It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

The sky pics are of sunrise, one of our camp, and one of a young coyote we saw up there. I heard them the night before in the area. We watched a lightning storm move over Yakima at midnight the night before and I was still up at 5 to watch the sunrise. This is a large plateau in the middle of nowhere that takes a 4x4 rig to get to. 

Not sure what there is to say. Steep climb for some amazing views. The westward slope faces the Olympics with Tahuya Lake below. We saw Seattle (left) and the tippy top of Mt. Rainier (right) from the summit. 

On Saturday, we boarded an all-day whale watching trip from Port Townsend with Puget Sound Express. We spotted a porpoise, a juvenile bald eagle, and a family of four transient orcas near Protection Island almost right off the bat. You can see the notches on Jack's fin match the photo Heather took above.  We spotted a minke whale on the way to Friday Harbor, where we stopped for lunch and had time for a bit of window shopping.  On the way back we saw sea lions, puffins, and some resident orcas in the distance. Our boat fit about forty people...

I took a month off during June and July to visit family and participate in a language and cultural immersion program in Guam. Here are some of the pictures I took. I took lots of photos with friends and family, but I only wanted to include the natural ones here.  A flame tree and bougainvillea intertwined by an old Spanish bridge in Hagåtña.  The cliffs at Litekyan (Ritidian) with the island of Luta (Rota) in the background. Nanåsu, or Half-flower. The liquid from ripe white berries can be used as eyedrops! Faifai Beach facing Two Lover's Point. Great snorkeling! View of Faifai Beach from...