Brother Jake's Cool Mount Baker Volcano Thanksgiving

I am a couple days late sharing that which you see here, which arrived Thanksgiving morning, from my little brother who goes by the name of Jake, even though that name is not on his birth certificate.

The above photo illustrated Jake's Thanksgiving phone text message of "Happy Thanksgiving from the currently cool Pacific Northwest."

That would be the Thanksgiving morning view from my little brother's viewing venue at the Slotemaker-Jones Compound located on the Skagit Flats, near the tulip ground zero viewing location of Roozengarde.

That mountain covered in white snow is the Mount Baker volcano. That band of blue in front of the volcano is known as Cascade mountain foothills.

I replied to my little brother's Thanksgiving message wishing him a Happy Thanksgiving, adding that it is also currently cool in Texas, but from my vantage point I see no mountains no matter which direction I look.

I do not know how many miles I would currently need to drive to see a mountain, any mountain, doesn't have to be a volcano.

As far as I know the only American volcanoes are in the Cascade Mountains, with five volcanoes in Washington, one in Oregon and a couple in California.

Now that you are causing me to think about it, Oregon may have two volcanoes, if one counts dormant Mount Mazama, location of Crater Lake, as a volcano, along with Oregon's Mount Hood.

I just Googled Mount Mazama and learned it is still considered a volcano even though it has not erupted for almost three thousand years before Jesus was born.

At my current old age I at times wonder if I will ever again see an actual mountain...

Won't Make It To Mount Baker Ski Season Open Whilst in Texas

I saw that which you see here, this morning, via the online version of the Seattle Times. I had a multi-reaction. One was, well, this is yet one more thing I see in news from my old Washington home zone which I would never, could never, see in a Texas newspaper about a similar scene in Texas.

I think the Ruidoso zone of New Mexico is the closest location from my current location, where I would find a ski area. Maybe Colorado is closer, but, I suspect, without checking a map, that New Mexico's ski areas are closer.

Seeing mention made of Mount Baker, and ski season, also triggered that usually dormant homesick feeling. I used to look out my living room windows and see Mount Baker in the distance.

That actually is not Mount Baker you see in the photo. It is called the Mount Baker ski area, but Mount Shuksan is the mountain you are near whilst skiing the Mount Baker ski area. The actual Mount Baker volcano is a short distance to the south, or to the right, in the photo.

I do not remember when last I was at the Mount Baker ski area. It may have been the time, in the 1990s, when nephews Christopher and Jeremy took me hiking up Tabletop Mountain, a hiking venue south of the Mount Baker ski area, north of Mount Baker.

I brought my cross country skis with me to Texas. I recollect only skiing on them once, in Texas. A time when sufficient snow accumulated enabling skiing on the slopes in Arlington's Veterans Park. Doing such drew some attention from kids who had never seen skis skiing in person before.

I stored my cross country skis in an outdoor storage closet, which was not air-conditioned. At some point I discovered that the extreme heat of summer had caused the skis to delaminate, rendering them worthless.

Almost every winter since I have been in Wichita Falls there has been a short period with sufficient snow on the ground which would have made cross country skiing the Circle Trail a fun thing to do. Particularly the Circle Trail in the Wichita Bluff Nature Area section, which has some good up and down grades.

I wonder if ever again I will slide on skis, roll on roller blades, or pedal a bike? I suspect, of those three, pedaling a bike is the most likely...

Picking Wild Mountain Volcano Blueberries With A Pain In My Neck

Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day that I do remember, and that actually may have happened in September.

A September way back in the previous century. The year 1997 or 1998.

The location is Schriebers Meadow in the Mount Baker National Recreation Area. Schriebers Meadow is the location of the most popular trailhead taking hikers eventually up the slopes of Mount Baker, along with many scenic side trails.

Schriebers Meadow is also the location of a vast field of wild mountain blueberries, which is what we are this location to do. Pick blueberries.

The photo at the top, and the photo below, was taken with my antique Casio digital camera, with its unique, at the time, ability to reverse the lens, enabling the taking of what are now known as selfies. 

In the selfie at the top, that woman on my shoulder, being a pain in my neck, is picking blueberries. Eventually that woman would continue being a pain in my neck, all the way to Texas.

 A view of Mount Baker from Schriebers Meadow.

It was about a 40-mile drive from my Mount Vernon abode to the Schriebers Meadow location.

I do not know what motivated me to initiate a blueberry picking expedition to Schriebers Meadow. I had more blueberries than I was ever able to consume due to blueberry bushes I planted on my rooftop deck.

It seems so long ago, now, that I lived so close to a volcano, and a scenic wonderland.

Mountains to the east, saltwater beaches to the west. Actually, mountains were visible east, west, south and north. But, the mountains, that were the nearest, as in the Cascade Mountains, were thus the most accessible from my home base location.

Sometimes I wonder if I will ever see a mountain, again, before my time on the planet is terminated...

In Seattle Looking Too Close To Mount Rainier

If I remember correctly, and sometimes I do, I have previously made mention of the fact that I find the frequent instances of misleading photos of Mount Rainier to be a bit worrisome.

What with tourists arriving in Washington expecting to see Mount Rainier being a gigantic presence looming nearby.

This morning's Seattle Times online had the best example yet of this. The Seattle Space Needle peeking above Queen Anne Hill, with Mount Rainier looking like a nearby monster.

Now, when the Mountain is out, it is an impressive sight, naturally, as seen via one's eyes. When one is in Tacoma the Mountain looms way larger, and closer, than it does in Seattle. But not nearly like that which you see in the above photo.

On a clear day, from the vantage point of the Skagit Flats, a little over 100 miles north of Mount Rainier, one can see the Mountain, looking like a big white pimple on the horizon.

I know a lifelong Texan, here in Wichita Falls, who had never been to the west coast til a couple years ago when she flew to Seattle to visit some friends. She'd never seen mountains before. She told me it was mesmerizing, no matter which way she looked, west, east, north or south, she saw mountains. 

I do not know if she had a pre-conceived notion about how large Mount Rainier loomed on the skyline. But, I do know that her friends had a cabin near Enumclaw, the town thought of as the Gateway to Mount Rainier, and that she was overwhelmed looking at that Mountain, so big and white, so close.

She did not know, til I told her, that there are four more volcanoes in Washington. She knew of Mount St. Helens, but not the other three.

Mount Baker, the volcano I lived near when I lived in the Skagit Valley, also gets the distorted zoomed photo treatment. Mount Baker, like Rainier, is also totally impressive in its natural state, without any photo enhancement.

It has been years since I have seen a real mountain, other than the artificial mountain, Mount Wichita, that is located in the town in which I currently reside...

Finding World Record Breaking Snow On Washington's Mount Baker

Saw that which you see here, yesterday, on Facebook. Hard to believe that a couple decades ago I could look out my living room window, and, through the forest of fir trees, see the Mount Baker volcano a few miles to the northeast.

I can look out any of my Texas windows and see nary a single mountain in any direction, let alone a snow-covered volcano.

Reading the text indicating the winter of 1998-1999 Mount Baker's snow accumulation had it being the snowiest mountain on record had me a bit perplexed.

I seem to remember such a claim being made many times prior to that last winter of the previous century. 

I Googled "Mount Baker" and clicked on the Wikipedia article about Mount Baker to see if mention was made regarding record breaking Mount Baker snow, and saw only the following regarding record breaking snow...

"After Mount Rainier, Mount Baker has the heaviest glacier cover of the Cascade Range volcanoes; the volume of snow and ice on Mount Baker is greater than that of all the other Cascades volcanoes (except Rainier) combined. It is also one of the snowiest places in the world; in 1999, Mount Baker Ski Area, located 9 mi to the northeast, set the world record for recorded snowfall in a single season—1,140 inches (95 ft)."

Maybe what I was remembering was Mount Baker setting records for snow accumulated, as in piled up deep, and not the amount of snow falling in a single snow falling season.

I do remember that upon reaching the Mount Baker ski area, with the road plowed clear, that it was like driving in a snow canyon, with the snow deep on either side of the road.

Of late I find myself wondering if I am ever going to see Mount Baker, or any of the Washington volcanoes, ever again...

Floating With Mr. B Seeing The Mount Baker Volcano

 

The past couple weeks, on Facebook, the entity known as Mr. B, the Forrester, has been documenting something I did not know was something someone could do.

As in fly from Seattle to Sydney, Australia, to get on a cruise ship, to float to New Zealand, Fiji, Hawaii and then back to Seattle.

This morning's view from the boat is from Puget Sound, looking east at what looks to be the Mount Baker volcano.

That is a view of Mount Baker I do not recollect myself previously seeing, even though I have been on boats in Puget Sound many times.

McNutt's Real Island View Of The Mount Baker Volcano

Currently the former Washingtonian, currently a Virginian, known as that whackydoodle McNutt woman, is visiting her old home zone. 

For the first part of her Washington visit the McNutter is staying on Camano Island at the home of an aunt and uncle. 

Camano Island is a real island, located in Puget Sound. Not an imaginary island of the Fort Worth, Texas sort, where a chunk of land is being called an island, Panther Island to be exact.

But, currently Panther Island is not surrounded by any water. 

However, the chunk of land is already referred to as an island, in anticipation that one day a cement lined ditch might appear, filled with diverted Trinity River water, flowing under three freeway overpass type bridges, built over dry land, to connect the Fort Worth mainland to that imaginary island.

A bridge is what gives one access to Camano Island, a bridge which crosses actual water.

The above photo is the view from McNutt's Uncle's deck, looking northeast across Puget Sound. You can see the Mount Baker volcano in the distance.

I see no volcanoes, in any direction I look, at my current location...

Seeing Mount Baker Takes Me To Fir Island & Fort Worth's Imaginary Panther Island

I never tire of seeing photos from my old home zone, especially photos of Mount Baker, a volcano I used to be able to see from my living room windows in Mount Vernon.

I saw the instance you see here, this morning, on Facebook. The view is either from some location on the Skagit Flats, or from Fir Island.

Fir Island is a real island, not an imaginary island, such as one day the town of Fort Worth, Texas hopes to see.

Fort Worth's imaginary island will be claiming to be such after a cement lined ditch is dug, with Trinity River water diverted into that ditch.

Ironically, Fir Island also is created by being surrounded by river water. At Fir Island the Skagit River splits into two forks, the North and South Forks of the Skagit River.

Wikipedia has an article about Fir Island. The article makes mention of the worst natural disaster I have witnessed up close. In the early 1990s a Pineapple Express brought extreme flooding to Western Washington.

The flooding was so extreme that the flood level was predicted to inundate downtown Mount Vernon. So, hundreds of people helped build a sandbag wall to try and hold back the flood. I was watching the 11 o'clock news when it went live to Mount Vernon, showing the feverish activity, filling sandbags, including sailors from the Navy base on Whidbey Island.

By midnight I was in downtown Mount Vernon, helping to build the sandbag wall. The wall was complete around 3 in the morning.

The flood crest was expected to hit Mount Vernon around 11 in the morning. At that point of time I joined the huge crowd, waiting on high ground for the crest to happen. You could see the river was about to go over the sandbag wall, when, suddenly, the river level dropped a couple feet.

No one knew what had happened. Soon, there were sirens blaring. At one point I remember seeing a helicopter with a cow strapped in below it. I do not remember how long it was til we learned the dike at Fir Island had failed, flooding the island.

There is currently no Wikipedia about Fort Worth's imaginary Panther Island. I doubt there ever will be...

Remembering Nephew Jeremy Successfully Crossing A Scary Suspension Bridge Hiking To Mount Baker

The year was 1993. The occasion was my August birthday, not the exact day, but the following weekend. I do not recollect how this came about, what with it being three decades ago, but this morning's Microsoft OneDrive Memories from this Day brought me the photos you see here.

It was an overcast, foggy, drizzly day. The location was the Schrieber's Meadow entry to the Park Butte Trail up the Mount Baker volcano, via what is known as the Railroad Grade, so named because of its even ascent, like a railroad grade making its way up and over a mountain. In this instance the Railroad Grade is at the top of a glacier carved Moraine.

That glacier can render hiking a bit treacherous in summer and early fall, when warm temperatures melt a lot of ice, turning Sulphur Creek into a raging torrent. So much so that the creek regularly wipes out the various bridges built to cross it.

On that day all the hikers were transited via sister Nancy's vehicle. Of what sort, I do not remember. In that vehicle we had the aforementioned sister Nancy, sister Michele, my ex-wife, Loretta, Big Ed and my youngest nephew, Jeremy. I am likely forgetting a person, or two, or three.

So, about a mile in the trail comes to Sulphur Creek. When we reached that point I saw a suspension bridge of sorts had been installed since I was last at this location, a year or two prior, with nephew Joey.

When we reached the Sulphur Creek suspension bridge, with Sulphur Creek look a bit wild, Jeremy balked.

Jeremy sought refuge at a tree. Aunt Michele then used her well developed negotiation powers to make a deal with Jeremy by which he would agree to cross the bridge. Jeremy insisted he cross it alone, with both ends protected, so no one could get on the bridge and sway and shake it. Big Ed was the guard at the far end. I forget who guarded the entry.

Once the guards were in place Jeremy began his passage across the bridge.

 Above we see Jeremy almost all the way across.

And here we have Jeremy's triumphant pose as he successfully nears the end of the bridge.

The above was about as far as we got this day of hiking in a fog. We never got above the timberline. Never made it to the Railroad Grade. Never got close to seeing Mount Baker. But, it was a mighty fine day, I must say.

That is the aforementioned sister Michele, next to Jeremy, and me sitting, with my hair its original color...

Remembering Hiking Mount Baker With Hank Frank's Papa Joey

On this first Sunday of the second month of 2024 the Microsoft OneDrive Memory email from this Day is a good one. Several photos of Hank Frank's proud papa, my Favorite Joey Nephew, leading me up the trail leading to the Mount Baker volcano.

The first photo is from part way up the trail, the trailhead of which is a location called Schrieber's Meadow. That being a location where one can pick wild mountain blueberries in the Fall.

In that first photo we are still below the timberline.

This hike with Joey took place at some point in time during the 1990s. I believe this to be the last time I hiked up Mount Baker.

And now we are above the timberline, where trees can not grow. Joey is looking down a steep moraine, scoured out by a glacier. The trail atop this moraine is called the Railroad Grade. Why it is so called, I do not know. 

Joey takes a sitting rest, now that we are about at the furthest one can easily and safely hike up the Mount Baker volcano. At this location you are close enough to smell the sulphur fumes spewing from the crater.

When I lived in the shadow of the Mount Baker volcano it was just something I took for granted. Til Texas I'd never lived where there weren't any mountains.

I could see Mount Baker and the Cascade foothills from my Mount Vernon living room window.

I wonder, sometimes, if I will ever again hike a Cascade mountain trail.

Maybe next Summer Joey and Hank Frank might take me hiking up Mount Baker...

Nephew Jason Takes Us To A Sunset Look At Mount Baker Whilst Miss Sheila Takes Us To A Mount Rainier Sunrise

Incoming email this morning from my Favorite Jason Nephew, with one photo, and the following text...

We are thawing up north, very slowly.

My phone indicates that you are freezing some thousand miles to the south and east.

Took this picture on my way home from work tonight of Mount Baker via the same viewpoint of a few days earlier.  Sunset is gradually working back to the 5 p.m. hour.

It was certainly more beautiful in person.

I wish you were here to enjoy the great Pacific Northwest.

__________________

I also wish I was enjoying the great Pacific Northwest. No matter which direction I look at my current Texas location I see no scenery like that which you see above.

And then there was this, from renowned Pacific Northwest photographer, Sheila K, a sunrise look at Mount Rainier from her Lacey backyard.

I do not know how close, miles wise, Miss Sheila and Miss Chris are from Mount Rainier, at their Lacey location. Lacey is a town a few miles east of Olympia.

If Mount Rainier ever decides to go into active volcano mode, Sheila and Chris will have an interesting phenomenon to pay close attention to...

Another Frigid Day In Paradise

I saw this photo yesterday on Facebook. The photo was taken by Miss Carol BD from her home zone on the Skagit Flats. 

The view is looking east at the Mount Baker volcano and the Cascade Mountain's foothills.

As you can clearly see, a coating of snow has dusted the Cascade foothills.

Currently the Skagit Flats are being chilled colder than my North Texas location, at only 9 degrees above zero.

My Wichita Falls location is being chilled to one degree below freezing, at 31.

We are scheduled to get a bit colder as we progress through Saturday, with incoming snow predicted for Sunday, possibly in Ice Storm form.

The governor of Texas is claiming the Texas grid will not collapse, this time, when the temperature nears zero. I don't attach much credence to anything the current governor of Texas claims.

I think I may venture into the outer world today, driving to the only thing remotely resembling a mountain at my current location, that being the mound of congealed lake mud I call Mount Wichita...

Remembering Maxine & Me Hiking Up Mount Baker

The photo you see here showed up this morning in my email, a Microsoft OneDrive memory. Mostly I do not remember the OneDrive memories. 

But, today I did.

The other memories, were a bit embarrassing, including one of me and Linda Lou and Big Ed at a Toga Party.

The memory I am only slightly embarrassed to share, that which you see above, is Maxine and me frolicking our way to Mount Baker, starting at the Schreiber's Meadow trailhead.

This could not possibly have happened in November. By November snow would make the hike not doable. 

This was my first hike to Mount Baker, hiking as far up the volcano as possible, before it becomes mountain climbing, far up the mountain enough to smell the sulphur odor and see steam venting from the volcanoes crater.

Maxine had hiked the hike to Mount Baker, previously, so she was out trail guide. Miss Chris was also along for the hike and would have been who took the photo of me and Maxine.

This hike to Mount Baker happened sometime during the 1970s. I still had ridiculously long, curly brown hair, well before it turned gray.

I think the last time I hiked up Mount Baker was with nephew Joey. That would have been sometime in the early 1990s.

I can not help but wonder if I am ever going to hike up Mount Baker this century...

In Mountain=Lite Texas Going Up Tabletop Mountain & Mount Shuksan With CJ & JR

The theme of my wall calendar, this year of 2023, is scenes of The West.

For 10 months I have been flipping the calendar to the next month to see a scene of The West that I do not remember seeing.

And then, this morning, I flipped the calendar to Novembe,r and finally, a scene of The West that I have seen many times, and thus, do remember.

Mount Shuksan.

The caption under the picture of Mount Shuksan says, "Mount Shuksan, North Cascades National Park, Washington".

I did not know Mount Shuksan was in North Cascades National Park. I know a big mountain a short distance to the right, or south, of Mount Shuksan, the Mount Baker volcano, is not in North Cascades National Park.

One of my all time favorite photos has Mount Shuksan in the background.

That would be nephews JR (Jeremy Ryan), on the left, next to his big brother, CJ (Christopher Jay), on top of Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Shuksan looming behind.

This photo was taken some time in the 1990s, I think. JR was be about 8 years old, with CJ about 12, give or take a year, or two.

We hiked the switchback trail to the top of Tabletop Mountain, and then made our own trail back down the north side of the mountain, with Mount Baker looming large a short distance away. There was a lot of slipping and sliding to get off Tabletop Mountain.

Let me see if I can find other photos from that day JR & CJ went mountain climbing with me...

Here JR leads the way up Tabletop Mountain. You see a bit of Mount Shuksan to the right.

At the top of Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Baker behind him, JR threatens his favorite uncle with a snowball.

Above is a look at how we got down off Tabletop Mountain.

And here we see JR sliding towards Mount Baker.

Now, you might think my nephews are a bit under dressed to be playing on snow, wearing shorts and t-shirts.

Well, this hike up Tabletop Mountain took place in late August.

In Washington you can find frozen white stuff to slide on, year round, if you go high in the North Cascades.

Washington's Miss Chris Takes Us Again To Bare Mount Rainier

Saw that which you see here on Facebook this morning, via Washington's Miss Chris.

Miss Chris, Sheila and Macie live in Lacey, a town a few miles east of Olympia, and closer to Mount Rainier than their former location in the Seattle suburb of Kent.

I have never seen Mount Rainier this bare of white ice, known as glaciers. Mount Rainier usually sports multiple glaciers.

I have not seen a recent photo of the Washington volcano I used to live near, Mount Baker.

I suspect Mount Baker is less white than Mount Rainier, due to Mount Baker, at 10,786 feet above sea level being quite a bit shorter than Mount Rainier's 14,411 elevation.

Spending the majority of my existence on the planet living near sea level in Western Washington, with mountains any direction one looked, those mountains look so tall.

My first time seeing the Rocky Mountains in Colorado I was non-plussed, because they did not look as big as mountains I was used to seeing in Washington.  And then I realized the base level of the Rocky Mountains is way above sea level. As in Denver is a mile high, so, naturally the Rocky Mountains do not look as high as they would if Denver were at sea level.

There are mountains in the Colorado Rocky Mountains that one can drive to the top of, such as Pikes Peak, at 14,115 feet above sea level, almost as tall as Mount Rainier.

There are no mountains in the Cascade or Olympic Mountain ranges that one can drive to the top of.

I miss mountains...

Skagit Valley's Linda Lou Sees Mount Baker In Hiding

The above photo, from the Skagit Valley's, Linda Lou, arrived on my phone this morning, along with text saying, "Mount Baker trying to peek through the clouds."

It took me awhile to find where it was hiding on my computer, but eventually I located a photo of the same view, which I took way back in April of 2006 when I was heading to my Favorite Nephew Jason's first wedding.

In this version Mount Baker is not hiding.

Seems odd now, how totally normal it seemed to live so close to a semi-active volcano.

That dip at the top of the volcano is the crater.

When you hike up Mount Baker eventually you get close enough to the crater to smell the sulphur odor the crater emits.

At times Mount Baker spews out a lot of steam along with that sulphureous odor. At a volume of sufficient size that it can be seen from the location you see above, driving north on I-5, or any other location with a view of the mountain.

In my current frame of mind it is looking unlikely that I will be seeing the above scenery this coming summer...

Seeing Skagit Valley Daffodils With A Few Daffodils In Wichita Falls

This morning, on Facebook, the Skagit Valley's Miss Carol BD posted a photo featuring some daffodils.

I commented regarding that photo, saying I seldom see such things as daffodils and tulips at my current North Texas location.

But that yesterday I did make note of driving by a small patch of daffodils, and that I might photo document that daffodil patch today, if I remembered to.

Which I did. Remember, that is.

Below is that rare North Texas daffodil patch, spotted near the intersection of Midwestern Boulevard and Maplewood.

That photo at the top, that is a field of Skagit Valley daffodils in a photo from the Seattle Times.

That big white thing hovering above the daffodils is the Mount Baker volcano.

In front of Mount Baker, those are what are known as Cascade Mountain foothills.

The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival will soon be happening, with the Skagit flatlands carpeted in multiple colors, from multiple types of flowers, but, primarily tulips.

Over a million visitors descend on the Skagit Valley during the Tulip Festival.

Remembering Ice Caves & Nephew Jeremy's Treacherous Mount Baker Suspension Bridge

Two days in a row I remember all the memories Microsoft's OneDrive sent to my email. The first set of memories obviously occurred in winter, maybe even in February.

But the second set of memories could not have happened in winter, those happened in August.

In the first collection of memories, those are my favorite nephews, Christopher and Jeremy, currently residing in Arizona, but, at the point in time the pictures were taken CJ and JR were still Washingtonians.

What you are looking at in these memories, other than CJ and JR is what is known as the Ice Caves. This is an attraction one can hike to from the Mountain Loop highway, between Granite Falls and Darrington.

I do not know if access is still allowed into the Ice Caves. There were incidents of injuries due to ice falling from the Ice Cave ceiling. 

In the next set of memories Jeremy is a couple years older.

All but one of the above memories are photos of a hike up the south side of Mount Baker, via what is known as the Schreiber's Meadow Trail. 

On this trail you come to a spot where you have to cross a stream of fast moving glacier melt. It can be a tad treacherous. We got to that spot and Jeremy did not like the look of it. In the picture at the upper right, Jeremy's Aunt Michele is trying to convince Jeremy it is safe to cross the suspension bridge.

Michele can be quite persuasive. Jeremy agreed to cross the bridge, if there was a guard stationed at each end. By the time Jeremy got to the middle of the bridge, all fear had disappeared, which caused Jeremy to make the dramatic pose you see in the top left photo.

The other two photos on the right document Jeremy's crossing of the bridge, before his triumphant moment.

The lower left photo is also Jeremy and Christopher, a couple years later, on the north side of Mount Baker, sitting on top of Tabletop Mountain, with Mount Shuksan behind them. Microsoft is sharing the thumbnail version of this photo. Let me see if I can find the better version.

There you have it, a collection of memories I actually remember...

Email Memories I Remember From Microsoft

Once again, memories in my email. I have been erroneously thinking these are Google memories. They are not a Google thing. They are a Microsoft thing. Memories from Microsoft's OneDrive, not Google.

I remember today's memories. But that which is being remembered did not happen in February. These memories happened in August and September. In February those mountains views are not accessible.

In the upper left that is favorite nephews Chris and Jeremy, with Mount Shuksan behind them. We are starting the hike up Tabletop Mountain.

Below Chris and Jeremy, that is just Jeremy threatening to throw a snowball at me, with Mount Baker behind him. At this location we are on the north side of Mount Baker.

To the right of Jeremy that is favorite nephew Joey, hiking up Mount Baker, from the south side of the volcano.

Above Joey that is a McDonald's in North Dallas. It was a unique McDonald's, designed to look like a giant Happy Meal box, among other unique architectural elements. I believe this McDonald's no longer exists. I believe the last time I was at that McDonald's was in January of 2009, with mom and dad.

Mark K's Make Me Homesick Mount Baker Photo

The make me homesick photo you see here I saw on Facebook, this morning of the second Wednesday of 2023.

Skagit Valley photographer, Mark K, took the photo after he saw multiple looky-loos parked roadside gawking east at the extremely colorful sunset.

Below is one of the Mark K sunset photos.

For those reading this in Fort Worth, those bumps on the horizon are actual islands, surrounded by real water of the saltwater sort, not imaginary islands of the Fort Worth sort, where there is no surrounding water of any sort, but one day may be sort of surrounded by water, if a cement lined ditch ever gets dug, with dirty river water diverted into the ditch.

In the Mark K photo at the top, that big white bump is a volcano, known as Mount Baker. Washington has five active volcanos. In addition to Mount Baker there is Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Glacier Peak.

I have been invited to a birthday party taking place next summer at the Mark K estate on the Skagit Flats.

I have been told if I make it to the Mark K birthday party there will be blackberry pie and strawberry shortcake. I think it was Miss Carol BD who promised me blackberry pie and strawberry shortcake if I showed up.

Currently I would say there is less than a 50/50 chance I will make it to the Skagit Valley this coming July.

I think I have mentioned previously that from the living room of my abode in Mount Vernon, when the leaves were not on the trees, I could see the Mount Baker volcano. 

From my current living room, no matter what window I look out, I see pretty much nothing...