Cherry Blossoms

Workplace parking lot, carefully composed to avoid vehicles.  It is surprisingly difficult to put together a compelling view that lacks overhead wires, signage, and other distractions.

Big Ben

Seen from the Westminster Bridge.

Gold Creek

Gold Creek (I90 exit 54) is around 2700ft, and so undergoes many freeze/thaw cycles as the freezing level creeps up and down at Snoqualmie Pass.  Here the ground temperature was a bit below freezing, and nice for snowshoeing.  The previous days must have been quite warm, as all the snow was shed from the trees in the dark band up to perhaps 3500ft or so.

Point Lobos, Carmel

Point Lobos State Natural Reserve is the first headland south of Carmel-by-the-Sea, and is gorgeous in the right weather.  There were seals down on the rocks, and dramatically changing light as the sun came in and out of the clouds.

DeLorean DMC-12

This gorgeous DeLorean is a daily driver for an enthusiast in Seattle, who notes its ownership is not as inaccessible as one might imagine.  It was built in Northern Ireland in 1981 or 1982.

Alpental Valley

This is the Alpental valley, seen from the saddle between Guye Peak and Cave Ridge.  There was a strong temperature inversion this day, so that it was quite cold indeed down in the fog of the parking lot, and much warmer here up the hill.

BNSF Locomotive - Foss River Bridge

BNSF 7953 is a V16 645E3 diesel-electric locomotive developing 3000hp.  It's seen here in the BNSF "Heritage" livery, leading a train westwards down the valley of Highway 2.  It's on the approach to the Foss River Bridge, an impressive structure from 1909.

Pratt Mountain

Pratt Mountain, at 5099ft, is not the tallest peak around, but it's prominent from the east and north.  It's the face that dominates the view from this direction.

I had a good day out, but others were not so lucky.  I exchanged hellos with the victim departing the trailhead, and then at the end of my day, saw the other two of his party waiting back at the parking lot.

Hotel Vancouver

The Hotel Vancouver is the westernmost property of CN Hotels, and is now operated by Fairmont.  Peeking to the left of it is the art gallery, and then what was the Eaton's building.  It now houses both a Nordstrom store and a development office of Microsoft.

Christmas Tree

This year's Christmas Tree was personally harvested from the Mt Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, from the Lake 22 trailhead.  I believe it's a silver fir.

Magnuson Fall Walk

One of the last few days of crunchy leaves and dry ground was spent circumnavigating Magnuson Park.  This is trail along its south edge.

St. Patrick's Bridge, Calgary

The flooding Calgary experienced in 2013 hampered construction of this attractive bridge, and the recently-poured concrete deck had to be replaced.  The arches (fabricated in Quebec) and foundations withstood the flooding per their design.

It's hard to see how $25M went into the construction, given that it is a pedestrian bridge, but it sure is pretty.

Point Pelee

Point Pelee stretches into Lake Erie and is the southernmost point of Canada that you can walk to.  (Pelee Island, and Middle Island beyond that, make up the southernmost parts of the country). The sand of the point itself shifts from year to year depending on the level of the lake and the way the currents choose to swirl.

Wurlitzer Building

It wasn't quite sold along with a coffee, but the Wurlitzer Building was sold for perhaps $1.1M (or $1.4M, depending on who you believe) in May of this year.  Plans are to turn it into a luxury hotel.

Good luck to the buyer!  There was no evidence of any renovation at all in October.

Heildelberg Project, Detroit

The Heidelberg Project limps on, while Detroit continues to decline.  Many of the houses that had striking and original decorations have burned down since my last visit.