22-OCT-2009
Day 77
Oct 22 (Thu - day 77)
Camano Island, Washington
Weather - cloudy with showers of light rain - temps mild, 50F, 10C
Today was Racine and Carl’s day to get out and shoot the snow geese, the weather had improved over yesterday’s downpour and we were hoping it would hold long enough to get some ‘dry’ shots. The geese were there were by the thousands….so many more had shown up in just two days. There were several fields with 2-3 thousand geese in them and at times the skies looked like they were peppered with geese.
We eased up to a few fields where the geese were hanging out and a few times we managed to get reasonably close to the flocks. The lighting was constantly changing (was that a surprise?) and we adjusted our settings as best we could to try and get that ‘perfect shot’.….perhaps not a reasonable goal today, but we did the best we could. Besides getting some interesting shots of the geese we just enjoyed watching the flocks, the way the geese interacted with each other, and beauty of their flight.
We also found some hawks, eagles, snipes, ducks, and of course Great Blue Herons. Potatoes were being harvested in the area, some fall cabbages remained, but most of the fields were planted in grass. The snow geese winter on the grassy fields of Fir Island, some of the fields are protected for the snow geese, while others are open to the hunters. We talked with a few of the local ‘geese watchers’ and they were pleased to see the size of the flocks and the large number of immature birds this year….a good sign for the continued health of the snow goose population.
We wandered around the Skagit Flats, spotted some chickens and pigmy sheep cavorting around in the sun (it actually shone for a few minutes) and we just enjoyed the flavor and atmosphere of the farmlands.
After a good days shooting we returned to review our photos and ended the day with a few friendly, yet always competitive, games of pinochle. The adventure continues….
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22-OCT-2009
Day 76
Oct 21(Wed - day 76)
Camano Island, Washington
Weather – rain - temps mild, 50F, 10C
They certainly need rain on Camano Island, this summer has been one of the driest in recent memory, and they got their wish…it rained all day, with a capital R. We stayed in and visited, then went to Stanwood to take care of some business.
Despite the rain we found a few things to take photos of….at a stop for coffee at one of the local coffee drive-thru stands we found a bird feeder that must have been feeding a large number of the TBB’s (tiny brown birds) in the town. We enjoyed a good show while we waited in line for our coffee. It was a good thing we filled our cups because our business in town ended up taking over two hours and by the time we were finished it was getting dark and time to head for home.
A piece of added information to help maintain positive ‘family relations’: During the entire stay at Rae’s parents we played pinochle every night. The first two nights were not so good for Rae and her dad, as her mother and I sort of um….beat them badly…he he he (we may have rubbed it in just a little). On the second night we scored my first 1500 trump hand (for non-pinochle players that is often considered a once in a lifetime happening). That was fun…with a capital F…. he he he (and I may have gloated a bit much). Well…as a card playing rule things have a way of evening out and by the last night we were all tied up for games won/lost (and they may have rubbed back at us with that fact). There was lots of competition and good fun.
The day ended with the rain still coming down and we went off to bed looking forward to some clearing in the morning. The adventure continues….
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20-OCT-2009
Day 75
Oct 20 (Tue - day 75)
Camano Island, Washington
Weather - cloudy - temps mild, 50F, 10C
The shooting began as I stepped out of Gus for the first time today. I looked right into a beautiful spider web, adorned with some dew from last nights rain. It was backlit by the sunrise (through the clouds) and it made for a great shooting opportunity….problem was I had to hand-hold the camera because if I set the tripod on the ground, I lost the light. Oh well, did the best I could and was happy with the outcome.
I was on my own for the day, as Rae was babying a sore back. We had been planning to check on the snow geese while we were in the area and Rae’s mom wasn’t sure if the they had come in yet, so I took her out to the fields on Fir Island (island between the north and south Skagit River channels where the Skagit splits just south of Mount Vernon) to see. We saw what we later learned was one of the first flocks to return to the area for the winter. We were able to get within about 100 feet or so of the main flock. Occasionally the whole flock, of about 2,000 geese, would lift off the ground (impressive) and usually it was because an eagle was doing a fly-by.
There was an eagle nest near the road in the reserve and we saw an eagle near it, unfortunately it was too dark for photos and the eagle was on the bay side of the tree, probably watching for dinner. It would have been hard to shoot even if there had been better lighting as there were still some leaves on the tree.
Happy with my snow goose shots, we returned home with many tales to share. The adventure continues….
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19-OCT-2009
Day 74
Oct 19 (Mon - day 74)
Camano Island, Washington
Weather – overcast - temps mild, 50F, 10C feels like fall all right
Today I took Jack (Rae’s father) for a ride into North Seattle, then north to Everett, east to Hi Way 20, north through Darrington and on to the North Cascade Highway, as far up as the second Dam on the Skagit River.
The colours were just great. Along the way we spotted nine elk in a pasture, four bulls and five cows just enjoying the day. An eagle was in the trees along side the road, it was close, probably only 50 feet away....lucky for us it wasn’t put off by people stopping for a photo. However, some of the commercial truck drivers weren’t too happy when people stopped and didn’t park fully off the road. I confess, we were the first to see the eagle, we parked well off the road, but when I got out with my camera a car jam started as more and more people wanted to stop and look (memories of Yellowstone came to mind).
I don’t get many chances to get out with Jack and just enjoy the countryside and it was a great day. We arrived home just before dark, regaled Rae and her mom with stories of the day’s events and then sat down to a tasty and enjoyable evening meal. The adventure continues.…
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22-OCT-2009
Day 73
Oct 18 (Sun - day 73)
North Bend to Camano Island, Washington
Weather - clearing- temps mild, 50F (10C)
Image: In western Washington the Skagit Valley area and Island County have homes of varied architectural styles. Since we have a liking for barns, this one happened to catch our eye.
Today was moving day. It was nice to get Gus ready with no rain or wind to contend with and no rush to be out before checkout time.
What a great stay we had, despite a bit of damp, coastal fall weather. Good-byes were said, with hopes to return during the Christmas Holidays, and then we trekked off to our next destination, Rae's parents home on Camano Island. The hi-ways were not too crowded and we moved effortlessly over I-90 to I-405 then on to I-5. Traffic was easy, weather clearing, with no wind, and the fall colors were terrific.
During our trip we've continually faced the challenge of finding a gas station that is designed for 'big rigs'. Filling Gus with fuel, can, at times, be tricky. Some locations are more difficult to maneuver in when your RV and towed auto are 49 feet in length....with the car dolly there is NO backing up. So you had better be able to pull through at the pumps or you're in a world of hurt. Getting a good perspective on maneuvering room (usually done in moving traffic with poor visibility) is difficult at the best of times and when we stopped in Stanwood to fill up it was close....so close we thought we might leave part of the Red Rocket behind, but we just made the turn into the gas station and just made it out....a really BIG WHEW!
As we pulled into Rae's parents driveway the weather was looking promising, so thinking I would have plenty of time to unload the Red Rocket and move the car dolly in dry weather I just parked Gus and left things for later. HA HA....what's the saying, never put off till tomorrow what you can do today....the rains came and guess what, everything just sat there waiting for a drier moment.
Even with the current showers some areas on Camano Island were experiencing a shortage of water due to an extended dry spell this year (not something we ever thought would happen on the northwest coast of Washington). Rae's parents have a well that supplies their water and the level was extremely low. Knowing this, we came prepared with a full tank of water for use in Gus, so we just had to hook up the electrical and we were all set. Then it was time for visiting, catching up on news and planning out the next few days. The adventure continues...
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17-OCT-2009
Day 72
Oct 17 (Sat - day 72)
North Bend, Washington
Weather - cloudy with heavy showers at times, windy temps mild, 50F (10C)
Image: Experimenting with adjusting the focal length during a slow speed, and getting our niece to pose (equally as experimental).
It was a morning drive off to Issaquah today with Heidi and Carol and we were treated to bright and colorful sugar maples, broad leaf maples resplendent with yellows and browns, and some other non-native trees and shrubs all with their fall colours. The heavy winds and rains had removed some of the leaves but certainly not all.
Later in the afternoon Heidi and I headed up the Middle Fork of the Snoqualmie River, planning on doing some tripod work and getting in some concentrated practice with our timer and various lighting setting. The drive started out well, just as I was getting into the car I spied a group of Shaggy Mane mushrooms and got in a few shots before we left the drive way. It was fairly bright as we headed up the road and turned darker the farther we went, as we neared our destination we had mixed lighting, with the sun playing peek-a-boo with the clouds. Just what we needed to get in the desired practice, however when the occasional rain clouds dumped on us I began to wonder if we were getting some great learning opportunities or just out there catching a cold.
It's true one never knows what opportunities will present themselves during a shoot. Once the rain stopped we were treated to a small waterfall, a multitude of rain drops on the bushes and trees, mushrooms, slugs, the river, multi-colored hillsides behind Mt Si, and a setting sun that brought on darkness and the end of the shoot. Our goal was achieved, all the shots were done on a tri-pod and we experimented with various light settings along with some time lapse shots.
We returned home a bit later than expected (no surprise there), thankful for the warmth from a wood stove and a hot drink, and settled in to review our photos. The adventure continues....
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16-OCT-2009
Day 71
Oct 16 (Fri - day 71)
North Bend, Washington
Weather - showers on the west side of the Cascades - sun breaks on the east side - mid 40s low to 50s high(+7 and 13C)
This Saturday is the opening day of sheep hunting season in the area we’d been visiting, so we felt we had one more trip down the Yakima Canyon to see if we could improve on our sheep photos. There is limited hunting for sheep in the canyon, but the addition of hunters in the area disrupts the environment enough that the animals seem to evaporate and being accessible for photographing becomes a thing of the past.
Once over Snoqualmie Pass we’d left the rain showers behind and we headed off on the back roads to avoid the I-90 construction. Our wildlife sightings included a Kestrel, some Red-tailed Hawks and one coyote, which, when we turned around for a better shot, moved away from road but continued hunting. The sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, but the lighting wasn’t bad and we managed to get a few shots while it was shinning.
When we got to the canyon we saw more sheep than we had expected. There were a few sheep right down by the river and we tracked three rams as they moved across the mountains and up the canyon. There were a few small groups of sheep scattered along the mountainsides across the river. Most of them had collected watchers, people (I imagine hunters) who were spotting their location. It was almost like being back in Yellowstone.
Next we wanted to see if we could find some turkeys before it got too dark, but it was getting late in the afternoon and the weather from the west side was stating to creep over the Cascade Range. We could see that shooting turkeys was pretty much out of the question so we headed for the pass.
Oh my…..we forgot it was Friday and two miles before the I-90 construction traffic was almost at a standstill. We managed to get to the pass just as dark settled over the road. Rain and ground fog made driving difficult, and it seemed that most of the drivers trying to make-up time for the slow down in the construction area.
Home at last (at Harold and Carol’s), with cameras amply full of photos, we settled in with some pizza and had a group photo review. The adventure continues……
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