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06/26 - Second Beach at Low Tide We took advantage of the lovely, sunny day and the -0.3 foot low tide at La Push to get out and explore Second Beach. The forest was alive with green light filtering through the trees, and there was an array of driftwood to clamber over to get to the beach, but the beach was broad and beautiful. Even better, the tide looked enough for us to get out to one of the usually isolated sea stacks.We made our way along the beach and started our approach. There was a spit of sand jutting out towards the sea stack, but it ended a bit short. There was still a channel to cross, so we took off our shoes and laid them on what passed for high ground. Then we waded out. The water came over our knees, but only for a few steps. Then we were approaching the caves at the base of the sea stack. We made our way around to the tide pools, and there we saw them - starfish. There was a starfish plague a year or two ago, and it wiped out just about every starfish in the Pacific northwest, even the ones in aquariums. But, here in the tide pools at the base of this inaccessible sea stack, there were starfish, dozens of them. They were clutching the rocks by the pools full of anemones. It was really good to see them. We only spent so long at the sea stack. The tide was already rising, and our shoes were in imminent danger. We reclaimed them and walked south along beach revealed only when the tide was this low. We made our way to the little sea cave at the southern end of the beach, braving the clouds of sea mist that swirled along the beach. Out at sea we could see the Pacific mist condensing into purplish clouds out past the line of sea stacks. All told it was an amazing visit. Even when the tide is negative, the isolated sea stack is often still unreachable. We had only made our way out there once before, so getting back out there again was a real treat. |
 This sea stack is only accessible when the tide is extremely low and the sand available permits. |
 The caves at the base of the sea stack |
 A view out to sea |
 Starfish! |
 More starfish |
 Starfish and anemones |
 The other seastacks |
 The beach looking south |
 Sea stacks at the southern end of the beach |
 The sea cave and lots of sea weed |
 Another view |
| May 2016 | June 2016 | July 2016 |
Keywords: la push, second beach
| Olympic Hot Springs Road is still closed at Madison Falls, but the wild river is still there. One rainy day, we went to take a brief look. |
 Even more river excitement |
 A view upriver |
 A view downriver |
 A view of the river bed |
 And another similar view |
Keywords: elwha, olympic hot springs
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06/10 - Volunteer Park Conservatory One of our favorite places in Seattle is the Volunteer Park Conservatory. We missed it on our last few visits. It closes at four, and sometimes it is closed when they are updating the plants on display. This last trip, however, we had the perfect spring conservatory experience. Everything seemed to be in bloom. |
 The Conservatory |
 Berries |
 A flower |
 Carnivorous … |
 … and friends |
 Also in bloom |
 Even the cactus |
 Another cactus … |
 … and another |
 An orchid display |
 An orchid close up |
Keywords: flowers, seattle, spring
| Coming from New York City where they make builders put up scaffolding to keep the sidewalks open even during the height of construction, Seattle seems anti-pedestrian with its policy of letting builders close sidewalks for months on end. This has gotten worse thanks to the building boom in Seattle, so now they have to post maps for pedestrians to figure out which streets are actually passable. Maybe we need a pedestrian version of Waze, the application that helps drivers deal with traffic disruptions. |
 It has gotten this bad. |
| May 2016 | June 2016 | July 2016 |