There were tons of people enjoying the river in various ways. Literally tons if you added up all their body weights. It was a beautiful, windy day so they all seemed to be having a blast.
These were taken from the Washington side of the river. Oregon is over yonder.
These were in the Maryhill Art Museum in southern Washington, just off Highway 97. The museum sits high on a hill overlooking the Columbia River, which separates Washington and Oregon.
This is one small part of a huge wind farm in southern Washington. I have seen more of these up here (and already in Oregon) than anywhere I have been in the US other than southern California.
When I was in Oklahoma City earlier this year I saw one of the plants which manufactures the blades. I have passed trucks on the highway which were transporting them to their destination (one blade at a time). The blades are almost long as two tractor trailers placed end to end (in North Carolina they call those transfer trucks).
JohnBoy! This is supposed to be a family friendly blog!
I have seen these signs all over Washington State (the number 1 apple producer in the United States). The funny thing is, if you walk a short ways up the road and look at the sign on the other side of the road which states you are leaving the quarantine area, it says exactly the same thing!
If I can’t bring my maggots in and I can’t take my maggots out, whatever shall I do with my maggots???
If you are new to the blog and are scrolling down from the top, please go down a few posts to read the commentary about this State Park in Washington State before reading this explanation about the pictures.
The top picture is the “flaming geyser”. The eternal flame on JFK’s gravesite in Arlington National Cemetery is more impressive. But years ago, the flame allegedly reached heights ranging from 3 to 15 feet, and is how the Park got it’s name.
The bottom picture is the nearby “bubbling geyser”. Methane and other gases coming up out of the ground interact with the water and rocks in the stream and create these ribbons of gray and white. The bubbling is occurring in the upper left corner of the picture.
Well, they got my ten bucks… And if you think P. T. Barnum is the one who said “There’s a sucker born every minute” you are mistaken. Those words were actually uttered by David Hannum, a banker, who was referring to a hoax Barnum perpetrated on the public. As Bill Weber of NBC Sports used to say during NASCAR races after he gave out a but of trivia, “We looked it up so you don’t have to”.
You’re welcome.
…well, something like that.
This was taken this evening after I had dinner in Wenatchee. As you may have guessed, this was kind of a slow news day. I opted to stay close to town for a change, get caught up on some paperwork and computer correspondence, buy some stuff for my new camera (a monopod to help steady it on zoom shots, etc.) and clean up and re-arrange things in my car. I also checked out some things here in Wenatchee, which is actually a neat little town and has a beautiful waterfront along the Columbia River.
Tomorrow I bid Wenatchee a fond adieu and the JohnBoy show moves on to Bend, Oregon (for a full week. Yippee). It has been an incredible 5 days in Washington. The weather was fantastic and I covered a lot of territory, but saw many amazing and interesting things.
… I see you hiding behind that mountain…. (Sorry, I couldn’t resist the spelling pun).
As I was driving down towards Mount Saint Helens on Thursday I noticed the snow-covered mountain lurking in the distance. Given the lay of the land I surmise that it is Mount Hood, which is in northwest Oregon (Mount Saint Helens in is southwest Washington state).
I’m heading down to Oregon tomorrow so believe me, you’ll be getting a closer look.
UPDATE: It is actually Mount Adams, which is in Washington state. Elevation 12,276 feet, and is really not that far from Mount Saint Helens. I am driving south towards Oregon and there was a sign pointing out which mountain on the horizon was Rainier and which was Adams.
After I visited Mt. Rainier on Wednesday I got back on the scenic east-to-west road I had used to get there and continued on west to Enumclaw (NASCAR driver Kasey Kahne’s hometown. Congrats, Kasey, of your big win at the Brickyard last Sunday!). As I started driving north toward the scenic road which would take me back east to Wenatchee I saw this sign and had to go check it out.
I turned and started driving down the road to get to the Park. I didn’t see any more signs for a while go I asked Google (I have a button on my phone which lets me ask Google to look things up for me, similar to Siri and Alexa on other platforms) to tell me how to get to the Park. She (I haven’t given her a name) has a charming British accent and came back with the response “Here is some information on Flaming Geezer State Park” which I thought was hysterical (but I imagine that is a very different kind of park altogether….).
Sure enough, the Park was another mile or two down the road. When I saw there was a $10 entrance fee I wondered exactly what I would be seeing, so when I got to the entrance I asked the young lady what a flaming geyser is. She explained that there is methane coming up out of the ground which creates a flame above the surface. I asked if it was something better seen at night and she said no, you can clearly see it during the day. So I ponied up my ten bucks and went in to take a look.
I’ll keep you in suspense and post pictures tomorrow. There was also a “bubbling geyser” a short walk away from the flaming geyser (no extra charge!). No cheating now. Don’t get ahead of me and look it up online, children.
This was also taken on Monday on my way to Wenatchee using my new camera. I was going to post a comparison photo with one taken using my cell phone camera but suffice it to say that from now on I will just use the best picture I have available.
As I pulled in to the adjacent parking lot I noticed the gazebo and large gap below and to the left of it. There is a walkway which juts out from the gazebo and over the gap to the vertical rock on the left to allow people to look down in to the canyon. If you have good eyes you can see the metal fence which borders the walkway. I’m afraid of heights and didn’t go out there.
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