Do you know the way to Santa Fe?

I'm in Santa Fe this week visiting an artist friend of mine. Just arrived yesterday afternoon after geting up at 4 AM (ugh) to catch a flight out. It is sort of a trek to get here from my home...take one flight to Phoenix...then another to Albuquerque and finally a 90 minute shuttle to Santa Fe. Everything went smoothly this time...a few times in the past, that hasn't been the case. Anyway, haven't done much yet. We walked around the plaza area yesterday and then ate out at Balconies on the Plaza. After that, a nice long sleep. Didn't take many photos yesterday, except for a few shots of some lovely sunflowers.

We are off on the High Road to Taos Artists Tour today!

A Day at the Wetlands

Sunday morning was spent with a really good friend of mine (we have known each other since late elementary school) on a two hour walk at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands in Huntington Beach. In honor of her birthday, which was the day before, we went out to a nice breakfast and then headed to the wetlands. We were both prepared for an overcast day (not sure why), but it turned out to be a bright sunny September day (didn't bring enough sunscreen!). All the birds were out enjoying it too! I don't think these photos require a bunch of commentary, so I will just post with a few captions. Of course, on a thoughtful note, we were also both very aware that it was the 10 year anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks. Our thoughts were with all the people so greatly affected by that tragedy.

Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest egret of them all? 

Great Snowy Egret

Egret coming in for a landing...

Young Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron in Flight

Seagull

Blue Heron and his Shadow

A Gorgeous Great Blue Heron

Egret going out for a swim.

The next three are a sequence of an egret taking flight.

The next three are a sequence of shots of an egret getting ready to shake himself off.

A white puff ball or a shaking egret?

Okay, shook that off...now back to being dignified.

A Pair of Egrets looking like white Penguins?

Blue Herons in Flight

The next few photos are various shots of Terns. I love Terns..they are so graceful and seem so full of personality!

A Tern making a Big Splash

Sorry, this one is rather blurry, but loved the fish hanging out of his mouth.

So Graceful!

The beautiful nesting grounds at the wetlands.

One more shot of a Great Blue Heron as we were coming to the end of the trail. I love his open mouth!

Willet

Finally, this Sandwich Tern (I think) sitting on a post as we were leaving. What an incredible morning here at the wetlands!

Snowy Egret - Explore #326

Snowy Egret, a photo by SandyK29 on Flickr.

Another Explore today! Not sure what is going on.

Flickr Explore #326 on September 11, 2011.

Unspoiled Beauty - Explore #109

Unspoiled Beauty, a photo by SandyK29 on Flickr.

I had another (second time) photograph shown on Flickr Explore today at #109. This is all very new to me, so it was a surprise and a thrill. Anyway, since I'm not traveling right now, thought I'd post it.

This photo was taken on a trip to Panama and Costa Rica in the spring of 2008 with my cousin. This is a little island off the coast of Bocas del Toro, Panama, called Zapatillas Key. I will never forget this beach because it felt like I was in a wonderful dream. I kept thinking, is this real? We were the only people on this beautiful unspoiled island. We explored the entire island, stopping to enjoy the warm waters every few minutes. Heaven!

Flickr Explore #109 on September 10, 2011

Peyto Lake - Explore #157

Peyto Lake, a photo by SandyK29 on Flickr.

Well, this morning I woke up to 50+ emails in my inbox and was wondering what was going on, when I realized that one of my photos from a trip to the Canadian Rockies was featured in Explore today on Flickr. I am excited :)...my very first Explore!

Flickr Explore #157 on September 2, 2011

PNW Road Trip Days 15 and 16: Orcas Island to Portland to Home

Well, we are coming to the end of this journey. Why are the end of vacations so bittersweet? While I was looking forward to getting home in many ways, I was also feeling very sad. I was sad because the adventure and the feeling of freedom were almost over, and the good friend that I just shared all of these amazing experiences with lives in a different city and it would probably be another year before I saw him again. So...while I was still enjoying these last couple of days, I was also feeling rather melancholy and sad.

Day 15 started out early with getting up, packing up the car and driving to the ferry terminal at Orcas Village. We parked the car in line and headed over to Orcas Hotel for a little breakfast. The poor lady at the cafe was completely overwhelmed. She was the only one working and there was a long line...she was taking the orders, working the cash register and fixing breakfast. It was a long wait. *sigh*

We sat and had our breakfast looking out over Orcas Village feeling sad about leaving this beautiful place...when we saw our ferry (below) come around the corner. I guess that means we should start heading back to the car now.

The front porch of the Orcas Hotel.

After driving onto the ferry, we got out and went up to the upper decks to enjoy Orcas and the San Juan's for as long as possibile. View looking back to Orcas from the ferry.

Here we go....bye for now Orcas!

View of the ferry and the San Juan Islands.

Heading to Lopez Island.

After the ferry ride back to the mainland, we did some serious driving south toward Portland. We had one stop to make though before heading to our hotel...and that was at a place for a piece of cherry pie and a damn fine cup of coffee. Yep, my travel mate HAD to make a stop at Twede's Cafe in North Bend, the diner of Twin Peaks fame, for the cherry pie and coffee. It was a little out of the way, but a fun stop to make! The town was really cool. It was surrounded by mountains which had a cloud cover hanging all over them...very much the mood of Twin Peaks.

A piece of cherry pie (ala mode) and a damn fine cup of coffee. Yum....the pie and the coffee were truly both delicious. I got a coffee mug to go too!

After our stop at Twede's, we made a beeline for our Portland hotel. We wanted to get settled and head out for a nice dinner in Portland and a visit to Powell's Books. This was the view from our Portland hotel room.

I didn't take my camera out this evening, but we ate at Henry's 12th Street Tavern near

Powell's Bookstore in Portland Oregon (phone photo below). We had a nice meal and some delicious draft beers and then headed over to Powell's Bookstore where we wandered for a long long time. Powell's seemed to go on and on forever. Oh, we did stop for some gelato first though.

After wandering around Powell's, we headed back to our hotel to do our final packing and get to sleep. Both of our flights left fairly late the next day, and we wanted to hit the Hawthorne District for breakfast and shopping in the morning and then walk along Waterfront Park before heading to the airport in the afternoon. A good friend of mine who grew up in the Portland area told me that I had to go to Petite Provence for breakfast, so that is where we headed first thing on our last day.

Oh, if breakfast was as good as these French pastries looked...Yum!

I ordered the Eggs Provencal...which was two fresh poached eggs served atop basil pesto and flame-roasted tomatoes sprinkled with mozzarella cheese. It was served with Provencal potatoes and butternut squash and a homemade croissant with fresh jam...and a delicious espresso. Oh, so so good! Good thing this place isn't right down the street from my house!

After breakfast, we wandered all over the Hawthorne District of Portland doing a little shopping for friends and family. This is the famous Bagdad Theater (below).

An interesting window display in the Hawthorne District. It sort of felt like I was in Amsterdam.

After shopping for awhile, we headed over to the Waterfront area to look around. We parked in a big office building and hiked a few blocks to Waterfront Park where we walked for awhile, feeling rather sad that this journey was coming to an end.

A Portland Bridge over the Willamette River.

Some Canadian Geese that had a hard time swimming against the current when the Portland Spirit left the dock.

The waterfront was getting ready for some big event over the weekend (we were there on Friday, June 10th, 2011). There were all kinds of ships docked along the river and rides and food places were going up all over. Lots of people milling around.

The Portland Spirit.

This was a boat that was used in Vietnam (below).

Twin Canadian ships.

One last photo of Portland before heading back to the car to go to the airport. This was an interesting part of town...it reminded me a bit of downtown Long Beach (hometown) where there is a mixture of new development and older buildings, as well as a mixed bag of residents.

Time to head to the airport now. My friend's plane left WAY before mine, so I would spend several hours at the airport before heading home. Unfortunately, the Jet Blue counter was closed and I had to trapse all over the airport with a huge luggage cart in tow until they reopened a few hours later. I was pretty emotional this day. A good friend was going home and a fun adventure was coming to an end. I have to admit that I was in tears for awhile after saying good-bye :(. After a couple glasses of wine and some dinner, I was able to check in for my flight and was ready to head home. Goodbye Oregon and Washington...it was an amazing adventure! Thank you for being so beautiful! This is a photo of Mount Hood from the airplane headed home.

Another one...

Some serious storm clouds outside of Portland.

Well, that is the end of my Pacific Northwest adventure. After the initial sadness wore off, I was ready to plan my next big adventure...I wonder where it will be?