Six Days

I was in Ohio last week,  spending time with my mom, and one of the things we usually do when I visit is make a trip to Amish country.  There are several country stores in that area that Mom likes, and there is also a little Amish diner where we have lunch -- $4.95 for an egg salad sandwich and potato chips.  I happened upon the pictures you see above.

A mere six days later I was back home in the Pacific Northwest and made the pictures you see below. Several friends and I had snowshoed up into the Mt. Stuart range in Central Washington, hiking a trail that took us up, up, up above treeline, where views extended at least 100 miles.

It's a bit unreal to me that, in the space of less than a week, I was in two places, so very unlike one another. Neither place was better than the other. They were simply different.

 

Call of the Wild

I assume that most people have heard about "Ski Bums" and "Climbing Bums" -- individuals who, when the weather is right,  or a good-for-nothing friend calls on the phone and says "Let's Go!",  blow off responsibilities like school or jobs to head up into the mountains for a Play Day.

Well, if Webster's Dictionary or Wikipedia ever coin the term "Snowshoe Bum,"  I'm pretty sure I could be first in line to qualify.  Not that I live in an old VW van,  or squeak by on a meager income from a trust fund,  or any of those stereotypical ski/climbing bum lifestyles.

Yet.

But don't tempt me, because there are days when I lean toward that kind of dirtbag-ish path.

I mean, check out these pictures I shot two days ago on a snowshoe outing in the North Cascades and tell me if you blame me for throwing my winter gear in the car and heading for the hills on a weekday, a day when most responsible folks were punching the clock.

The weather was right.

The snow was right.

Oh wow, dude. I was so there!

Click to Play!

 

So today I thought I'd give you a chance to have a little participatory,  video game-like fun with some of my recent pictures -- wide,  panoramic images that BEG to be viewed at a size larger than what you'll initially see here.

I'll keep this text short and sweet, to give you time to play. Click on the photographs to see them at a larger size.

You will be looking at the recent "Blood Moon" and the Seattle skyline viewed from Bainbridge Island...and a number of wide shots of my hiking buddy, Neil, on a trip we did a couple of weeks ago at Mt. Rainier...while the bottom two photographs are from hikes we did this summer in the North Cascades.

Ready?
Set…
CLICK!!!