Last Tuesday I did a solo ride up to Deception Pass. Coming back I took the ferry from Clinton, WA over to Mukilteo, WA to get back to the mainland. I spent the entire ferry ride, fairly short mind you, out on the forward deck with camera in hand. A young boy had gotten a piece or two of bread and was feeding the seagulls. The gulls were right over our heads and I was able to capture several nice photos with the beautiful blue sky in the background.

Later, as I was processing the photos to upload to Flickr, this photo in particular brought back such vivid memories of my mother. It reminded me that in my youth, she had once given me a copy of Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach. I think this event served to awaken in me a love of aviation.

It was during a time after she and my father had divorced.  She was dating a pilot and working at the FBO at the airport in Fayetteville, NC. She eventually took flying lessons and married an instructor pilot. For several years we lived on and operated the airport in Brunswick County, NC. At that time it was a small grass strip used mostly by pilots that had weekend homes on Oakland Island and fish spotters that flew in support of the fishing fleets operating in the area. My first real job was here, keeping the grass cut using a big commercial turf tractor, pumping fuel and occasionally washing an airplane.

All of that reminiscing caused me to want to read the book again.  Through the wonders of the Internet I found the complete text online. It’s a fairly quick read. I’m going to have to pick up a real copy to pass on to my kids. Might as well keep the tradition alive…

This was shot last Friday as Jim and I explored Chuckanut Drive (Highway 11) on our way back south from Bellingham, WA. A beautiful road that twists and turns along the shore. Sandwiched between steep cliffs and sheer drop-offs to the water below, you don’t want to make a mistake in the corners here! A total blast to ride though…

Wonderful day… more photos later!

Update:  A few more photos from the ride in my Flickr photostream!

Are you getting tired of photo posts yet?!

Boy, the kids are growing up so fast.  Lindsey is now officially 11 years old.  Where has the time gone?! Tonight was her family birthday dinner, complete with cake! This was a two-layer ice cream cake.  Chocolate cake on the bottom, cookie dough ice cream on top. Very tasty!

I’ll be scarce tomorrow… the forecast is for warm, sunny weather so I’m hooking up with my riding partner Jim to go explore a few roads new to us. As a consequence, my Friday Feet are up early and appropriately themed!

I had a free evening again, so I elected to go scout Lincoln Park in Seattle. I’ve been wanting to experiment with sunset photos but it hasn’t worked out so far. I didn’t figure tonight would work out either because of the overcast all day but I wanted to see if this park was as promising as it looked.

My technique for finding parks has basically been to pull up Google Maps and find likely candidates based on their location and what scenic vistas are near. So far so good! This one is a great spot for photography and I’ll definitely be back when better weather is on hand. Besides views of the Olympic Mountains and Puget Sound, it’s right beside the Fauntleroy Dock so you’ve got ferries and other vessels to work with.

A few more photos can be found in my Flickr photo stream.

Ahhhh… I needed that! More photos…

Just for the day though. It’s beautiful here today so I’m taking the day off and heading north to Deception Pass to spend part of the day exploring Whidbey Island on two wheels.  Have a great day! I certainly plan to…

I’m adopting this as my new personal theme song. I’m currently listening to it with my sub-woofer turned up to the point stuff is vibrating off my desk. Join me.  Go ahead, you know you want to!

Well, maybe not *your* birthday but it is Lindsey’s on Thursday.  She’ll be eleven this year. We hosted a gaggle of girls (and two boys) to a Build-A-Bear party this past Sunday. It’s become a tradition the last few years, though I think it may be coming to an end soon.  Guess we’ll see.  The kids had a blast picking out which animal they wanted to stuff and decorate with bows and ribbons.  They sell clothes too, though we don’t cover the cost for that thankfully! Thursday we’ll have a smaller, family dinner with cake and candles and that sort of thing and then Lindsey is coming over this weekend so we can go do something together for her birthday.  It’s nice having a weeklong celebration isn’t it! I may have to start something similar for my birthday this year.

If you’re bored, you’ll find a few more photos at Flick!