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Tag Archives: beach

Fun Times on the Beach

April 8, 2013 – 9:10 am
Posted in beach
Tagged beach, dogs, kites, photos, sand shrimp, sunset, surf perch, Washington coast
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How much fun can you have at the beach? Since we rarely get to go, we managed to have LOTS of fun and even more fun when our friends and their dog joined us from Olympia!

Here’s Ken outfitted to catch sand shrimp

There’s one!

Up close with a sand shrimp

Gulls are always close by, hoping something good to eat will be left behind

Betty and Gregg join Ken in his quest for sand shrimp. The tire tracks are from people digging razor clams earlier in the day.

Dixie wants to be part of it

Sand shrimp are used for bait to fish for surf perch. Dixie is making sure Ken is doing it right

Fishing

An intrepid angler!

Crows also wait on the beach

Dixie is looking for one of her peeps

Dune grass

These volcano-like depressions are from sand shrimp

Sand dollar

Razor clam shell

One of many creeks

Another great day at the beach

Lots of kites

This one was attached to a log and flew by itself all afternoon

We had fun with this kite

At sunset, it’s time to put it away

Gregg painted

Betty danced

Good times with good friends

The end of another beautiful day!

Road Trip

April 4, 2013 – 2:55 pm
Posted in road trip
Tagged beach, Crescent Lake, Elwha Dam, Marymere Falls, photography, Port Angeles, shells, sunset, surf perch, Washington coast, wildflowers
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Ken and I enjoy road trips. We tend to travel with lots of stuff and this trip we took the truck so we could get all that stuff packed. What kind of stuff? Photo gear. Fishing gear. Clamming gear. Birding gear. Guitar. Books. Various clothes for various activities in a variety of weather conditions. Food – lots of food along with beer and wine. It was a good tour of a big part of the state starting here in the Methow where winter was loosening its grip, across the Cascades where 40″ of snow had fallen in the previous week, to the urban world north of Seattle where we were surprised to see new snow on the ground, and then across Puget Sound where it was sunny and dare I say it, warm. We reached Port Angeles that first night.

Sunset from our hotel in Port Angeles

From PA we drove up the Elwha River to the overlook of one of the now-removed Elwha Dams.

This sign graphic shows how it looked before, during and after the dam removal. Salmon have already returned to this river above the former dam site.

Part of Lake Crescent is in the Olympic National Park. It is cold and deep.

Old Storm King Ranger Station at Lake Crescent

Marymere Falls – a short popular hike from Lake Crescent

We saw these pretty blossoms in several places. I think they are a berry – maybe salmonberry?

The Dickey River – slow moving and flat and more reminiscent of Florida than Washington

We saw a river otter

This algae covered shoe had mussels growing inside of it. I wonder how long it was in the water and where it came from. Japan? It was on Rialto Beach.

A madronna log – driftwood on Rialto Beach

I could not get a better look at this moss covered nest as it was above my head. It was along the Hoh River.

This flower grew in many places with disturbed ground. I have no idea what it is.

Water pours out of a cliff side

Ruby Beach is more rocky than most of the beaches where we walked.

Looking down at Ruby Beach

Reflections along the way

Lots of interesting weather – mostly good

The Sandpiper

Some treasures from the beach

Two of the surf perch that Ken caught

Lots more, yet to come!

Sunset on the Beach

April 3, 2013 – 4:40 pm
Posted in sunset
Tagged beach, Pacific Beach, Sandpiper Resort, sunset photography
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We got away from home for a little while just as winter was coming to an end and spring was beginning, otherwise known as mud season. I have several hundred images to edit and sort and this is my favorite batch by far. There will be more blog posts from this wonderful vacation in the days to come.

Our trip took us around the top of Washington’s Olympic Peninsula, starting at Port Angeles, then down to LaPush, a brief stop in Westport and then to our final destination near Pacific Beach. We stayed at a wonderful place called the Sandpiper – a small resort built right behind the narrow strip of dunes and against the cliff. It would not be the place to be during a tsunami. We were blessed with good weather and the first night we had a marvelous sunset! One of the best I’ve ever experienced. Last year in Florida we learned to go out to the beach and toast the sunset so we carried on with that marvelous tradition on the west coast.

Fishing Familiar

April 26, 2012 – 8:20 am
Posted in Florida
Tagged beach, Florida photography, Great Blue Heron, Sanibel Island, sunset, surf fishing
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Ken referred to this bird as his ‘familiar’. Most evenings when he was surf fishing in Florida, a Great Blue Heron would join Ken, waiting for a piece of bait or a small fish or some other tasty morsel. The bird was quite tame and would walk up to within five or six feet of Ken. It had obviously done this before with other anglers. It could tell when Ken caught a fish and it seemed disapproving when Ken was not having good luck.

The plumage on the heron was fascinating and easily studied at close range. I never before noticed the red feathers on the ‘elbows’ (do birds have elbows?) or the black streaking on the front of the neck and I’ve look at lots of Great Blue Herons over the years. The red feathers must be part of the wing coverts or possibly the alula.

The bird would poke around to find his own food when fishing was slow

It took the catch to the water to rinse it before swallowing it whole

Shorebirds at Sunset

April 23, 2012 – 7:02 am
Posted in Florida
Tagged beach, photography, shorebirds, sunset
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In Florida, every night after dinner, we would walk to the beach. Surprisingly most other beach goers were gone by then. Just before the moment when the sun went down, a few people would wander back and all facing the sun, would raise a glass in a toast to another day well lived. It was a wonderful ritual – maybe one that we should practice at home as well as on vacation.

Ken would fish and I would walk on the beach – hoping to find interesting sea shells and watching the birds. At Sanibel, no cars are allowed to drive on the beach and almost no one takes dogs to the beach and then they are on leashses for the most part. These two factors must contribute to the tameness of the birds. Shorebirds were remarkably approachable. It’s the only place I’ve been where I could get good photos of these migratory wonders.

I have always struggled with shorebird ID. Some of these birds were in a transistional plumage – going from winter to breeding plumage – this made ID even harder for me. Field guide pictures show one or ther other generally, not the transistion. I was surprised to see that many of the species on the SE coast were the same as in the Pacific NW.

Willets relfecting the warm light of the sun