Tuesday, September 24, 2013

One of Those Things I Thought I'd Never See

My father was in the RCAF. I spent my formative years on airbases. When I was in junior high, the lemmings were all growing their hair long and reciting dimwitted slogans about peace and love. I joined Air Cadets.

For a while, the FW-190 was my favourite WWII fighter. Back then, there were none left. They had all been destroyed or lost.

I first discovered the Flying Heritage Collection when I read that an FW-190 had been pulled from the taiga near what was then Leningrad (now Petrograd) and was being restored to flying condition. I told Chris that when it was restored, I was going to go see it.

On Saturday, I got to see and hear something I had once thought impossible: an original Focke-Wulf FW-190 A-5 in flight.


Friday, September 20, 2013

Stout Metal Airplane

At the Evergreen Air and Space Museum, they have a gorgeous Ford Tri-Motor. Ford purchased the Stout Metal Aircraft Company and made about 200 Ford Tri-Motors in the 1920's.

This plate is affixed to the side.

'Stout' doesn't refer to 'strong', but rather is the name of the guy who owned the Stout Metal Airplane Company before Ford bought it.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Ridiculous II

Many years ago I was traveling on the ferry between Tsawassen and Victoria. I don't remember where I was going, or for what purpose, but I was alone. The sun was rising in a beautiful clear summer sky and the light was that precious early morning gold, where everything is lit at a low angle with a creamy warm glow.

Active Pass was gorgeous - it was slack tide and the water was smooth.

There was an audible collective gasp as a topsail schooner, the Robertson II, rounded the head, sails full, ahead of the ferry. It was so stupidly beautiful and magical that it was over the top ridiculous.

That first evening on Grayland Beach was like that.


Monday, September 16, 2013

Ridiculous

So we're at Grayland Beach in Washington - it's beautiful, the sun is going down on a clear evening, and then three horses wander across the scene.

In the setting sun.

On the beach.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

On The Beach

Black and white. We found this huge half-log on the beach in Oregon between Reedsport and Coos Bay.




Monday, September 9, 2013

A multiportrait

This is all of us on the beach south of Reedsport, Oregon. The day was actually pretty good for photography, although a touch bright - the light was flat and soft, and there was a really good amount of bounce from the sand.


Thursday, September 5, 2013

Sundown


This is from the first evening at Cape Disappointment. It was a warm, soft evening, which is a bit unusual there - usually the wind blows steadily and firmly. The wind, while present, was actually light enough that our stunt kite wouldn't fly well, and footprints in the sand weren't erased.
We did fly the Pentacow in the afternoon. After the kids got bored with her, I flew her up to her full 300 feet of line, where it was hard to tell that she was a crazed cow (with shocking pink udder) any more.

Wednesday, September 4, 2013

On the evening of the day we arrived in Cape Disappoinment, we got this sunset:
So, yeah, it was all worth it.

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

Vacation Complete

Somehow it feels right to be returning to work the day after Labour Day.

The vacation itself had some high points and some low ones. We started out at Grayland Beach, which was great, then went down to Umpqua River Lighthouse in Oregon. Oregon is beautiful, and the yurt was nice, but Oregon campgrounds like to pack people in.
We loved the dunes.
From Umpqua, we went up to Devil's Lake, which was even tighter and more exposed than Umpqua - I guess that for some people the experience of camping is best shared with many neighbors, but I don't feel that way.
After Devil's Lake, we went up to Cape Disappointment. We had an absolutely lovely first evening there, and the next morning, but then the weather turned.
That doesn't really show how dramatic the sky and waves were. Refreshing and exciting! But next morning the rain had settled in and it looked like it was going to be a day spent in the yurt, so we opted to bail out on the last day and head home.
At home, we bought PNE tickets and hoped for the best, because Thursday was our only possible day - but it rained like hell, and half of us were suffering from colds.
So the last bunch of days have been spent at home, recovering, and thinking about next year.