THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2010

The fireweed is always so pretty at this time of year.

So our campsite has it's own gorgeous flower garden, full of bees, butterflies and hummingbirds. Lovely at sunrise.

Here is the elusive black hucklberry. In some of our previous years here picking, there would have been dozens of ripe berries on a bush like this.

A hidden treasure in the forest - tiny trees growing in a mossy carpet.

Me and Ginnie on top of a hill, with the Skykomish River valley behind us, looking toward Steven's Pass in the east.

From the same spot, looking to the west.

We saw this bear in the berry patch, and later it appeared to follow us out to this wooded area next to the road. It's eating berries, too, and since it is such a poor year, bears are coming to lower elevations to forage. It was the first one we have seen in the 5 years we've been coming to this area. Creepily, it, or another bear, appeared at our campsite, over a mile away, later that afternoon. It spooked us enough that we decided to move camp.

And that turned into a great decision: from camp 2, we had a gorgeous view of the stunning sunset! As well as some peace of mind, not listening for bear pawsteps all night. We even had cell reception at this spot, so called the ranger station, and she said it was the first report of a bear sighted up here. She also said it is open for bear hunting right now! If only we had known - we could have had a bearskin rug! (just kidding!)

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2010
I dragged all my gear across the ferry, where Ginnie picked me up, and we headed up into the mountains for our annual berry picking camping trip.

A Noble Fir tree, and it's odd cone, against the deep blue sky!

Our reason for coming on this camping trip: black huckleberries. Ginnie is standing in a large patch of them. Unfortunately, it was a bad year for berries, and we didn't get nearly as many as in previous years.

So we explored some of the many, many old logging trails - they're letting a lot of them revert, but until they get too overgrown, they make excellent hiking trails.

Beautiful weather, cool clouds, blue sky, great mountains!

Sorry, no photo today! Busy day, getting last-minute work projects finished up, so I can go camping for the next 3 days! So, I won't be blogging until next Saturday! See you then, hopefully with loads of fun photos from the mountains!

I met my friend Bonnie for lunch at the Mukilteo Coffee Co - we sat outside, next to the building where they do the roasting, which generated a fragrant cloud of steam, billowing into the sunny sky.

Hops grow along the fence and up onto the roof of the restaurant part.

Inside, Bonnie walks toward the cash register with her bag of cookies. They have a lot of colorful and unusual art - very fun! The food is great, too! It was too warm for coffee, so I'll save that experience for next time.

A sun-break at the Walmart parking lot!

I had a meeting at the Highlands in Langley, and got to tour a couple of the houses I did the building plans for. Above is the bathroom, and I really love the backsplash tiles they used: some of the tiles are clear glass, and it really looks great.

 The is the outside - the cottage is called the Goldfinch. It's just over 1000 sq ft, and with the vaulted ceilings and open floor plan, it feels very spacious. We added storage wherever we could, and the result is a very livable little home. Cute, too!

These are the kind of shots that, if it were your kid, he would hate you! But, since it's a cat, and he does goofy things like this all the time, any attention is good! The sun is also good! Licking, maybe not so much.