Another Milepost - Schools are in Session

Hup! Kids are back to school. Grand daughter is in the first grade and has lost her first two teeth (another milepost!)
Took the MoHo in for service - Slide out has defective hydraulic - so It will be ready for some more 'excursions'.
Since 2016 is the 100th Anniversary of the National Park Service, I am looking at a tour of the National Parks. Like many, I have been to many of them, but I would like to truly visit them and get some photos over a length of time. There are many, some 400 of them, and I am in my early research. Time to get some good reference books.
Eclipse of the Moon this weekend, so get out there. Astro-photos are high on my list of subjects and there are four NPs that are 'dark sky' preserves.
Here's my last experiment with night skies:

Straight up and some glow on the clouds from Ventura lights.

Getting there??

Summer's Over

I imagine that everyone had a happy, safe and relaxing Labor Day Holiday. Saw all the parades to celebrate the history of the working men and women in our country - What you didn't!! Perhaps it was because there were NO parades!! Curious to know if there were any in your area. There was one in a small town just North of here, but by the time I discovered it (searched all the online events calendars) it was starting. I remember when I was a kid there were three major parade Holidays. Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. Now it seems that the later has been generally co-oped by the businesses that Labor Day was started for - in the form of Sales.
It has been all family and catching up on chores around here and not much time for photos and Arcanum. I did get a chance to 'play' with a couple of shots of my grand daughter when we walked the streets of Ventura on Monday. What do you Think??

Just making adjustments in most of the sliders in Lightroom and watching the images change.

Stay healthy

Odds and Ends

Here are a few other shots that I do not believe I have posted so have a look.

Bridge Falls

Same setup with a longer exposure. Which do you like best??

Part of the search for the perfect lone tree on the hill. This one misses a few of the requirements but is still interesting, n'est pa

I rushed to Crater Lake to get the sunsetting and though I got there in time the fires obscured the scene so much.

I call this the Moon of Tatooine - at Crater Lake

I will do some more work as I work my way home and visit relatives, but this journey is coming to an end. I'll have to look at the milage - that's one gauge, but not the sole one for this experience. Traveling the Alaska Highway, seeing Northern Canada and Alaska and parts of our Northwest has been an experience many should do. I just hope that the 'fires of summer' will not become the norm.

Lassen Volcanic National Park

Here is another of our National Parks that deserves our attention and support. Located in North Central California it is built around Mt Lassen volcano that last erupted in the early 1900, bringing to the attention of the country that we did indeed have volcanic area within our borders. Congress quickly - at least for Congress - made this one of our earliest National Parks.

A family out on Lake Manzanita in the North of the Park. The fires of the Northwest provide the haze.

Had to get the IR camera out when visiting the Bumpass Hell sulfur pits.

My Lassen reflected in Helen Lake. 

The skys were clearing a bit - but I did bump up the blue a bit.

The path climbs to the right and is only 2 miles - but a 2000' change.

As I was awaiting sunset, this young fella runs in front of me, jumps on this very large log and runs all the way to the end. Definitely worth a shot.

I have some deer shots that I am still working on and maybe later I put them up.

Ellensberg Washington

Here's is a little farm community in Washington that I thought was really cool. It has a college extension, artist studios and several tattoo parlors (which is a definite sign of progress today). They are very proud of their town and work hard to maintain and protect their turn of the Century (1900's that is) buildings and facades.

It looks like a ghost painting, but is on closer inspection, an old painting on wood. Still cool though!

It approaches a very good set for film.

Part of the reason I stopped here was the writeup on "Dick & Jane's House. It is such a fun place that it set the tone for the whole town - for me anyway.

This is a private home of an artist who has installed pieces and invited others to contribute.

It is such a fun place!!

I wanted to include this info sheet that is provided to the public. Please visit their website www.reflectorart.com

Ellensberg has a wonderful museum of the area. I have been to a few on this trip and thought it would be just another small town collection of stuff. NO! The entrance opens up into room after room of displays and collections of residents donations and historic displays. When I discovered their curator - yes they have a curator - had been at the Smithsonian I understood why it is a cut above. 

I don't wish to inflict outsiders on the picturesque town, but with my following I am sure there is little chance of a stampede, but if you ever find yourself in the Yakima WA area, travel north a bit and see this little gem.

Back in the US-Back in the US-Back in the US_SA

Beatles song!
As you can guess, traveling in areas that have no radio reception I have gone through my iTunes on my phone at least 6 times from front to back - I need new songs before I take off again!!!
When last I posted I was leaving the States - Alaska that is from Skagway and entered the no Verizon Zone of Canada and I traveled down the Cassiar Highway and on to the Border Crossing at Osoyoos. Since then it has been sort of disappointing in so far as I felt I was re-enacting a modern day "Charge of the Light Brigade" with Fires to the right of me, Fires to the left of me as I traveled down the Columbia River valley. The fires have been horrible for all.

Fires near Chelan Washington. For the 'bright eyes in the crowd those two black dots aren't dust spots but two birds.

I seem to have a predilection for choosing spots to stop that have either no cell reception or slow wifi, as the case is here. I will ave to apply photos in another blog early next week as this is toooooo slow. I will be gathering with family to end the trip as I began in Northern California and that will allow some time to upload some photos and fill in some of the blank spots of the trip.

I'll stop here in Susanville, CA with a photo from my friend John of me on the ferry out of Homer AK - new id photo!!??

Whale watching in Alaska

Good Times, indeed!!!!

Trees Trees Trees TREES!!!

Ok - I admit it. I have had enough of the trees. They are beautiful, green, large, and necessary for life as we know it, BUT the roads here often don't have much space between the edge of the pavement and the trees - so all you see are trees. The signage is also quite frustrating as there will be a notice that something is say 2km away, but nothing when you go 2km and then you past it. With limited turnouts and no shoulders you can't turn around. Maybe there is no traffic, but my motorhome is longer than the width of the road.
Here's a shot from Haines of the small harbor that I like:

The rain clouds lifted a bit.

A shot of a reconstruction of a old bar in Skagway - silly dolls - but the bar is terrific

Old Chevy truck

Then of course I did spot a waterfall on the way out of town

I left Skagway on Monday and traveled back into Canada for the last time on this trip. The weather was rainy and foggy and it was difficult to get much of a view when you could only see 100 meters.
A the top of the summit and almost to the Canadian Border crossing, it cleared a bit and I could see this unique landscape.

Fog and rain

I made for Whitehorse to get some food supplies and then on down the Alaska Highway to Jake's Junction to head south on the Cassiar Highway to see what?- More trees.

One of the better Canadian highways - Just kidding!! But unpaved is not infrequent. Not the tree edge!

Three Sisters and trees

Bridge leading to Hazelton

Anglican Church in Hazelton build in 1900. Painting time.

A very old Totem detail

Totem aren't religious as most descendants of European stock would believe, but they record the family histories or in some cases the exploits of one famous leader. They are carved from cedar and some I saw were 40-50 foot high. I am happy that some of the paint became more clear in these HDR shots.

Very tall.

Who knows the name of these little beauties??

Last Day in Skagway

I don't really like 'touristy' places and with the cruise ships landing here everyday, good for the locals, I just don't feel comfortable roaming around the main streets. Today, I went shopping - in the Alaska owned and operated stores (Skagway has a lot of 'jewelry' stores on the main drag that are owned by the cruise lines - mainly Holland-America - that don't benefit the locals at all. Like some shop owners I talked to say, "Why come to Alaska and buy gemstones from the Bahamas?") If the relatives are reading this, so be it - but I don't think so - I got some pretty nice things for the immediate family and then it came to my girls. They don't like my taste in jewelry and I can never buy them clothes (wrong size or worse yuckie in their opinion) so they are to say the least 'very difficult for me to buy for', but if I don't get them something when I get others gifts - I feel bad and they feel, what? cheated, upset, not loved??! But I got them this time, and if they don't like what I got - they have to return it themselves. Ha!
I will be leaving tomorrow, as I have said, and heading North to begin my journey to SoCal. Yes, North. I can't go South without going to the Alaskan Highway and then going South. I have or will have gone the whole distance on the AlCan so I will go South via the Cassiar  Highway and reach Prince George and then go into Vancouver or straight South into the lower 48.
I will have followed all the major highways in the Northwest and some not so major, before I have finished. Great fun!!
I'll be out of phone contact and will use the Info Centers in Canada to check my email, but as you know, I won't buy into Verizon's BS.

Here are a couple of shots from today, nothing great but off the beaten path.

This is a close shot of the entrance to the Alaskan Brotherhood building, now the Info Center. That is not the address, but the date it was built. I saw some old photos and that's the original. They call it a classic.

You know I like doors and windows and this is an old warehouse.

You may remember the Willys from Dawson City? Here is an older and different version.

According to my 'Dark Sky' app, there is a storm approaching - due at 8PM. Yep, that's a glacier.

As the winds start to pickup, I leave you with a challenge. Just respond in the comments if you know what this following photo is about. It is from my travels in Alaska and going back in my blog won't help much, but leave a comment if you have a guess. Leave two comments if you Know the answer.

No it is not an abstract!! It is a real thing.

Good Luck.

Thanks for all you have had a look at the blog and please use this as an opportunity to say hi.

Two Days in a Row

Don't get used to it - maybe tomorrow, but on Monday I enter the NON-VERIZON ZONE. Meaning I will not pay their exorbitant rates for 'out of country' roaming. It's only Canada - but I ranted on this before.
I neglected to show you the view out my front window at my Haines campsite, so here...

It was probably because Verizon was being wonkie - there I go again.

Packed up this morning and went up the road to the Chilkoot Lake in hopes of seeing a momma Brown Bear and her two cubs. Pretty lake, but no bears on the way up, but I saw the fish keeper out on the weir counting fish and decided that would be fun - counting fish swimming thru a chute.

The warden was gone but...

Momma and her two cubs had arrived for brunch

The one has a white collar flash

Coming, Momma

Momma used this rock for a table for her lunch

Ignore those humans and eat!!

The bigger one seemed to let the small one eat more

But all good things end sometime and it was off to the ferry for the ride to Skagway

Goodbye Haines

Hello Skagway

Notice any difference? I mean besides the two cruise ships I was told wouldn't be there?

I'll leave you tonight with one of the three waterfalls we past on the way to Skagway.

Roaming around tomorrow. I've done my laundry, cleaned the dirt out of the coach. Don't really want to clean the outside as I'll be heading into the distructo roads of the Canadian bush, and it's not that dirty anyway.

Later