Crusin' the Prairies

Your correspondent is covering new...or almost new...territory as he cruises eastward across the prairies of the Midwest.  As far as southwestern Minnesota, my last trip here was 40 years ago...beyond that it has all been new territory.  The scenery doesn't change nearly as rapidly as it does in the West, but it does vary from west to east.  Here, in South Dakota west of the Missouri River, the plains are mostly treeless.  The main crops are hay, rolled into thousands of loaves, and sunflowers.

The Missouri River from Chamberlain, South Dakota.  In 1971 I went down to the river and obtained a bottle of water, such was the exoticism of the legendary Missouri in my mind.  Nothing like that this time, but the river is still impressive.  For one thing, it served as Lewis and Clark's highway to the west 200 years ago.  The river is very wide at this point as it is dammed downstream...and upstream, multiple times.

In 1971 we bypassed the corn palace in Mitchell, SD.  Not this time!  East of the Missouri, the predominant crop is corn...all the way to Lake Michigan. 

The Corn Palace gets its name from the murals on its side, which are made of...corn!  Blow up the pic and you'll see the intricate detail.  I was unsure whether the entire structure was made of corn...this seemed impractical, and indeed, it's basically steel and stone.  But the murals are all corn, of varying colors.

The corn empire reaches its apex in Iowa.  This was my first visit to the Hawkeye State, and corn is everywhere!  Most structures you pass are tidy farms with silos, and acres and acres of corn, with a few soybeans mixed in, plus a large elongated structure that I assume is a hog barn...Iowa leads the nation in corn and hog production.  The land here smells good.  It's aromatic with the scent of erupting life, in the humid air.  Fecundity run wild!  There is a lushness here that is not found in the west, except possibly in the Willamette Valley.

The Awesome Badlands

Montana is almost as large as California, but has only about as many people as the city of San Jose.  Soooo....there are lots of wide open spaces.  US 212 between the Little Bighorn battlefield and the Wyoming border is typically empty...of people, but not of scenery.  Rolls of hay are common, but often lie in uncommonly beautiful spots.

Traveling southeast from Broadus, the weather deteriorated rapidly.  The 25 knot southeasterly outflow winds in Broadus were a clue!  The  glowering skies in the pic quickly gave way to rain that fell for a good 80 miles, often quite robustly.

Well, as seems to often be the case I am chastising myself for not paying more attention to a wonderful place...in this case the Badlands!  I visited today for the first time since September 1971.  It wasn't even a national park back then...just a monument.  40 years is waaaaay too long an absence from such a gorgeous, surreal, mystical area.  The rain today really brought out the colors of the sedimentary rocks that make up the terrain hereabouts.  And the clouds were dramatic, to say the least.

A typical shot, with a nice blend of prairie grasses and colorful rock formations.

The shapes and contours of the Badlands make it a mystical place.  It reminds me of Bryce Canyon.

If the exotic rock formations weren't enough, the sky was filled with surrealistic clouds today!  Living on the west coast, it's easy to forget how dramatic and harsh...and spectacular...nature can be farther inland. 

No, the Solara wasn't photoshopped into this picture!  Simply amazing....and breathtaking.  A little dark...but it was a gray day, and I had to underexpose the shot to do justice to the clouds.

Another Badlands pic of dramatic landscape and awesome clouds.  I'm kind of scooting east, and gave Montana and western South Dakota only two days.  Three weeks would be more like it!  I have neglected these two states...this is only my fourth visit to Montana and third to SD.  More time needs to be spent here.  The scenery...and the weather...are spectacular, and there are vast reaches to explore.  Even Interstate 90 provides awesome views!  You don't even have to leave the freeway to enjoy this area...though, of course, there are many fine side roads too.  US 212 in SE Montana is highly recommended.

Fascinating day on the Prairie

I cruised across the Great Plains today through Montana, Wyoming, and South Dakota.  Stormy weather was the rule, and made for spectacular skies, and dramatic photos.  Here the clouds are looming above the grasslands near Billings.  I had almost forgotten how dramatic cloud pictures are here...makes Monterey look verrry tame.

I visited the Little Bighorn National Monument for the first time.  Here, on Last Stand Hill, is where Custer and about 200 of his troops were wiped out by about ten times as many Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors.  The Indians charged up this hill, surrounding the US troops, who died on this spot.  Custer fell about where the black monument is located in the middle of the picture.  Both sides fought valiantly, but it should be remembered that the cause of the Sioux war in 1876 was the massive incursion of white prospectors into the Black Hills in 1874, when gold was discovered there.  This was in violation of the 1868 Fort Laramie treaty, which gave the hills to the Sioux, who loved them and would not sell them to the US government when such an offer was made.

Near the top of Last Stand Hill is this memorial to the Native Americans who fought and died at the Little Bighorn.  It's pretty awesome, especially when silouhetted against a stormy sky.

This pic gave me an idea of the terrain contested during the battle.  The Indians had a large encampment, about 7000 people, in the river valley among the trees and in the open country.  In the early stages of the battle, Major Marcus Reno attacked the encampment with only a couple hundred troops.  Bad idea.  The Sioux and Cheyenne quickly routed his forces, and they retreated up the ravine in the middle of the picture and made a stand near the spot where I took the photo.  Though many of Reno's troops were killed, others survived to tell the story, unlike Custer's men.

The area between Last Stand Hill and the Reno-Benteen memorial is private land, used for grazing.  Horses still roam free here, a symbol of the Old West.

This plaque is at a rest area near Broadus, in far SE Montana.  Blow it up to read the inscription better.  Kind of sums up the mentality hereabouts...drive over the vast prairie for awhile and you'll understand.

Hiking at Mount Rainier

1. I did a hike near Mount Rainier with some friends yesterday.  It was a spectacular day, fine and warm.  There was still an unusual amount of snow around for late August...a snowy winter was followed by a long, cold spring.  The old snowbanks have been eroded by melting and evaporation into surrealistic patterns.

This snow mosaic is at an elevation of only about 6000 feet. ..on the 24th of August.  Some of this snow may not melt before the first batch of autumn covers it.

An alpine tarn is bordered by boreal forest not far from the timberline.  Noble fir and Englemann spruce predominate (I think).

Another fine view of a lake.  The country on this hike, the Naches loop, is spectacular even by mountain standards!

Speaking of spectacular, The Mountain had a double cap cloud over the summit for most of the day.  Rainier never fails to awe me with its massive dominance of the landscape.  I visit almost every year, and always take a ton of pictures.  Of course, with the changing weather, the scene is a little different every day.

An old snowbank holds out against the August sun. 

Another shot of The Mountain, fronted by boreal forest.

Puget Sound Nostalgia

 I visited the University of Washington campus today for the first time in several years...I believe the last time I was here was 2004.  Though there's a lot of construction going on, as usual, many things are unchanged.  One is the Northlake Tavern, which was already an institution when I began going there upon turning 21 in 1972.  I have been back several times since I graduated in 1973, and the pizza has remained constant...absolutely delicious!  My old roommate Dick and I scarfed one down together, just as we did when we attended the UW all those years ago.

Denny Hall, built in 1895, remains on campus, still looking like a medieval building as it did decades ago.  Inside, however, remodeling has been done and it's considerably nicer than when I was in school.

This mosaic is in Bagley Hall, a chemistry building where Dick took many of his classes.

The Lizards here are matriculating at the UW!  They're showing their studious side in the classic Suzzallo library.

The Broken Obelisk at 40 has corroded a bit, but remains prominent in Red Square.  It was erected during my tenure at the UW.

Alas, my old dorm is about to meet the wreckers ball.  I was a charter mamber of Unit 5 when it opened in the fall of 1969; the name was soon changed to Mercer Hall.  Dick and I were roommates here in winter and spring quarters of 1970.  The Kingsmen played at our dorm party in the center courtyard twice while I lived here.  And now, after just 42 years of service, it's about to be demolished.  The car park has already been dug up.  I'm not sure what they're replacing ol' Unit 5 with, but its demise is sad to a former resident.

The previous day, rain fell for the first time this

 August.  Before the precip began, the Olympics were bathed in a beautiful glow as seen from the other side of Hood Canal.

A tug tows a barge across the tranquil waters of Puget Sound, near Port Townsend.  I've always liked being by the sound on such a day, with gray skies, light wind, few people, and a brooding aura of tranquility.

A house on Officers Row at Fort Worden state park, near Port Townsend.  This is where the movie Officer and a Gentleman was filmed.  The fort was used as a coastal defense post from the early 1900s to 1953, when, of course, it became obsolete.

This is the big kahuna slug!  This fellow is a good six inches long, which probably makes him the alpha slug at Fort Worden.

Kickin' it in Oregon

Fine shot of the Oregon coast. The buildings just upper left of center are the Inn at Otter Crest...looks like a nice place to stay.

Wendy and I booked rooms at this Irvington mansion...it's a B&B called Portlands White House. Verrry nice.

Ramblings on the Oregon Coast

Traveling on the Oregon coast is a feast for the senses. The air is fresh and cool. The scenery always catches the eye, both on a large scale and in smaller scenarios. The ocean roars, untamed and vigorous. Birds and other wildlife abound. It's never the least bit dull here. I came upon this barchan dune just south of Gold Beach. This dune is only three or four feet high, but there are sand formations of identical shape in the Sahara that soar hundreds of feet into the air, shaped by the same process. See wiki for details.

My friend Wendy visited Oregon for the first time, and loved it. What's not to love in the summer? In six days we explored the Columbia Gorge, the coast, the Cascades, and Portland; we visited wineries, Timberline Lodge, and hiked in the rainforest, along the coast, and in the city. All cool. Here Wendy's at a covered bridge near Lincoln City.

The view from our condo at Lincoln City, with the sun lowering in the west over the tranquil Pacific.

We hiked the trail to Cape Lookout, north of Lincoln City. I remember the first time I walked here. It was on a stormy November day in 1977. The wind was howling in exposed areas, blowing sheets of rain horizontally. At the start of this trail, deep in the woods, it was calm, but overhead the 150 foot Sitka spruces were swaying...an eerie vibe. But, not last Sunday! It was sunny and warm, almost hot in exposed areas like this.

The southern Oregon coast is rather isolated, far from the urban areas of the Willamette valley. But it's probably the most spectacular part of Oregon's shoreline. This pic is in Samuel Boardman state park north of Brookings.