Blistering Day After Day Over 100 In Texas

I do not recollect this happening prior in my years in Texas.

Day after day after day predicted to get to 100 degrees HOT or HOTTER.

I think I will be going to the 4th of July Parade tomorrow morning in downtown Wichita Falls.

One can easily find a parade viewing location in the shadow cast by a tall building.

The Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade has been cancelled the last two 4th of July's due to COVID. 

I have watched the Wichita Falls 4th of July Parade every 4th that it has paraded since I've been in Wichita Falls.

It is an entertaining parade.

Kids arrive with bags to carry all the candy that get tossed their way by passing paraders. It is a spectacle of flying candy.

I heard a couple firecrackers crack around midnight, last night, but, other than that, so far, no loud explosions...

Visiting Skagit Valley Checking What Is New in Burlington & Mount Vernon's Skagit Riverwalk

I visited the Skagit Valley this morning via Google Earth. I did so due to not remembering a thing or two's location in my old hometown of Burlington. That and I wanted to see where the new public library was located.

And I wanted to check out the Skagit Flats location of a high school class reunion taking place later this month.

Eventually I found myself in Mount Vernon, and checked out, as best I could, via Google Earth, Mount Vernon's Skagit Riverwalk.

The Skagit Riverwalk covers quite a distance, from the south end of downtown, to under the Skagit River bridge you see in the background, and beyond.

In the middle left location you can see a sliver of the Skagit River. As you can see it is a pleasing clean water bluish color, not the murky muddy color I see in most rivers in North Texas, like the Wichita River and the badly polluted Trinity River.

There is not a lot of polluting opportunities upriver from Mount Vernon. As it passes through Mount Vernon the Skagit River is about five miles from its mouth in Skagit Bay.

The Skagit Riverwalk was part of a flood control project aimed at protecting downtown Mount Vernon, which is below the level of the river, when it is in flood mode. 

Unlike what I observed in a Texas town I used to live in, Fort Worth, Mount Vernon's flood control project was an actual vitally needed flood control project, not an imaginary flood control project, such as has been touted in Fort Worth for almost two decades, claiming it was vitally needed, even though no flooding had happened since the 1950s, due to flood control already in place.

Mount Vernon's flood control being vitally needed it was funded by the public. Fort Worth's imaginary flood control project, which is not vitally needed, was so not vitally needed, that no effort was made to fund the project locally, instead relying on federal funding, with that finally happening due to Biden's Build Back Better infrastructure bill.

I don't quite understand how Fort Worth's imaginary flood control project was deemed worthy of this new federal funding. It's perplexing...

July's Wall Calendar Takes Me Back To Yosemite

The month of June flew by in a quick blur. This morning I flipped my National Parks wall calendar to the new month of July and quickly recognized which National Park I was looking at.

Yosemite.

I do not know if that is El Capitan or Half Dome being the primary feature in the Yosemite photo. Or maybe some other Yosemite big rock. 

The first time I visited Yosemite I was not much impressed. It was an early October visit. The waterfalls were dried up, the foliage was brown. Yosemite did not seem to rise to the scenic level of other National Parks I had visited.

And then in the early 1990s I returned to Yosemite. A late Spring visit.

We arrived after dark. Saw lights flickering on the side of El Capitan. Rock climbers secured to the side of the cliff. We checked in at Camp Curry, got our key to the tent cabin we'd reserved for a three night stay.

At check-in you are given wool blankets. The beds in the tent cabin were cots. We were warned to beware of visiting bears. The tent cabin campground was noisy, with a weird constant roaring sound.

The next morning, at dawn's early light, I opened the tent cabin door and quickly realized what the source of the weird constant roaring sound was.

A waterfall falling a short distance from Camp Curry.

That was to be the first of many waterfalls seen during the course of that three day stay in Yosemite.

And, by the end of that three day stay in Yosemite, that National Park had become one of my favorites.

I returned to Yosemite a couple years later, in October of 1994, the tail end of a long roadtrip that started with four days of houseboating on Lake Powell, then Monument Valley, the North Rim of Grand Canyon, Zion National Park and Death Valley, plus other locations I am not remembering right now, like Mexican Hat's San Juan Inn, which I am now remembering.

I do not sneak a peak to see which National Park my wall calendar is taking me to next. My favorites are Bryce Canyon, Zion and Arches National Parks. All in Utah.

Spencer Jack & Jason Take Us Back To Spokane's Expo 74

FNJ and FNSJ (also known as Favorite Nephew Jason and Favorite Nephew Spencer Jack) ventured to Eastern Washington, again, this time to far east Washington, almost to west Idaho. 

Multiple photos arrived in my email inbox this morning documenting this roadtrip to the warmer side of Washington.

Explanatory text accompanying the photos...

FUD --

I'm pretty confident that you can guess the Washington State location that Spencer Jack and I drove to today.

Did you attend Expo '74? I'm thinking that you may have, given that you might have been living in Ellensburg at the time.

I did not, but I did travel out of the country to attend Expo '86.

Has Texas hosted a world exposition? Now that I think about it, Spencer Jack and I have 3 such sites within a half days driving distance from our home.

Hope you are staying cool, -FNJ & FNSJ

PS -- It was a perfect 80 degrees and sunshine today in Eastern Washington. I had Spencer take some photos of Snoqualmie Pass to share with you. I will send them to you.

 

Yes, I can tell Spencer Jack and Jason are in Spokane, at the site of Expo 74. That is the scenic Spokane River moving rapidly behind Spencer and Jason.

In the first photo, at the top, it appears Spencer and Jason are standing under the remains of the United States Pavilion. Or was it the Washington State Pavilion? I can't remember for sure. That pavilion was a fabric covered frame. After the Expo the fabric eventually disappeared, with the frame remaining.

I did go to Spokane's Expo 74. The theme of the Expo, if I remember right, was Energy. Or some such thing.

I remember my favorite pavilion was the Soviet Union one. It felt oppressive, just like the Soviet Union did, at that point in time. I remember sneaking in at the exit point, avoiding the long line. And a giant bust of Lenin being at the entry.

Yes, Texas has hosted a world exposition. Hemisfair 68, in San Antonio. A Space Needle like structure called Tower of the Americas remains.

I do not know if the site of the San Antonio World's Fair was turned into a lasting landmark, such as what happened in Seattle when the Century 21 site was turned into the Seattle Center, with many of the fair structures still standing, including the Space Needle, the Monorail, the Coliseum (now Climate Pledge Arena), the Pacific Science Center, and more.

I enjoyed Vancouver's Expo 86 much more than the Spokane World's Fair. I went to Expo 86 twice.

Above is one of Spencer Jack's I-90 Snoqualmie Pass photos, showing the wildlife overpass which has been added since last I was at this location.

Earlier in the year I was fairly certain I would be driving by this location this coming July or August. But, that is not going to happen...

Mystery Postcard From Birch Bay Washington

Above is the front and back of a postcard which arrived in my mailbox yesterday, sent by a mystery sender.

Spencer Jack and Hank Frank's grandpa, Jake, who is also my little brother, is currently escaping the HEAT of Arizona by visiting his old home zone of Washington.

But, the handwriting on this postcard does not look like brother Jake's.

There is some element of wanton cruelty in sending me a Birch Bay postcard.

Up til a month or two ago I was fairly sure I would be having a get together this summer with the majority of my siblings, at Birch Bay, a long planned event that was thwarted by COVID.

And now, this summer of 2002, other issues arose which back burnered going north to Washington to Birch Bay.

I don't think this postcard was sent by the Tacoma Trio and their parental units. It's not their style. That and they have been totally pre-occupied with issues in their Tacoma domicile, which makes it unlikely they have ventured as far north as Birch Bay.

I am sure I will eventually solve this mystery, perhaps via handwriting analysis...

Professor Durango University Of North Texas History Lecturer

The above is part of an email which arrived in my email inbox yesterday.

Why would anyone think I might want to be a history lecturer at the University of North Texas?

I have not been to the University of North Texas in Denton since attending a high school graduation way back in the year 2000.

Would this be carte blanche to teach any history I felt like teaching?

Perhaps explaining Critical Race Theory...

Snake Free Chilly Hike Through Lucy Park Jungle

With the outer world chilled to being barely in the low 80s, it was to Lucy Park I ventured on this final Monday of the 2022 version of June.

What with the temperature being slightly chilly I figured it safe to hike the Lucy Park backwoods jungle, with the snakes in the grass rendered not quite so mobile, due to the chilly drop in temperature from day after day over 100.

I had zero snake encounters today.

I did have two reptile encounters of the mini-alligator sort, also known as lizards.

Lizards seem cute to me. They do not evoke the fear response in me which happens when a snake slithers towards me.

The Big Chill is predicted to continue for well over a week. It seems that just a day or two ago we were threatened with well over a week well over 100.

You have to admit, the Lucy Park jungle does not look even remotely threatening, just a mess of over overgrown foliage, with few critters, not even the flying insect sort.

Hot Lucy Park Walk With Linda Lou Protesting Supreme Court Supremely

Yesterday I did not feel like getting too HOT via any sort of outdoor aerobic endorphin inducing activity.

But, on this final Saturday of the 2022 version of June, even though the temperature was in the mid 90s, I opted to drive to Lucy Park for a shady walk under the cover of trees.

I thought I was going to be walking solo, but Linda Lou surprised me by showing up to walk with me.

Of course, what Linda Lou wanted to talk about is what most people, well, Americans, are talking about.

Yesterday, due to that subject everyone is talking about, thousands of protesters descended on downtown Seattle, and other downtowns, across America.

The above is a screen cap from this morning's online Seattle Times front page. How are that many people able to assemble in such a large number, so quickly? Getting into downtown Seattle is not all that easy, or so it would seem, for thousands to flood into downtown.

This happened in enlightened towns across America, including Austin, in Texas.

I have seen zero sign of protest in Wichita Falls. It is not like such a thing never happens here. The day Trump was inaugurated there was a large protest march here in Wichita Falls, of people protesting, carrying signs, rightfully worried about the incoming feared disaster. Turns out, those fears were valid, with the reality so much worse than anyone imagined it could be.

I did not overheat during my shady walk with Linda Lou.

The high today is predicted to hit 105.

With a cold front blowing in, starting tomorrow, with tomorrow's high to only be in the 90s, with highs in the 80s later in the week.

It may get so chilly I will need to switch my climate control to heat mode...

Spencer Jack Rolls Us Through Washington Cascades John Wayne Trail Tunnel

Saw what you see here via incoming email, this morning, from FNJ, also known as my Favorite Nephew Jason. The first email had several photos with no explanatory text. The second email provided explanatory text. What follows is that explanatory email, followed by my explanatory espousing... 

Hi FUD --

I thought you'd enjoy seeing these photos. And I figured they might need some explanation.

Today, Spencer Jack drove me to the top of Snoqualmie Pass where we parked at the former Hyak railroad station.  Spencer motored his electric scooter back west through the defunct Snoqualmie Tunnel which is now part of the John Wayne Iron Horse Trail which traverses the state laterally.  

The trail was full of other tunnel enthusiasts who either walked, biked, or jogged the 2.3 miles from one side to the other.   FNSJ was the only one I saw using a scooter.  Spencer then phoned me once he found daylight by exiting at the west portal. He warmed up a bit and then returned into the dark tunnel and headed back to Eastern Washington to reunite with myself.

He really enjoyed this. 

We continued over a second mountain pass -- that being Blewett Pass -- before settling in Leavenworth for the evening.   

Leavenworth is currently constructing an Alpine Roller Coaster at the west end of town. This looks so cool and I'm sure it will be a big tourist draw.

Hope all is well in TX.   

-- FNJ

PS -- On your next road trip up to Washington, be sure to take I-90 over the Cascades. You will hardly recognize it. It's so much wider and smoother than it was years ago. And beautifully landscaped and designed.  It's worth the trip.

____________________

Leavenworth is my favorite of Washington's themed tourist towns. Leavenworth is Bavarian themed. I have had many a fine time in Leavenworth. During summer the town is packed with tourists. I imagine the town is enjoying somewhat of a post-COVID boom. 

The John Wayne Trail tunnel opened soon before I moved to Texas. I've never been through it.

I did not know I-90 over Snoqualmie Pass has had some sort of makeover. I last drove over that pass in July of 2001 on my way to my mom and dad's 50th wedding anniversary party. The I-90 pass over Snoqualmie Pass had been rebuilt back in the 1970s, with parts of the freeway elevated high above the tree-line, and thus impervious to avalanches. I remember that period of road construction being a major pain to drive through.

Seeing these photos of a former train tunnel through the Cascades, and Spencer Jack having fun motoring through the tunnel, and thinking about Leavenworth, has me thinking about how in Washington, no matter which direction you go from Spencer Jack and FNJ's home base of Mount Vernon, it is a scenic wonderland of varied attractions. I can not say the same about my current location.

Six months ago I thought I was likely going to be driving over Snoqualmie Pass on a roadtrip back to Washington. But, sadly, that is not going to be happening...

Windless HOT Morning Fast Walk Around Sikes Lake

With this ongoing heat dome caused heat wave I have been going for my daily aerobically induced endorphins activity earlier than my norm, to try and escape the HEAT being too blistering.

This morning it was to Sikes Lake I ventured. As you can see, little wind was blowing, thus providing no wind chill from the 95 degrees.

I was able to satisfy my endorphin addiction, but at the cost of being an overheated sweaty mess. 

In this view you are looking north across Sikes Lake. You can see a few geese in the water, but most were shade seeking under trees.

Today has me wondering if I should maybe seek help from a drug addiction therapist to see if there is some salubrious alternative to these endorphins to which I am addicted.

Such really is an annoying monkey to have on ones back...