Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my secon…
Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my second term in, and began to travel all over the state. I've also traveled, both professionally and personally, in most of the US and large parts of Canada, also a little overseas. Hope to do a little more traveling before I tuck in. I've found beauty everyplace I've been, but still think that the PacNW is absolutely the most beautiful place I've been. And watching the Oregon legislature online this week gives me optimism that the state is working through some of the travails it has been saddled with in the last few years. The media has not covered the Northwest well: it falls back on too many outdated tropes.
BTW, my "brother by another mother", a friend from high school, was a ranger until he retired, then he became a college science teacher! He's in southern Oregon, and built the house he raised his family in on land that belonged to his Takelma grandfather.
The one thing I would like to have done was build my own mountain home. I came close, but didn't quite get there. Just as well: the property I owned was in the heart of the fire that burned a year or so ago in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It had to jump 3 highways to get there. I loved it there too, but not sure I'll ever go back to see what that fire did.
With his family of origin, my friend the ranger on San Juan built a cabin on Lopez, that was quite well done. But his house on San Juan Island is way beyond the cabin on Lopez.
I didn't realize any fires had come through Rocky Mountain NP. Or maybe I did. I've bicycled up to the pass on a week or so long trip in Colorado, back in '86, I think.
My biggest trip was Seattle to Boston bicycle after I graduated college. I'm hoping to drive to the west coast and back this spring or one of the next few. (At my current age, 68, too slow by bicycle.)
A lot of places beautiful to me. Some are equal to--often in very different ways--but none more beautiful than the outer Cape.
Oh, dear, guilty of using insider lingo! Oly is short for Olympia, the capitol of WA. AKA "OlyWa", which is actually recognized by the PO. TESC is The Evergreen State College. An excellent but unusual school. I loved it there, still friends with a bunch of folks now scattered around the country.
The fire that went through the RMNP was a doozy. I watched all the briefings from fire command. A Strange feeling to watch the ridge as the fire closed in on the park and know that that's where my property was. I'd sold it when Lyme took me down, and the buyer used my layout to build. That house suffered almost no damage The houses across the road were fried. Somebody is already building a new house where one of them were. The next road down is simply gone. I loved it there, but glad I left. There were dead spruce all over the place... big time fuel. I had aspen and ponderosa and had cleared an acre and a half for the house.
I kind of like OlyWa, and even more since the PO recognizes it. Sad about Rocky Mountain. I had such a wonderful time cycling up to the pass in '84 or '86--whenever it was. It was so beautiful, despite the difficulty. I was high as a kite when I got to the pass--a natural reaction from all the exertion, and it was a gorgeous ride. I also remember stopping there when I was eight, on our last x-country trip, from Seattle to Boston. I think it was Rocky Mountain where we saw the double rainbow. I never would have figured out Evergreen State from TESC. I had no idea they used definite article in the name.
A lot of people miss that. It's because it isn't "Evergreen State College" or "Evergreen State". Washington's state motto is "The Evergreen State". The proper name of the college is "The Evergreen State College", meaning the college of The Evergreen State, thus TESC. Alumni call ourselves "Greenies" or "Greeners". Our mascot is the geoduck (large clam with a small shell, pronounced "gooeyduck". We are proud of our mascot. ;-]
Almost my entire family first moved to Lopez Island in the San Juans decades ago, then gradually (as the island culture changed character) moved to various parts of the mainland. I left first to take care of my mother when she was dying of cancer, and then went to Oly to go to grad school at TESC. Started working for the state my second term in, and began to travel all over the state. I've also traveled, both professionally and personally, in most of the US and large parts of Canada, also a little overseas. Hope to do a little more traveling before I tuck in. I've found beauty everyplace I've been, but still think that the PacNW is absolutely the most beautiful place I've been. And watching the Oregon legislature online this week gives me optimism that the state is working through some of the travails it has been saddled with in the last few years. The media has not covered the Northwest well: it falls back on too many outdated tropes.
BTW, my "brother by another mother", a friend from high school, was a ranger until he retired, then he became a college science teacher! He's in southern Oregon, and built the house he raised his family in on land that belonged to his Takelma grandfather.
The one thing I would like to have done was build my own mountain home. I came close, but didn't quite get there. Just as well: the property I owned was in the heart of the fire that burned a year or so ago in the Rocky Mountain National Park. It had to jump 3 highways to get there. I loved it there too, but not sure I'll ever go back to see what that fire did.
With his family of origin, my friend the ranger on San Juan built a cabin on Lopez, that was quite well done. But his house on San Juan Island is way beyond the cabin on Lopez.
I didn't realize any fires had come through Rocky Mountain NP. Or maybe I did. I've bicycled up to the pass on a week or so long trip in Colorado, back in '86, I think.
My biggest trip was Seattle to Boston bicycle after I graduated college. I'm hoping to drive to the west coast and back this spring or one of the next few. (At my current age, 68, too slow by bicycle.)
A lot of places beautiful to me. Some are equal to--often in very different ways--but none more beautiful than the outer Cape.
What are Oly and TESC?
Oh, dear, guilty of using insider lingo! Oly is short for Olympia, the capitol of WA. AKA "OlyWa", which is actually recognized by the PO. TESC is The Evergreen State College. An excellent but unusual school. I loved it there, still friends with a bunch of folks now scattered around the country.
The fire that went through the RMNP was a doozy. I watched all the briefings from fire command. A Strange feeling to watch the ridge as the fire closed in on the park and know that that's where my property was. I'd sold it when Lyme took me down, and the buyer used my layout to build. That house suffered almost no damage The houses across the road were fried. Somebody is already building a new house where one of them were. The next road down is simply gone. I loved it there, but glad I left. There were dead spruce all over the place... big time fuel. I had aspen and ponderosa and had cleared an acre and a half for the house.
I kind of like OlyWa, and even more since the PO recognizes it. Sad about Rocky Mountain. I had such a wonderful time cycling up to the pass in '84 or '86--whenever it was. It was so beautiful, despite the difficulty. I was high as a kite when I got to the pass--a natural reaction from all the exertion, and it was a gorgeous ride. I also remember stopping there when I was eight, on our last x-country trip, from Seattle to Boston. I think it was Rocky Mountain where we saw the double rainbow. I never would have figured out Evergreen State from TESC. I had no idea they used definite article in the name.
A lot of people miss that. It's because it isn't "Evergreen State College" or "Evergreen State". Washington's state motto is "The Evergreen State". The proper name of the college is "The Evergreen State College", meaning the college of The Evergreen State, thus TESC. Alumni call ourselves "Greenies" or "Greeners". Our mascot is the geoduck (large clam with a small shell, pronounced "gooeyduck". We are proud of our mascot. ;-]
I remember those huge clams! PS: holzmandc at outlook dot com