It's Halloween!

It's almost Halloween, and the kids have been anticipating the sugar rush for some time. While it isn't time for trick-or-treat here yet, there was a party on the Air Force side of Joint Base Lewis-McChord today that we took advantage of. That and the rare sunshine!

So we dressed the kids up, loaded them in the car, made the trek to McChord, and went to have some fun. We did! Ian was a hit as Captain Rex, and Leah was a fairy princess, as you can see.

Since I messed up the loading of photos into Blogger, this one is out of sequence, but what are you gonna do? This was from a walk along a trail not far from the house (walking distance). It was the best of the bunch; my girls...

After the trip to McChord, I took the kids to the Nisqually National Wildlife Refuge for a walk along the boardwalk. We didn't go at a good time for photos, but it was a nice walk through a tidal estuary - and the ducks/geese were out in force. Ian and Leah had a great time running along the elevated boardwalk looking for ducks.

I don't know why I enjoy the shots of Ian and Leah either walking or sitting from behind, but I do.

Have a wonderful day everybody, we sure did.

Tschuss,

Marc

Spirit Lake and Tolmie State Park

Just some more photos from Dan and Leesa's visit. The first photo is a panorama of Spirit Lake. Again, those logs are the trees that were blasted into the lake from the eruption in 1980 - what is left of an old growth forest. If you look close, just right of center, you can see Mt. Adams looming in the distance. At one time we were looking at Mt. Adams, Mt. St. Helens, and Mt. Hood in the far distance.

Photoshop failed to make the panorama, so I found a great program - Hugin, made by the same folks that make Handbrake (puts your DVDs on hard drive). I'm not sure what is up with Photoshop, but this is not the first time it has failed to make the pano.

Ian or Leah took this photo below with my camera. It was Sunday afternoon, after Dan and I watched the Packers trounce St. Louis (undefeated!!).

And this is one that Dan was kind enough to take with my camera of our family. Good looking bunch, if I do say so myself.

Have a great day everybody. We sure did.

Cheers,

Marc

Mt. St. Helens and Spirit Lake

We have some friends over for the weekend, and while Catherine took Leesa and the kids to the Farmer's Market, Dan and I headed to Mt. St. Helens for a short hike. We made our way through the gray, overcast clouds not really anticipating a good day weather-wise. Along the drive up to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, we passed through the low-lying clouds and fog and into some beautiful blue skies.

This photo below is from the same pullout from our first trip, just better weather. If you look carefully (click the image for a larger photo), you'll see Mt. Adams in the background in the far left.

Dan and I took the Boundary Line Trail, which was a largely level trail. There is one rough section where those with a fear of heights will turn around. Luckily, neither me nor Dan are afraid of a 1000-foot drop-off and just a narrow foot path to traverse. Mt. St. Helens looks much better as it has been coated with a new layer of snow, probably the first of the season.

We made our way to Harry's Ridge; I have no idea who Harry is! However, he had a beautiful vantage point of Spirit Lake and Mt. St. Helens. Mt. St. Helens is five miles distant.

This final photo is of Spirit Lake, with Mt Adams looming in the background (left edge of the low-lying clouds). Those trees floating on Spirit Lake are the remnant of the old-growth forest that was blasted into Spirit Lake when Helens erupted in 1980. Apparently the lake rose over 400 ft. in elevation from pre-eruption levels. It has been left untouched since the eruption.

That's it for today. I'll have more photos in a future post from our weekend. Cheers!

Marc