burlingto

Washington Day 7 (7/18), Part 1: We left Burlington early in the morning, restocking our trail snacks and lunches from a Fred Meyer on our way out of town, to the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest to the northeast. It was about a 2-hour drive from Burlington, with the final few miles being on a winding road with many switchbacks, up to Artist Point. After orienting ourselves, we began our hike on the Chain Lakes Loop from Artist Point. The views were almost immediately incredible, with clear sights of both Mt. Baker and Mt. Shuksan. The Chain Lakes trail leads through a series of glacial lakes and ponds in the basins and valleys below and around Mt. Baker. The weather was gorgeous; there were a different set of wildflowers here, even than Rainier. We couldn't have asked for a better day. The trail was popular but definitely not as busy as Rainier (though it was not a weekend). We were alone much of the time, occasionally bumping into the same groups of people like "trail friends." We had lunch about halfway around Iceberg Lake, though we couldn't sit long because the flies and mosquitoes were bad. (Maybe the only "bad" thing from the day.) It's hard to do this place justice in my descriptions—there is no way I can even summarize it in pictures—one of my favorite spots we hiked in all of Washington! I have much more to share from our Mt. Baker/Chain Lakes hike!
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #MtBaker #MtBakerSnoqualmieNationalForest #Hiking #MtShuksan #ChainLakesLoop #Trails #IcebergLake #Wildflowers

Washington Day 6 (7/17), Part 3: After our long da

Washington Day 6 (7/17), Part 3: After our long day exploring Whidbey Island, Deception Pass State Park, Fidalgo Island, and Anacortes, we had dinner in Burlington and then went out toward Bellingham for an evening drive on Chuckanut Drive. Chuckanut Drive is a historic and highly scenic road, first finished in 1896. It was one of the first roads that connected Bellingham and Whatcom County to the southern part of Washington. The road curves along the coast where we enjoyed a soft gradient sunset over Bellingham and Samish Bays. There are several pullouts along the road with astonishing views; the distant San Juan Islands and mountain ranges became flat like paper in the illusion. It was a nice, quiet "reset" after an active day and before we would head into the North Cascades the next day for Mt. Baker.
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #PugetSound #ChuckanutDrive #SalishSea #SanJuanIslands #Bellingham #Sunset #ScenicByway

Washington Day 6 (7/17), Part 2: From Fort Ebey, w

Washington Day 6 (7/17), Part 2: From Fort Ebey, we headed to the north side of Whidbey Island to explore Deception Pass State Park. A pair of bridges, Canoe Pass and Deception Pass Bridges, connect Whidbey Island to Fidalgo Island (with a small island called Pass Island between) over the fast-moving waters that connect the Skagit Bay with the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We crossed the bridges twice, once in each direction. It was definitely a little freaky to cross, and probably wouldn't have been half as scary (at least for me) if there wasn't so much traffic crossing. But the waters were very blue and pretty, and we spotted a few seals floating along in the swift currents below. We spent a little time down by the rocky beaches before making our way to Mount Erie, a high point on Fidalgo Island that had great views across the nearby islands and peninsulas, mountains and valleys that seem infinite in this area of Washington. From there we drove on a skinny scenic loop road in Washington Park in Anacortes that was only one-way for cars. We had heard that the park was a great place to look for whales and seals making their way through the channels, but we only spotted one seal, maybe; the whales were not coming out to play (at least not to our naked eyes). The weather was gorgeous. From Anacortes, we made our way to Burlington for our hotel and dinner for the night. We did one more thing on day 6: I'll share pics of Chuckanut Drive at sunset next.
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #PugetSound #DeceptionPass #WAStateParks #FidalgoIsland #WhidbeyIsland #MtErie #Anacortes #WashingtonPark #CanoePass #Bridge

Washington Day 6 (7/17), Part 1: We left our flat

Washington Day 6 (7/17), Part 1: We left our flat in Sequim early to make the 8 AM car ferry from Port Townsend to Coupeville, Whidbey Island. After parked our car on the lower deck, and took the stairs to the passenger decks, the ferry was a quick 30 minutes across the Puget Sound. Our first stop on Whidbey Island was Ebey's Landing. We walked along the rocky beach there, and saw seals poking their heads above the water (never got a very clear picture, but still fun to spot), eagles soaring above, and prop planes making their way over the sound, transporting people to and from the San Juan Islands, most likely. As we made our way up the bluff, to our surprise, we came upon a doe and her two fawns, staring directly at us—one of my captures I'm most proud of from this trip! They were so cute and still and watched us for a few seconds before they sauntered off into the woods with their mother. There were a bunch of cool paths through hedges and along a pond; it felt park-like and wild all at the same time. We visited the old World War II gun battery at Fort Ebey. (It makes a lot of sense, but I hadn't thought a lot about coastal defenses being built IN the U.S. Luckily, this particular gun battery never had to be used or attacked.) We got our daily dose of PNW coffee from Whidbey Coffee in Oak Harbor before continuing on to the second part of our day (my next update), Deception Pass.
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#Washington #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #PugetSound #PortTownsend #WhidbeyIsland #Deer #Fawns #EbeysLanding #FortEbey #WW2 #Nature

Washington Day 5 (7/16), Part 3: The last major st

Washington Day 5 (7/16), Part 3: The last major stop on our visit to Olympic National Park was Rialto Beach in La Push. We spent a few hours hiking the entire length of the beach, all the way to Split Rock and Hole in the Wall. Split Rock is a sea stack that looks just like its name: like a giant egg-shaped rock that is cracked in half; and Hole in the Wall is a natural promontory with (surprise!) a hole in its wall. It was low tide and there was much less fog at Rialto than at Ruby Beach, so we could see much further. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it was peaceful to walk along to the roar of the ocean waves crashing ashore. The low tide allowed us to find all kinds of miniature tide pool creatures like hermit crabs and sea anemones; some tide pools were colored by bacterial mats. We wanted to find some starfish, perhaps, but no such luck. Giant driftwood logs were scattered along the entire length of the beach, a natural playground. Kids pulled large strands of kelp out of the waves. Rialto was by far our favorite beach of the day. We made sure to start walking back before the tide started coming back in; we didn't want to get caught out there! Back in Forks, we got tasty burgers at a neat little local joint called Benelli's before heading all the way back to our accommodations in Sequim for our last night on the Olympic Peninsula. Next: the ferry to Whidbey Island!
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#Washington #OlympicNP #FindYourPark #OlympicPeninsula #OlympicMountains #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #RialtoBeach PacificOcean #Waves #SeaStacks #SplitRock #HoleInTheWall #Tidepools #Kelp #Driftwood

Washington Day 5 (7/16), Part 2: From the Hoh Rain

Washington Day 5 (7/16), Part 2: From the Hoh Rain Forest, we headed toward the Pacific Coast section of Olympic National Park. We went as far south as Kalaloch to see the famous "Tree of Life" at the beach near the campground there. The tree somehow survives in a gap in the cliff walls, its root system almost entirely exposed. Due to its easy access and popularity online, it was a busy spot (don't let my photo deceive you), but still worth the stop. From there, we worked our way north and visited a few beaches in search of sea stacks and tide pools. We made a brief stop at Beach Four, but spent quite a bit of our time at Ruby Beach. A path through hedges and vines led down to the rocky beach. Huge driftwood logs were strewn about everywhere like a maze. It was eerie but fun to walk through the fog among the tall sea stacks as the waves crashed on shore. It definitely felt otherworldly, and, though we were far from alone, remote, and had the illusion that we far away from civilization on a wild shore of an unknown continent.
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#Washington #OlympicNP #FindYourPark #OlympicPeninsula #OlympicMountains #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #Kalaloch #TreeOfLife #BeachFour #RubyBeach #PacificOcean #Waves #SeaStacks #Beach

Washington Day 5 (7/16), Part 1: Our second full d

Washington Day 5 (7/16), Part 1: Our second full day in Olympic National Park started with a visit to the Hoh Rain Forest. From Sequim we drove to Forks (yes, of Twilight fame) and shortly after was the entrance to the Upper Hoh Road. The entrance road was just as beautiful as the destination. We saw a Roosevelt elk along the side, just in the trees (alas, never got a good picture). We had to wait a little bit to enter because they meter the cars at the entrance station, plus there was some construction along the Upper Hoh Road that only allowed for one-way traffic at a time. We hiked both the Hall of Mosses and Spruce Trails (and briefly along the Hoh River Trail). Both are not very long hikes, but lead through a magnificent section of the rain forest that is common on the western side of the Olympic Range. The reason for all the GREEN? The mountains trap the moisture along the coast and much of the precipitation falls on the western side; the other side being its "rain shadow" where there are almost desert-like conditions. Some of the spruces and first were like skyscrapers, and nearly everything seemed to be covered in fine carpets of moss. For being a rain forest, the day we visited was quite dry, though, so there was a bit more dust kicked up from the forest floor than I had imagine there would be in a generally wetter place, but it was beautiful to see the sunlight filtering through the branches and illuminating the final tendrils of the mosses, giving the forest a fairyland-like quality.
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#Washington #OlympicNP #FindYourPark #OlympicPeninsula #OlympicMountains #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #HohRainForest #RainForest #Trails #Hiking #Moss #Green

Washington Day 4 (7/15), Part 2: After Hurricane R

Washington Day 4 (7/15), Part 2: After Hurricane Ridge, we took a little time to stop in the Olympic NP visitor center (the welcome sign features the phrase "ʔənʔá č’ə́yəxʷ" which means "come, enter" in the Klallam/S'Klallam language). Then we drove to Sol Duc Falls, about an hour and a half away, which took us along a very winding road on the edge of Lake Crescent. Olympic National Park is vast, with most of the interior being complete wilderness with no roads, so the easily accessible pieces are far apart and mostly on the outer edge of the park, as there is no inner ring road or such as other national parks may have. The hike to Sol Duc Falls is an easy hike through the rain forest. The waterfall itself has 3 main splits that fall into a slot gorge, which is easily viewed from a wooden bridge and series of small outlooks—a very pretty setting. "Sol Duc" means "sparkling waters" in Quileute, and the crystal clear waters show why the name is fitting. We took our time on the way back, and stopped along Lake Crescent on our way back to Sequim for the night, but first stopping in Port Angeles along the way for a fish and chips dinner by the harbor.
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#Washington #OlympicNP #FindYourPark #OlympicPeninsula #OlympicMountains #PNW #WAState #TrueToNature #Explore #Travel #GetOutside #OptOutside #RoadTrip #PortAngeles #SolDucFalls #Hiking #Trails #RainForest #LakeCrescent

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