Last days in the West

I have left the West behind, and made it to the distant land of.... Toronto.

My time in Washington was beautiful. So fertile and green, so much water! I got to explore Seattle and have city adventures, and also got to some incredible places out of town.

This is the view from Rattlesnake Ridge, just out of Seattle. The snow line is so cool!

For New Year, we went out to the coast for a few days. Out across the Olympic Peninsular to La Push. Unlike any beach I've ever been to. It sort of feels like the edge of the world. Freezing cold, but perfect sunshine. The beach is covered in driftwood.. Or maybe "drift-trees" is more accurate. Some of these relics would have to be the biggest trees I've ever seen! Where did they drift in from?! I was, once again, mind blown.

I know it's difficult to see, but that's a Bald Eagle flying above the trees. He was cool.

Here's me in front of some mad tree corpses. (Feat. my new snow boots!)

We did a bush walk over to Second Beach, through beautiful lush pine forests. Forest on the coast is new to me!

This is Second Beach, tide way out.

And one more picture. This is Crescent Lake, which we drove along to get out to the coast. It is stunning! So glassy! Little houses all around the edge, mountains surrounding.

And now I am far away from all of this... We drove back to Seattle yesterday afternoon, then I got on the plane at sparrow-fart this morning. Now I'm in Toronto. I'm sure there are many adventures to be had over here. I'm getting settled in my new house, nice to unpack the bags. Not even a drop of snow on the ground! I'm actually a little disappointed. I'm sure it will come.

So for now, goodbye to the West, I can't wait to see you again!!

Desert Time

We are on the road!

Since landing in Los Angeles last Thursday, I have traveled 1311.66 km (or 815 miles)!
Coast, desert, mountains and lakes have all flashed by my window in the last few days.

Our first day on the road got us to Death Valley. Traveling in from the coast, we watched the landscape become drier and drier as we got further inland. Death Valley's mountain walls loomed out in front of us while a sand storm (a small one) whipped around the car.
Up, up and over the mountain rim, and then down, down, down into the valley that was once an ocean bed, the lowest point in North America at 86m below sea level.

We spent the night camping, not quite as isolated as one might hope, I guess Death Valley is a bit of an RV getaway! But beautiful surrounds nonetheless.
At dawn we headed to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes to watch the sunrise, then out to Zabriskie Point.

 (Look closely at the Zabriskie Point picture to see tiny little figures walking along one of the ridges! Gives some perspective...)

A quick stop really, but we had places to be and more to see, so out of Death Valley we zoomed!