Tootsie Tonasket Is Smoking HOT

My North Texas location on the planet continues to be green, even as the HOT days of August near their end with the arrival of September.

Previous summers in Texas have not been like this. Previously most foliage turns brown and wildfires burn some of what has turned brown, often turning the air smoky, such as what you see photo documented above.

But, that is not a scene in North Texas. That is a scene in Eastern Washington. The town of Tonasket to be precise, home of Tootsie Tonasket and Aunt Alice. Aunt Alice has been reporting that this is the smokiest hottest summer she has spent at her Tonasket location.

In the past few days Eastern Washington has somehow managed to have some rain fall, damping down the fires. Western Washington, which is usually the rainy side of the state, has only had a light misting.

Speaking of September, and the arrival of Fall. In Walmart this morning I saw a large Fall type sort of Halloween display, a warning harbinger that that wonderful holiday season of the year will soon be upon us...

Google Erroneously Looks Back At My August 21 Memories

The above showed up in my email a couple days ago, a gift from Google. These memory gifts from Google show up every once in a while for no reason apparent to me. 

Of the five memories shown above I remember four out of the five. I have no clue what town is being remembered in the upper left. 

Google tells me these are memories from August 21.

However.

I know for an absolute fact that two of these memories are from August 11. In the year 2008 to be exact.

On that day in that year I went to see Mount Rainier up close. That would make my sister-in-law's mom, Janet, next to me in front of Mount Rainier in the lower right photo.

Above me and Janet that is a photo of the new Centennial building and its mustang sculptures at MSU (Midwestern State University). To the left of me and Janet is the fountain at MSU. 

So, Google thinks I somehow managed to be at Mount Rainier, in Washington, and MSU, in Texas, on the same day in 2008. I have no memory of such happening...

Madame McNutty Strikes Again With Deception

Saw that which you see above Sunday morning on Facebook. Once again Madame M has shared an image from our old home zone of Washington which triggers, in me, a mild bout of homesickness.

Madame M's brother, Roger, has become a renowned artist due to his paintings of the scenic wonderland of Western Washington, mostly scenes in the Skagit Valley, judging from the paintings I have seen.
 
The painting above is called Deception Pass Sunset. Which would seem to indicate we are looking west past the longer of the two spans of the Deception Pass Bridge, which connects Fidalgo Island to Whidbey Island. 

It has been way too many years since I last was at Deception Pass, but from my memory the above view is looking east at a sunrise, not a sunset. I say that because I do not remember any little islands like you see above, when you look west under the bridge, but I do remember little islands when you look east under the bridge.

But, we have to keep in mind that I am borderline elderly, and my memory may not be reliable.

Possible point of interest to anyone reading this who lives in the Fort Worth area. The Deception Pass Bridge was built way back in the 1930s. It took less than a year to build the bridge. Over water. Deep water which turns into fast moving rapids when there is an extreme tide. 

And the Deception Pass Bridge is an actual iconic signature bridge, though it was not touted as such when it was being built.

And Deception Pass Bridge actually connects to a real island, well, actually two real islands, Fidalgo and Whidbey.

No cement lined ditch had to be dug to turn those two land masses into imaginary islands...

A Tale Of Two Maps

 A day or two ago, or maybe yesterday, I blogged about Imagine Sailing Your Yacht To Fort Worth's Imaginary Panther Island.

That blogging made mention of the multiple real islands which exist in the vicinity of my old home zone of the Skagit Valley of Washington.

In that blogging I made use of the map app on my computer to properly identify actual islands which exist in the vicinity of my previous, pre-Texas, location.

Doing so, as in screen capping a map of the general area I used to exist in, I was struck by how close I was to so many things. Such as another country, known as Canada. Or, one of the world's biggest actual islands, Vancouver Island, where the picturesque capital of British Columbia, Victoria, is located.

I could, for only a few bucks, ride a ferry to multiple islands, or Victoria. Or just take a day trip to one of Washington's many tourist towns, such as La Conner, in the Skagit Valley, location of an actual iconic signature bridge built over actual water.

It was like living in a theme park.

A reality I did not appreciate when I lived there. Head west a few miles and you are at saltwater beaches. Head east a few miles and you are in a mountainous scenic wonderland. Head north a few miles and you are in a different country.

In that map above, that jagged dark line represents the border between Canada and the U.S. If you look closely you can see that my old home town of Mount Vernon is just about at the same longitude on the planet as Victoria in Canada.

If you look real close at the map you can see a part of America cut off by that borderline. That is Point Roberts. Mostly Canadians live there, but it is in America.

And now, below, let us look at a screen cap map of a similar section of the planet at my current location on the planet, Wichita Falls, Texas.

Is it in any wonder why I suffer bouts of homesickness? Which I do nothing about, because it is not an easy thing to change ones location. 

In the above instance, unlike the previous map, that squiggly thick line does not indicate the border with another country. This one indicates the Texas border with Oklahoma, with that squiggly line also known as the Red River. As you can see there are a few water features in my current vicinity. None of the size which sport ferry boats, cruise ships or yachts.

I really do need to change my current location...

Imagine Sailing Your Yacht To Fort Worth's Imaginary Panther Island

Saw that which you see above last night via the "You Know You're From Anacortes When..." Facebook page. 

The caption above the photo said, "Somebody has more money than we do. Largest yacht we've ever seen around here. There are 2 people on the flybridge, looking at them gives some perspective to the size of this beauty."

"Around here" is Anacortes, a town with a couple marinas, a ferry terminal and Spencer Jack's Fidalgo Drive-In.

I can not tell if the boat is moving through Guemes Channel, heading west to the San Juan Islands, or heading west towards the San Juan Islands via Burrows Channel. If it is Burrows Channel that would make the land in the background Burrows Island. If it is Guemes Channel that would make the land Guemes Island.

I do not remember there being little islands, as seen above, in Guemes Channel, so I'm going with this being Burrows Channel. Let me check the map app on this computer to see if I can clear up this serious issue...

Well, the map show little islands by both of the bigger islands. But, the little islands near Guemes Island would not have homes looking out at them, as shown in the photo at the top. But, Burrows Island would have homes looking out at it. There is a big marina called Skyline Marina, on the mainland across from Burrows Island, with a lot of houses built on the slopes above Burrows Bay, with that area known as Skyline.

When I see something like the photo at the top, or this map, showing islands, my inclination is to comment for the umpteenth time that it is so bizarre that the landlocked Texas town called Fort Worth, for most of this century, has been slowly trying to build a ridiculous mess originally called Trinity Uptown, then Trinity River Vision, eventually morphing into the Trinity River Central City Uptown Panther Island District Vision.

A myopic vision which has slowly seen three little freeway overpass type bridges being built over dry land to one day connect the Fort Worth mainland to an imaginary island, if a cement lined ditch is ever successfully dug, with the Trinity River diverted into the ditch, making the imaginary island called, already, Panther Island, where there is no island, and never will be any sane person's idea of what an island is.

Part of Fort Worth's Trinity River Vision is to see what they are calling a Town Lake. The size has varied over the years of Boondoggling along, ranging from as small as 12 acres to as big as 33 acres.

Part of the vision is to see a houseboat district on the lake. 

One day there may be a lake, and maybe there will be houseboats floating on the little lake, but I think I can say for absolute certainty there will never be a big yacht sailing to the imaginary Panther Island...

Throwback Thursday To Mount Rainier & Hoover Dam

No. What you are looking at above is not yet one more photo of the Mount Rainier volcano suffering a meltdown due to the current record breaking heatwaves scorching the Pacific Northwest. The above photo was taken August 15, 2017, heading south to Phoenix from Seattle.

Western Washington was in drought mode when I was there the summer of 2017. Not as extreme as the current drought, but the Evergreen State was not looking its normal shade of green during that visit.

On August 10, 2021, almost exactly four years after I took the above photo of Mount Rainier, sister Jackie took the below photo of Mount Rainier, as she flew by on her way to Seattle from Phoenix. I blogged about this in Flying Over Naked Mount Rainier With Sister Jackie

The two photos do not seem to be from the exact same vantage point, but close. And the Mountain does look a bit more naked in the 2021 version than the 2017 version.

I had forgotten I had taken these photos of Mount Rainier, back in 2017. Suffice to say I had a lot going on at that point in time, so some things got forgotten. Such as these photos. Two samples of such below.

I remember being surprised at how close the pilot was flying by the Mountain.

I did not see any mountain climbers making their way to the summit. Maybe mid August is not the right time of year for that treacherous activity.

In the same folder of photos taken whilst flying south to Phoenix I came upon the one you see below...

That is Hoover Dam you see above, blocking the flow of the Colorado River, creating Lake Mead. And that's the new Tillman Bridge, crossing the Colorado from Nevada to Arizona, you see in front of the dam.

I have not been to Hoover Dam since the bridge was built. I like the old way of crossing, switchbacks til you reached the dam, then driving across to park on the Arizona side, before walking across the dam. I don't know if doing such is still allowed. I suspect not. 

I have not been to Hoover Dam since late in the previous century when my Favorite Jason and Joey Nephews took me to Vegas. 

Las Vegas. If I remember right I've only been to Vegas one time this century. And that was in the middle of winter, and it was raining. I do not remember that as a fun visit to Vegas.

I do remember the Vegas stop was part of a roadtrip which began in Haslet, Texas, driving back to Washington, with staying at the Luxor in Vegas happening on the way back to Texas, with the return route including driving over Hoover Dam.

I remember the drive through the Phoenix metro zone seeming to take forever, finally overnighting in Casa Grande. At that point in time I would never have guessed that a few years later I would become quite familiar with the entire Phoenix area...

August Rains Of Summer Drench Green Wichita Falls Ahead Of Hotter'N Hell 100

What you are looking at above is my windshield wipers wiping rain off my windshield, slapping time to the tunes on the radio.

I did not know rain and thunder was on today's weather menu til drops began dripping and thunder began thundering a couple hours after the sun began its daily illumination duty.

Being in desperate need of new reading material I put on long pants for the first time in months and bravely pushed my motorized means of motion through the torrential downpour to downtown Wichita Falls, to the library.

The photo above is post library, heading south on Hamilton Boulevard with Hamilton Park on the left. I saw no kids getting wet in the Hamilton Park Doctor's Splash Pad, making this the first time since it opened that I drove or biked by without seeing kids having fun getting splashed.

As you can see via the photo documentation, unlike my old home zone in the Pacific Northwest, we are still mostly green in Texas, which usually is not the case by the time the middle of August arrives.

In a little over a week a non rain related flood floods this town when people arrive from all over the world to participate in the various events that take place during the Hotter'N Hell 100 bike race. Last year's Hotter'N Hell 100 was cancelled due to COVID.

I am assuming that the Hotter'N Hell 100 is still happening, despite the increase in COVID cases.

If it's not too HOT methinks I'll go to the race finish location this year. Hotter'N Hell 100's events and attractions take place at MPEC, the Wichita Falls Multi-Purpose Event Center. There are vendors selling stuff, like food, other giving away free samples, a big beer garden, artwork, music and a lot of hoopla. 

I like a lot of hoopla, probably because I so rarely experience any hoopla.

I clicked the Hotter'N Hell 100  link and learned the Hotter'N Hell is still on, with the following COVID warning...

HOTTER’N HELL HUNDRED IS RETURNING AS A LIVE EVENT FOR 2021

WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYONE LIVE AS WE CELEBRATE THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY HHH EVENTS THE WEEKEND OF AUGUST 26 THROUGH AUGUST 29, 2021

Our 2021 registration is running ahead of 2018 and 2019, so we’re expecting a great crowd in Wichita Falls! 

We’re hoping that everyone who comes to HHH that wanted to get the vaccine has protected themselves against the Covid-19 virus and has been able to take advantage of available vaccines. Whatever your vaccine status is, it’s recommended that everyone wear masks while indoors. While  we cannot mandate wearing masks indoors, we do wholeheartedly recommend it. 

We also recommend wearing masks, when possible, especially around people you don’t know. Wearing a mask at the HHH start, rest stops or in groups of people, may help with decreasing transmission.

If you’re feeling any kind of symptoms, which are flu-like or respiratory, it’s best to stay home and ride our virtual event when you do feel up to it. If you sneeze, please cover your mouth, remember to wash your hands and have a great time at our 40th HHH event. 

Linda Lou Sees UFO Flying Over Seattle

The above arrived this morning via Facebook from Linda Lou, purporting to show a UFO flying saucer type aircraft hovering over Seattle. This photo also appears to be photo documenting how bad the wildfire smoke is in the Seattle zone of Western Washington.

As we saw earlier this morning, the wildfire smoke in the Skagit Valley has cleared enough to allow a clear view of the Mount Baker volcano.

FNJ Photo Documents Melting Mount Baker

Photo documentation, sent by my Favorite Nephew Jason, was in my email this morning, documenting the current melting status of Washington's Mount Baker volcano.

The text accompanying the two photos...

FUD --.

As promised, photo documentation of the local volcano appearing nearly naked.  I have never seen this much rock visible.   And as we chatted about the other day, it is only mid-August!  Snowfall in the mountains normally doesn't start until late September or early October.   If we have a warm September, perhaps Mt. Baker will be topless by the end of summer.  That's my bet.

Both snapshots were taken late this afternoon.   These views weren't available the past few days due to wildfires, but the mountain became visible later today after the sun burned of the marine fog.  

The first photo is from the parking lot at Fidalgo Drive-In looking east.  That blob of land located behind the oil tanker and in front of Mount Baker is Hat Island.  I have not been to this Hat Island, but I have camped once on Saddlebag Island which is just a hop, skip and jump to the north. 

The view from the Fidalgo Drive-In has dramatically improved after the bowling alley across the street was demolished.

The accompanying text from FNJ continues below the second photo...

For the second photo, I stopped off at March's Point on my way home from work.  This view shows so much of the mountain, which is normally dressed in snow, showing just bare rock.  The water you are looking at is Padilla Bay, and the group of homes and buildings on the lower right is the unincorporated community of Bay View. I think I sent you a photo you used in your blogging years ago from this exact same location.  Let me search for that, so we can compare snow cover.

Well I found it: Spencer Jack Drives His Pickup To Frozen Padilla Bay, however, it looks like I took that 2016 photo looking southeast and not northeast.

Anyway, I'm tired now and ready for dinner. Hope these photos don't make you too homesick.

-FNJ

Well, Mount Baker still has a lot of frozen water to melt. Long ways to go to be as shockingly naked as California's Mount Shasta. 

Thanks for the photo documentation, Jason. I was already homesick, so these photos did not make that condition worse...

Smoky Eastern Washington With Jason & Spencer Jack At Grand Coulee Dam & Sun Lakes

Incoming email this morning from my Favorite Nephew Jason and Spencer Jack.

Subject line in email---

HOT and SMOKY in EW

Looking at the four photos, included in the email, it was quickly apparent that EW was not Entertainment Weekly, but was Eastern Washington.

For those who have never been to the Pacific Northwest, and Washington, Eastern Washington is totally different in multiple ways from Western Washington.

The Cascade Mountain range separates the two sides of the state. Western Washington is green, unless there is a drought, whilst Eastern Washington is mostly brown, except where there are orchards and vineyards and irrigated gardens and other crop lands.

Western Washington is solidly progressively liberal democratic, whilst Eastern Washington is like Texas, politically, but, fortunately the bulk of the population is in Western Washington, so right wing nut jobs are kept at a minimum, political office and other-wise.

The text which accompanied these photos said---

FUD- thought you’d enjoy these photos taken today. Been meaning to get you a few pics of Mt Baker without snow. Will do that sometime in the near future.

Took me a second or two to realize Spencer Jack is standing in front of Grand Coulee Dam, in both the above photos. 

I don't know if water from the Lake Roosevelt reservoir ever pours over Grand Coulee's spillway anymore, since the third powerhouse was added. Back when water did go over the spillway, during the summer tourist season a light show would accompany music as the lights lit up the water spilling over the dam.

When Grand Coulee's dam began to back up water something unexpected happened. Water seeped deep into the earth, causing new lakes to form in locations like the Lower Grand Coulee. The Lower Grand Coulee begins at Dry Falls, at one time the biggest waterfall in the world. 

A short distance from Dry Falls one finds Sun Lakes State Park. Sun Lakes was one of my favorite summer go to locations when I was an in state Washingtonian. It took me a second or two to realize the next two photos were taken at Sun Lakes State Park.

 Apparently Eastern Washington lakes and reservoirs are not having the water shortage problem which is happening on the west side of the mountains. At least that is what I am assuming, seeing Spencer Jack standing in water by a couple picnic tables.

I do not understand why we are not seeing a lot of people in the water. This looks like the swimming area in Sun Lakes State Park. There should be a floating dock, with a lot of people on the dock and jumping off it. 

Maybe the wildfires and all the smoke are keeping people away. I read this morning that the North Cascades Highway is back open, after being closed for weeks due to fires, which are still burning. Driving the North Cascades Highway is the most direct route to Sun Lakes from Mount Vernon.

Go to Sun Lakes State Park and you will see Sun Lakes like I remember it, with a lot of people, including me, laying under the sun. At the opposite end of Lower Grand Coulee, where the Coulee ends, you find Soap Lake, which was a favorite go to location when I was a kid.

My mom liked to go to Soap Lake because it was one of her favorite childhood memories, with her grandma and grandpa taking mom camping there. When mom was a kid, camping at Soap Lake, there was a nudist colony on the opposite side of the lake, which was long gone by the time I was a kid.

People would go into the lake and cover themselves with mud, thinking it had some sorta special healing powers. Swimming in Soap Lake in a swimming suit was a bit problematic, because the "soap" in the lake was abrasive and soon could cause a sore spot where swimsuit material was rubbing. 

Okay, enough about Sun Lakes and Soap Lake. It's making me homesick...

UPDATE: Jason called after reading the above to tell me that in reality Sun Lakes State Park was packed, and that a new campground loop has been added. Jason called from Ellensburg, where he and Spencer had spent the night. Ellensburg is home to Central Washington State University, a school both Jason and I attended. Prior to overnighting in Ellensburg the previous night was spent in Leavenworth, my favorite of Washington's tourist towns.