Just south of Olympia, in the city of Tumwater stands this simple little house. As you can probably tell by the signboard in the photo this house is special. Built in 1858 by Nathaniel Crosby III for his wife Cordelia Jane Smith, (Singer Bing Crosby's grandparents.) it is one of the oldest wood frame houses in the state. For a more detailed history of this house click here.

This shot was taken at the wonderful Rose Garden in Portland Oregon yesterday. Let me tell you, these little guys are no dummies. They will milk it for all it's worth. People were feeding them everything from nuts to M&M mini's. There was one squirrel in particular there that was so fat he didn't walk, he waddled. I would have posted his picture but I didn't have my wide angle lens. I was waiting for this guy to take a bite of my wife's finger as she didn't have any food in her hand. She was just giving me a photo op. What a sacrafice.

First of all, I'll lead off with an apology for not posting yesterday. It seems that last night someone in our area hit a pole with their car, knocking out our cable. No internet, no TV. This morning we got up and headed for Portland, Oregon for the day. It's a great city with lots to do, and lots to see. The first place we headed to was Powell's Books. For most of you that are not familiar with this store, you could literally pack a lunch to go there. It basically takes up an entire city block and has three stories. An absolutely amazing place. Never a dull moment though, as we weren't inside the store five minutes and someone shoplifted something which set off the alarm. As soon as an employee asked him to stop he bolted for the door and across the busy street with the employee a few steps behind. I'm not sure if he caught him or not. After we deposited some money there, we headed across town to grab a bite to eat. Last week in one of our posts we had commented to Lynette over at Portland Daily Photo that we were going to be heading down to Portland to spend the day she suggested we eat at the "3 Doors Down Cafe". Her son Lamont is Sous Chef there. Well, we took her up on her suggestion and were not disappointed. We got there just before 4:00 when they open. We waited a few minutes while they set out tables and chairs on the sidewalk. It was a beautiful day and it would give us an opportunity to people watch. My wife had the spaghetti with clams in a white wine sauce, and I had the more traditional spaghetti with meatballs. Both were very delicious. Our waiter had asked us what brought us to that restaurant so we told him it was at the suggestion of Lamont's Mother. When we finished our meal and were about to leave the waiter came back out carrying a wonderful looking slice of banana cream pie topped with whipped cream, drizzled with caramel & sprinkled with chocolate shavings. One bite was all it took. It was fantastic! What a wonderful gesture and a wonderful experience. A great way to top off the day. After that we headed back across town to the rose gardens where we strolled through and took about a hundred photos. Once we were done there it was time to head for home. Again, a big thank you Lynette and to your gracious son Lamont. We thoroughly appreciated the food and service.

This evening, after my wife and I were off work we decided to head to a popular local drive-in for a nice burger basket and one of their delicious shakes. After we finished, we headed out of the parking lot in search of something to photograph for today's post. Now I also have to explain, this drive-in is right in the middle of town along a fairly busy road. As I nosed the truck up to the street my wife told me to stop as she was quickly reaching for the camera. Look! There's a coyote over there. She pointed to a field across the street where a row of power lines run. I slowly started driving across the street to get a closer look. Yep, there he was, doing his doody. "Thanks for pointing that out honey" I said. At that time I saw something else move. It was a rabbit, and the dumb thing was heading right for the coyote as if he knew him or something. Feeling somewhat sorry for the rabbit and not really wanting to watch a four-legged food processor slice and dice the bunny right after I had eaten, I moved the truck closer while my wife was trying to get a decent shot. As soon as he thought we were headed his way he looked right at us, then scooted his butt across the grass, then stood up and left, rabbit still intact.

A slightly "tweaked" shot of the beautiful Seymour Conservatory at Wright Park in Tacoma.
For a little bit of history on this wonderful place, just click here.

Although the Seagull is not everyone's favorite bird, I think most flying creatures are fun to photograph. When you slow down or stop their movement you get a whole different view of them.

In this, the third and last photo from our trip to Capitol Lake this past weekend, these three were having a blast practicing walking the tight-rope (or ratcheting strap). They were actually quite good. Shortly after taking this pic he proceeded to do a hand stand on it. Besides the fact the colors in this photo really appealed to me, it looked like their secret to fun on a Sunday was one strap, two trees & most of all three friends.

No, this is not a rare sighting of the Washington State Bird. This is Sluggo. While we were on our walk yesterday talking to people, taking pictures, stopping to sit on a park bench and just enjoy the day, this fellow was having no part of the hurry-up life. He managed to meander a whopping 10 feet or so. That seemed to be about all the exercise he could handle. I tried to get close once and he made an aggressive move so we just went on about our business.

This afternoon it was sunny with a pretty good breeze blowing. We decided to take our two dogs and go for a walk around Capitol Lake. We hadn't got very far before a man walking a dog approached us. It's not uncommon for people to come up to us when we have our dogs out. One of them is a French Bulldog named Otis. You may remember him from this previous post. He's quite a little character. Anyway the man said nothing, but pointed to Otis as if to ask if it was okay for his dog to greet Otis. My wife told him sure, he's very friendly. We noticed his dog had a "Service Dog" jacket on. He appeared to be an older dog, slow moving and blind in one eye. It was then that the man brought out a pen and paper. He started writing and showing it to my wife. It became apparant at that time that he could hear but not speak. He asked about our dog, the history of the breed, etc. My wife then asked about his dog. He wrote that his dog's name is Tova. He adopted him from the pound on Halloween 1996. They have been partners ever since. After a couple more exchanges of questions and answers he smiled, nodded and signed thank you, then continued on their walk. Everybody needs a best friend, and we believe Tova's Human certainly has one.

Sunday June 21st is Father's Day, and I think most fathers will agree with me. It doesn't really matter what you do on Father's Day. It's who you spend it with. Here's hoping all the fathers out there have a wonderful Father's Day.

Not too far from downtown Olympia is Priest Point Park. A beautiful, well maintained park with wonderful trails to walk, lots of moss covered trees, rhododendron, fern & a variety of flowers. It is also home to a wide variety of fish, birds, squirrels, fox & more. For more info and history of Priest Point Park click here.

No, not the 70's band with the horns. This shot was taken at The Bonneville Power Administration in Tumwater at sunset.

North of Olympia, in the city of Lakewood is Ft Steilacoom Park. The park lies across the street from Western State Hospital, a well known Mental Hospital. This is a portion of the ruins of the Hill Ward. I actually took this photo in the summer of 2007. If you click here, you'll see the changes that have taken place here.

Like yesterday's post, today's is from The Pike Place Market. Do you really think we could have passed this scene without posting it?

The Pike Place Market that is. Before we made it to the Market we started our day at Pacific Place where we surprised our daughter with a trip to Tiffany's. We wanted to get her something special for graduation. You should have seen the look on her face when they brought out the bracelet and put it on her. After that we headed for the Market. There were people everywhere. Street musicians, jugglers, balloon benders, even a guy giving out free hugs. After having lunch at The Athenian we decided to check out some shops. That's when I found this group of porkers proudly staring back at us.

Like many photographers I often rely on luck rather than skill. Being at the right place at the right time, etc. As I was walking through the Olympia Masonic Center I couldn't help but admire the ray of light across these markers. I admit I missed yesterday's photo. Sorry, it couldn't be helped. I guess there's nothing to do but pick up and keep going. I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend. We are going to head north to spend the day in Seattle tomorrow. There certainly are plenty of opportunities for good photos there.

Having been a little busy this evening, I dug way back into the archives to last summer. We were in Tacoma for the day. We had gone to Pt Defiance Park to see and photograph the rose and dahlia gardens. Afterward we headed for downtown Tacoma to the Broadway Plaza. As we were walking along we turned the corner and spotted this handsome devil made from Bud Light cans basking in the sun and enjoying a splash.
Alternate title could have been "Fish on a Steek"

As I was driving through downtown Olympia this evening I spotted this building. Unoccupied, but nearing completion this work of art is the parking garage for the employees of The Washington State Employees Credit Union Headquarters. Having outgrown their previous location a newer more modern facility is on track to be completed this fall. This parking garage was quite eye catching due to the numerous hinged glass panels. My wife pointed out the tetris game going on in the brick foundation.

This display of flags is located on the Capitol Campus. Just out of frame is a memorial to the soldiers of The Korean War. Among the buildings located on this part of the campus are The Departments of Transportation, Natural Resources, Employment Security & State Archives.

I think we all agree with Mark. Congratulations to the graduating class of 2009. May at least some of you leave your mark the way this man did. I do hope he takes it easy on the celebrating tonight though. At his age it takes a while to recover.

Saturday June 6th was the 20th annual Lacey Rotary "Duck Dash". This event is not only fun for people of all ages, but participants have a chance to win various prizes including a new Mustang. Besides the goodies, the money raised from duck sponsorship goes to some very worthy causes. This photo is of a few unfortunate ducks that got trapped along the route.
You can read more about the Duck Dash here.

Every once in a while my wife and I get a weekend without kids. Today after we both worked, we had a chance to take a nice relaxing walk in one of the local parks. This caught our eye as we were walking along the trail.

Tonight I dug a photo out of the archives. This was taken on a sunny summer day last year at Fort Steilacoom Park in Lakewood. I love the multi colored silos.

I knew it was going to be tough to get out and photograph much tonight. Our daughter had a concert at her Middle School so that was about all we had planned for the evening. After the concert, on the way out we spotted this Dogwood. I think it somehow knew we needed some help.

What a beautiful day we had here today. The temperature was right around 90. This made for quite a sunset with the clouds swirling around. It looks like tomorrow is going to be in the mid 80's. No complaints here!

On the outskirts of Olympia along Highway 101, these metal bovine have greeted drivers for several years. Made from old oil tanks they include the bull who looks like he's guarding the twenty acres around him, the cow, & a suckling calf. Don't you love roadside Americana?

Here is a photo of some seriously happy feet. This is Muffy, our Boston Terrorist at the off leash dog park yesterday. As you can see, the order of the day was fun, fun, fun!

For more feet: Click here to view thumbnails for all participants