John & Anne Wiley

Today I’m sitting in our living room looking at the magnificent Santa Barbara “front range” mountains, and the towering thunderstorm safely beyond them in the Northeast. It’s painful to look at good flying weather when there’s no chance we’ll take Tripp and go exploring. A lesser level of pain for me right now is the physical discomfort from dental surgery this morning. Though there is considerable pain involved in the expense because that translates to many joyful hours of flying that the dental surgery could have paid for.

A big gain from this surgery, beyond long-term prospects for dental health, is that I now have some time to post the last batch of pix from our Smiley Adventure. First of these last is this one of the dunes as we approached Florence, OR.

5280 Slanted Cordouroy Dunes

I’m intrigued by the pattern of dune grasses that are angled from the shore. Guess it has something to do with prevailing winds and waves. Toward the right it seems to morph into a crosshatch pattern with indications of the angled pattern and one parallel to the beach.

After we turned at Gold Beach to follow the Rogue River to Grants Pass, there were several calm sandy beaches where rafters were bedding down in the evening light.

5502 Rogue River Raft Rest

There’s something romantic about this scene for me imagining fireside stories, that distant stare when the group falls into silent reverie, and later dreaming under the stars like countless generations before. In places the river was uniquely transcendent art from this perspective.

5542 Rogue Artist

As we began the landing approach, this little lake had me wondering what kinds of vehicles go there (motorcycles?), and whether visitors just zoom by or perhaps most go on foot to camp or fish.

5577 Airport Neighbor

The next day on our way back out to the Southwest hoping for less coastal low cloud, we got more river views that I’m enjoying again today. Like this one that at first glance looks wild.

5617 Nature of Tame

After imagining Tom Sawyer exploring that wild island, perhaps you notice the mowed lawn at the left. Then your mind may begin to wonder what all this looks like after periods of unusually long and heavy rain. Like a tooth you had been taking for granted, such a scene could turn suddenly painful. But as we again glance down at a river such thoughts inevitably return to all we’ve gained from forces of nature and fate over the eons.

5638 Reflecting

In the deep pools I reflect on the surges of water that carved them out, and the flood of photos that represent a tiny slice of the glories we see on a flying adventure. Just as the depths would be obscured by raging water, serene clarity emerges as I sit enjoying these photos. I feel more here, and at the same time am more prone to drift back into sweet memories or forward into dreams of another adventure.

Having lived in Seattle area for brief periods, I enjoyed flying it on our way from Renton to Yelm. Since my co-pilot lived there for 14 years, it was even more fun! Right after takeoff we could see a glorious Pacific Northwest panorama, and here’s a small slice.

4593 Renton Takeoff

This little tour before turning South toward Yelm was spectacular, and only took a few minutes. Turning first out toward Snoqualmie, this suspension bridge near Carnation stood out.

4649 Suspension Bridge

Like an old friend, Mount Si stood up to greet us across the valley, scratching clouds off it’s sleepy head.

4761 Mt. Si

Our first time seeing majestic Snoqualmie Falls from the air was stunning, leaving us literally speechless at first. Having seen it from the top and bottom in the past made it all the more remarkable, as we could almost feel the mist and the rumble.

4784 Snoqualmie Falls

After many scenic wonders we turned West and snagged good views of the downtown skyline, like this angle on the Space Needle and its shiny new Frank Gehry companion.

4854 Needle & Friends

When we reached the Sound this view back toward the city had so many familiar landmarks it was almost overwhelming, even tho in this pic it might seem surprising that it was so fun for us. Too much detail maybe? Perhaps in a wall-size print? Or only for Seattleites in an airplane?

4875 Seattle

For us the downtown was close enough to touch, and the haze from the distant fire was completely invisible. All our eyes could take in was the glory of a day with blue sky, after living under months of cloud.