A whole lot of blogging to do

As Dad points out, I am way behind.  It isn't just because it's time-consuming, it's also because the internet connection at our eccentric semi-Asian-decor, seal-view house on Totten Inlet in Olympia was really really slooooooow and trying to get it to upload a bunch of photographs would have made me even crazier than I already am.  Also, I haven't transferred the photos in my "real" camera to the computer yet, and there are a lot of them.

Howsomever. Here are some photos from August 8, the last day of our trip west, in which we drove from Moses Lake, Washington to Olympia.  We took I90 west, traveling across the immense basin scoured through the center of the state by the repeated emptying of glacial Lake Missoula when its ice dams broke over and over again around 15,000 B.C.  The Columbia River occupies a deep gorge remaining from that cascade of water, which began in Montana and flooded its way to the Pacific.  Here's Dad overlooking the gorge and the river in Vantage, Washington, where I90 crosses the river just below the still-visible site of an old ferry crossing.

Just across the river is the Gingko Petrified Forest State Park, where we took a quick look at petrified wood from forests that grew millions of years ago.

Then we drove down to the point where I82 swings south toward Yakima, and stopped at a rest area to photograph distant smoke from forest fires in the mountains

and nearby scarring from a forest fire on the ridge just above the rest area

and a firebreak carved by a bulldozer to keep the fire from reaching the rest area and the highway.

We drove west from Yakima on Route 12 through stunningly beautiful mountains and forests in the Cascace Mountains.  This is Rimrock Lake.

And this is Mount Rainier, seen from afar from an overlook on Route 12.  We planned to go back for a closer look, but as it turned out the weather didn't cooperate, and this was as close as we got:

Not close enough. We'll have to go back. That night, we arrived in Olympia, drove over to Liz's flowery house in the midst of busy wedding preparations that included the building of a homemade tent and fence, unloaded Liz's boxes and sculptures, and shared a fine salmon dinner and an evening around the firepit with Liz, Rob, members of Rob's family, Ana, Selena, Chris, Eszter, Trevor, Alex, and I don't remember who else before returning to the hotel for a well-earned rest. Next: our house on Totten Inlet, the night before the big event, and The Wedding!!