Collected Along the Way: 13 Photographs

After a bit of a drive along a forest road, we reached the trailhead and started the hike. I remember that about a quarter of the way in, it started becoming pretty difficult for me. Stacy, on the other hand, seemed to have no trouble at all and made it to the top without much difficulty.

Once we reached the lookout, we were rewarded with spectacular 360-degree views. Mount Rainier was right in front of us, although it is just outside the frame in this photo, and Sawtooth Ridge stretched out nearby. Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, and even Mount Hood were all visible in the distance on what turned out to be a perfectly clear and sunny day.

For about five years, we had been heading north in Washington each spring to visit tulip festivals, but this time we decided to try something different. We headed south into Oregon to check out a tulip farm we had heard about and see how it compared to the places we had visited before.

The weather was overcast with a few sprinkles here and there, but we enjoyed it just as much as the previous years. The fields seemed to stretch on forever, and we spent plenty of time walking around, exploring, and taking photos. If anything, the gray sky helped make the colors of the tulips stand out even more.

While hiking the Palisades Trail, we came across a sign pointing toward a short side trail to Hidden Lake. We decided to take the detour and were glad we did. The lake was clear, still, and tucked away enough to live up to its name.

After finishing the rest of the trail, we had our first bear encounter on the way back. About 15 to 20 feet off the trail, it was rummaging around in the brush, presumably looking for food. The bear did not seem concerned about us at all. We, on the other hand, were a little nervous and kept a much closer eye on our surroundings for the rest of the hike back.

The Anacortes Chamber of Commerce invited us out for a three-night stay after seeing some of our blog posts. They arranged a kayaking tour, a whale-watching tour, restaurants for us to try, and several suggested hikes. It turned into a very busy but really enjoyable trip, and we quickly realized just how much there was to see and do around the city.

One of the places we visited was Cap Sante Park, where we stopped at the Cap Sante Viewpoint overlooking the marina, waterway, and city below. It was quite windy up there, and while reviewing the photos later, I came across this one of Stacy and me with her hair blowing everywhere. It has always stood out to me because it instantly brings back all the great memories from that trip.

Who can say they stayed in a castle? We can. We spent a couple of nights in Alexander’s Castle at Fort Worden Historical State Park and had plenty of time to explore the area. We walked through old military batteries, beachcombed along the shoreline, spotted plenty of deer, and hiked some of the nearby trails.

While walking around the lighthouse, I noticed Stacy taking photos of it and thought it would make a great picture to capture her photographing it on her phone. I liked the idea of showing both the place itself and the moment of her documenting it. Photos of us actually experiencing these places can be just as meaningful as the scenery itself.

Forks, Washington was our main destination that day, but we had always wanted to visit Cape Flattery and it was not too far out of the way. We had enough time for a late check-in, and even though it had been pouring rain for most of the day, we decided it was still worth making the detour.

The rain continued almost all the way to the parking lot before finally stopping, and the sky began to break open in a few places. We figured that if we moved quickly enough on the hike, we might still have a chance to get some good photos. We were right. The sun was just beginning to set as it broke through the clouds, and the combination of forest, cliffs, sea stacks, and waves crashing against the rocks made the whole place feel almost otherworldly.

The scenery at Rialto Beach was every bit as impressive as we had heard. Driftwood seemed to stretch endlessly along the shore, countless rocks covered the beach where sand normally would, waves crashed in from the Pacific, and sea stacks rose all along the coastline.

We kept coming across larger and larger logs, and eventually I decided to climb up onto one. Stacy took this photo while I was looking out toward the ocean, and it has remained my favorite photograph of myself ever since. She captured the scale perfectly, especially just how massive the log was beneath me.

Here in Orting, snowfall seems to happen less and less often every year, maybe only once or twice in some winters. It was Christmas Day and we wanted to get outside for a while, so when we heard there was snow in a nearby city, we drove over to the park to enjoy it.

We walked the loop around the lake, saw plenty of other people out enjoying the day, and eventually decided to build a snowman. By the time we finished, it had become a snowwoman, and Stacy came up with the perfect name: Snowmantha. This photo always brings me back to that day and how happy we were just being outside and spending the time together.

A long drive along a forest road eventually brought us to Mowich Lake, where we set out on the trail to Spray Falls. It was cloudy, rainy, and cold, and since it was our first time hiking there, we really did not know what to expect.

Once we rounded the final turn, the waterfall was suddenly right in front of us and much larger than we had imagined. It was quite a sight to take in. Stacy climbed farther up the rocks, and we quickly understood how the falls got their name as the mist sprayed everywhere and soaked us. Once she moved a little farther ahead, I snapped this photo hoping to capture some sense of the enormous scale of the waterfall.

We’ve hiked to a handful of fire lookouts over the years, and Heybrook Lookout was another one to add to the list. The hike was only about a mile, but much of the trail was covered in snow, mud, and even ice in places, so it took us a little longer than expected to reach the end. Once we arrived at the lookout, we still had another 84 steps to climb before reaching the viewing platform.

From the top, we could see several mountains throughout the Cascade Range, but Baring Mountain and Mount Index were the two that stood out the most. Mount Index was a little closer and made for a great photograph with its snow-covered slopes and rocky cliff face. The sun was also beginning to lower, which brought out more of the cool blue tones across the mountain and surrounding landscape.

This six-mile round-trip hike took us through the Mount Rainier Wilderness on the way to Fremont Lookout. It was cold and extremely foggy for most of the hike out. Along the way, we spotted a group of more than 25 mountain goats, a lone elk, and several pikas calling out nearby. The landscape was mostly open, with no forests to pass through, just a series of rolling hills and a single lake along the route.

I took this photo on the way back, about halfway along the trail, after the fog finally began to break and the sunlight hit the landscape just right. A trail can be seen gradually climbing from left to right across the hillside, and I almost suggested that we go check it out while we were already nearby. By then it was after 6 p.m., though, and I figured it was getting too late. This photo has always been a reminder that we still need to go back and hike that trail someday.

We had camped the night before, but the July heat in eastern Washington made it nearly impossible to sleep. We were miserable in the tent and barely rested at all. Around 5 a.m., I looked outside and saw a deer wandering through our campsite, and we decided that was our cue to get up, give up on sleeping, and knock out the planned hike before the day became even hotter.

After a short walk to the trail, the sun was just beginning to rise over the rocky cliffs to the east, directly in the direction we were heading. Stacy captured this photo of me right as we started the hike. The trail eventually took us up and around Umatilla Rock through the dry desert landscape, giving us plenty more opportunities to stop, explore, and take photos along the way.

Another coastal trip brought us here for a two-night stay in a yurt. The beach seems to stretch on forever, and if someone really wanted to, they could walk north for miles and pass through two additional state parks. Beachcombing, watching wildlife, and simply feeling surrounded by nature are some of the things we enjoy most about staying here.

That evening, the sun was breaking in and out of the clouds, the wind was blowing, and the sand was shifting across the dunes. I knelt down and took this photo with all of that happening around me. It is not a landmark, a famous viewpoint, or even a photo of us, just a completely spontaneous moment that existed for only a few seconds. No one, including me, could ever capture this exact scene in quite the same way again.