Tulip Festival and Other Wanderings

We started the weekend with sunny backroads drive from Puyallup to Mount Vernon for the last days of the tulip festival. The tulips are fading away now, but there were still quite a few big garden beds left that are full of blooming flowers still. I can't even imagine what it's like during the heyday.

A clever repurpose of an old phone booth!

Some of my favorite tulip blooms!

The Flaming Parrot! HA!

Long row of tulips

After the tulip festival, we cruised down the road to a brewery to drink 

a few beers on the patio, play some cribbiage, and write a few postcards.

The next day we headed for the Mountain Loop Highway on the west side of North

Cascade National Park. What a beautiful hidden gem! 

Getting ready to head to the mountains.

Gotta get the coffee going first!! :)

Then this popped up out of nowhere! 

Big Four Mountain

Beautiful North Cascades

The ice cave!
You can see 2 people near the mouth of
the cave for scale. It's BIG.

 Holes in the ice cave.

Hangin' out at camp.

A slug visiting our camp.

Our campsite along the Stillaguamish River.

Day 3: Hiking in the North Cascades - Lake Twenty-Two

Views along the hike.

 Looking toward North Cascades National Park

One of many waterfalls along the trail.

 Lake Twenty-Two

Lunch on the lake!

It's Springtime in the Northwest!

Adventures! Adventures! Adventures! I've been busy . . . .

Moving: Round 2!

& Paddleboarding on the Kootenai!

& Gettin' Fancy at the Military Formal!

& Hangin' out with Dave!
Playin' the Piano in the garage!

& Sightseeing!

 Biers and Sunshine in Leavenworth, WA

Dry Falls, WA - A geologist's paradise.

& Visits from Friends!

 What used to be the reservoir behind the Glines Canyon 

Dam in Olympic National Park.

 Me n Ellie on the bridge to the hotsprings.

 Soakin'

Elwha Dam no more!! :)

The Goodwill Ball 2015!!

For your viewing pleasure . . . . 

The transformation!

How did THIS come out of all THAT?!

The "old lady" hairspray mask!

(That's Wanda's name for it!)

The Pantsuit Sisters!

The happy couple!

Helen and the Old Farts

The Band! Back Adit

The ladies and their Wanda Dos

The Grand Canyon - Part 1

This post is going to be less about words and more about photos.
If you don't care at all about the words, click on any photo and you can
just arrow through them and you don't even have to block out the words!

The Gypsy Wagon - On our way to Flagstaff

The Ceiba truck with ALL the gear

Our first hike

(I think . . . and I can't remember the name!) 

Da beach. Isn't the desert neat?!

Halloween!

Drinkin' straight from the bag! 

Flying the airplane

Redwall Cavern!!!!

This place was SO AMAZING! It's difficult to tell the actual size of the cavern,

but it was huge. We played kickball here ALL DAY LONG and laughed and

laughed and laughed! To give you an idea, we set up a kickball field INSIDE 

the cavern and even the kicks that popped straight up never hit the ceiling. 

Looking out from inside Redwall Cavern.

The airplane and the puffy-sleeved prom queen

 (Photo credit to Henry)

Heading up Saddle. (I think)

I thought this place was really neat because it was the 

first little 'oasis' we saw on the trip and I was so surprised

to see all the green vegetation, and even a few wildflowers! 

(Photo credit to Kate)

Saddle.

(Photo credit to Kate)

Saddle.

 (Photo credit to Kate)

 

More Saddle.

  

                                   Sheela n' Me!                                          Janna & Mary

 

Oh this was cool! We stopped to scout a rapid before we ran it and 

there was a group getting ready to run it ahead of us, so we got to

watch them, but his curious ram wanted to check us out! 

(Photo credit to Henry)

 

I'm not sure if it's the same ram, but this was a nice photo!

 (Photo credit to Orion)

The next couple of photos are from one of my favorite stops - Nankoweap. 

This is the site of ancient Anasazi granaries. The ancient people would store their

summer grain crop in these 'cupboards' to protect it through the winter.

The view from the granaries was probably in my top 5 favorite parts of the trip.

Nice rocks, eh?

Hangin' at the granary.

The granary door with Sheela and a 

delicious IPA for scale.  

The next area, the confluence of the Colorado and the Little Colorado

Rivers, is a magical place. It's no wonder that visitors are only allowed

to hike in about a half mile. Everything beyond that is sacred land to

the Navaho Nation (I think it's Navaho land, but don't quote me!)

The Confluence.

The rock type, which is limestone if I remember correctly,

gives the Little Colorado the milky look to it. 

 Heading up the Little Colorado.

Sheela and a little salt column.

Geology is neat!

But I have no idea what this is called.

 

Cute little critter prints.

Nothing for scale, but the little prints on the left

aren't much bigger than a quarter (each).

 

To be continued . . . .