We’re home again, home again from our three-week jaunt up into the Pacific Northwest. We flew into Santa Rosa, California, and from there our stops included:

• The Russian River Valley (We had visited it 30+ years ago, and it was as beautiful as I remembered it, though sadly parched looking in places due to drought)
• Mendocino County, California (I already posted some of my photos of that part of the trip here)
• Mount Shasta, California (It was sad to see how small a percentage of the historic glaciers remain on its south and west slopes; the north and east sides were a bit better)
• Portland, Oregon (Oregon was one of only three states that I’d not been in prior to this trip; I still have North Dakota and Alaska to complete the collection. Portland was one of only three of the 50 largest cities in the country that I’d not visited before; now I just need Fresno and San Jose, California)
• West Seattle, Washington (We never made it into Seattle proper, staying out on the West Seattle Peninsula, which feels more like an island these days with the bridge between that lovely neighborhood and the downtown area closed for repair, with heinous traffic on the alternate routes. We had a great visit with Marcia’s sister, her son, and his girlfriend while we were there. Bonus!)
• La Conner, Washington (A lovely little surprise of a town; we had been in the general area together also 30+ years ago, and I had been nearby for work in more recent years. Great restaurants and shops, easy access to Anacortes and Whidbey Island, and a beautiful coastal rental house. We spent time with another of Marcia’s sisters and her partner while there, both in La Conner and in their home of Bellingham, just to the north. Double bonus!)

We did tons of great hikes and spent most of our active time outdoors, though I did visit The Museum of Flight in Seattle while Marcia was working one morning, and it offered one of the finest plane and space collections I’ve ever seen. Worth the traffic, if you’re a flight nerd. I’ve loaded up my photo album at Flickr if of interest; you can click the photo of Marcia and I at Like Siskiyou with Mount Shasta in the background to see the collection. The final photo in the set is a tease for our next big outdoor expedition, taken from the plane on our way between Seattle and Phoenix. It should be a grand adventure . . .