Out & About Galleries

Year of the Snake : 2nd Saturday in February, 2013, celebrates the Chinese New Year - The Year of the Snake - in Seattle's International District. My daughter, son-in-law and I spent the day there with some friends. What a hoot. I came away with my ears ringing from the drums (sound you can feel), firecracker bits in my hair, and a smile on my face. This was fun!

Year of the Snake

2nd Saturday in February, 2013, celebrates the Chinese New Year - The ...

Updated: Feb 10, 2013 12:05pm PST

Best of 2012 : These are just my preferences. I like 'em and that's enough for me.

Best of 2012

These are just my preferences. I like 'em and that's enough for me.

Updated: Jan 12, 2013 3:13pm PST

Snowshoeing Hyak : Snowshoeing on Christmas Eve (2012)

Snowshoeing Hyak

Snowshoeing on Christmas Eve (2012)

Updated: Dec 25, 2012 3:13pm PST

2012 Motorcycle Show : December (2012) Seattle International Motorcycle Show. Fun for all ages!

2012 Motorcycle Show

December (2012) Seattle International Motorcycle Show. Fun for all age ...

Updated: Dec 16, 2012 3:19pm PST

Homage to Hood Ornaments : Spent a few hours at the LeMay Auto Museum in Tacoma on Sunday. If you like collectable cars, ... GO!

Homage to Hood Ornaments

Spent a few hours at the LeMay Auto Museum in Tacoma on Sunday. If you ...

Updated: Oct 15, 2012 7:10pm PST

Vintage Snohomish : Snohomish, WA Vintage Car Show - 2012.10.01

Vintage Snohomish

Snohomish, WA Vintage Car Show - 2012.10.01

Updated: Oct 05, 2012 9:43pm PST

Best of the Baltics : Go here for the rest of the photos: http://www.digitalquixote.com/World-Photos-Europe/Baltics

Best of the Baltics

Go here for the rest of the photos: http://www.digitalquixote.com/Worl ...

Updated: Sep 15, 2012 12:04pm PST

Garden Tour : Woodinville Garden Club 2012 Tour of Gardens

Garden Tour

Woodinville Garden Club 2012 Tour of Gardens

Updated: Jul 21, 2012 2:02pm PST

Rocky Mountain High Moto-Tour : A week ago (June 2012) I joined my friend Dale on a two-day motorcycle trip through the Colorado Rockies. He on his BMW K1200LT and I on a Triumph Bonneville 800 he loaned me - 'Bonnie' for short. Great great fun. Check out the story in the caption below the map. We crossed the Continental Divide at least four times between 10,750 and 12,000 feet. We rode through two areas that were closed to forest fires just a day after we passed through. Along the road we saw a submarine (twice), a bloody mess of an accident involving an elk and a car (don't worry, no photos), a few classic cowboy/biker bars, and a lot of beautiful high country scenery.

Rocky Mountain High Moto-Tour

A week ago (June 2012) I joined my friend Dale on a two-day motorcycle ...

Updated: Jun 30, 2012 2:52pm PST

Nine Pass Tour : Last weekend, my motorcycle turned 10,000 miles, a milestone birthday of sorts on our Northern Washington Tour. Three Days – Seven Hundred Miles – Nine Passes – Ten Destination Highways – and a lot of RPM fun. The rest of the story is in the caption below the map.

Nine Pass Tour

Last weekend, my motorcycle turned 10,000 miles, a milestone birthday ...

Updated: Jun 03, 2012 2:40pm PST

Seattle Storm : On Sunday 15 January 2012, I was out with some of my photographer friends. When we started, we didn't know we'd be braving the snow. By the tie we finished, it was really coming down!!! Started at the Smith Tower, former;y the tallest building west of the mississippi. Shot some pictures in the elevator lobby and from the observation deck. We wandered down to the old train station and ended up having lunch in a Pioneer Square dive - the Merchants Cafe. FUN!!

Seattle Storm

On Sunday 15 January 2012, I was out with some of my photographer frie ...

Updated: Jan 18, 2012 8:48pm PST

Seattle Today 1/7/2012 : Shooting in Seattle and Fremont today. Whimsical mood. Enjoy.

Seattle Today 1/7/2012

Shooting in Seattle and Fremont today. Whimsical mood. Enjoy.

Updated: Jan 07, 2012 11:43pm PST

Aviation Nation 2011 : This gallery is dedicated to Darrell Pepper, PhD, professor emeritus at the Air Force Academy, without whom these photos might never have been taken. In November, my brother and I attended Aviation Nation, the air show put on by Nellis AFB to thank the people of Las Vegas for putting up with the noise and other disruptions of an active air force base. It's free. But getting there and getting back is NOT half the fun. Normally, you drive to the Speedway and take a bus onto base. That takes awhile because a half million of your closest friends all have the same idea at the same time. And after the Thunderbirds fly, everyone heads to the busses to return to their cars. There's a lot of standing around and waiting involved. Hours and hours of it. But not this year. One of my brother's clients, Dr. Pepper, was able to get us credentials to park on base and view the airshow from the Thunderbirds' chalet. So we arrived a bit before 10:00 and enjoyed the show, including the Thunderbirds who flew a bit after 2:00 and we were off base before 4:00. All thanks to Dr. Pepper. Did I mention the chalet had seating and served food and adult beverages? Miss Nevada was there! And the cast of the Jersey Boys (who sang the national anthem to start the festivities) was there. Besides a great show, this was a GREAT venue. So below I've got 66 photos out of the 3,200 I shot. I shoot a lot of air shows, and these may be some of the best yet. I'm pretty happy with them. I've tried to keep photos of the same plane more or less together, whether in the air or on the ramp. And I've sprinkled photos of airshow people among them for variety. Enjoy!

Aviation Nation 2011

This gallery is dedicated to Darrell Pepper, PhD, professor emeritus a ...

Updated: Nov 27, 2011 10:55am PST

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - I : In September 2011, I spent a week in Vegas at "Photoshop World," together with 6,000 of my closest friends. Well, actually with two of my closest friends and 5,998 acquaintences. If you're into photography and use Photoshop - it's a great conference. If you haven't unloaded the pictures from your camera since last Christmas, well not so much. While I was there, I had three occasions to "shoot the strip," twice at night and once in daylight. These are all photos through my lens, literally through the lens of my camera, and figuratively through the lens of what I find interesting. Check 'em out. About 70% of the photos use High Dynamic Range (HDR) processing combining 3 to 7 originals into a single image. The rest originate from a single image. I don't like the grungy HDR look, so I try pretty hard to keep them realistic.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - I

In September 2011, I spent a week in Vegas at "Photoshop World," toget ...

Updated: Oct 01, 2011 3:49pm PST

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - II : In mid-September 2011, we took a short vacation to Mt. Rainier, Washington. This used to be an annual pilgrimage when the kids were young. They're grown now, married, with families of their own. So it was a treat for us that they joined us. We did most of our hiking on Friday and the weather was troubled. Not so much that it spoiled the hike, but enough that we returned a day early in heavy rain, low clouds and fog. These pictures are from the trip.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - II

In mid-September 2011, we took a short vacation to Mt. Rainier, Washin ...

Updated: Sep 19, 2011 9:35pm PST

Blue Angels 2011 : Seattle Seafair 2011.

Blue Angels 2011

Seattle Seafair 2011.

Updated: Aug 07, 2011 8:44pm PST

Issaquah Today 2011-06-19 : Issaquah, Washington had a neat classic car show today, Fathers' Day in the US. So the family took in the show, and retired home to a Bar-B-Que for dinner. Fun, fun, fun ... as the Beach Boys used to sing.

Issaquah Today 2011-06-19

Issaquah, Washington had a neat classic car show today, Fathers' Day i ...

Updated: Jun 20, 2011 4:20pm PST

Seattle Today 2/23/2011 :

Seattle Today 2/23/2011

Updated: Feb 27, 2011 4:15pm PST

Seattle Today 1/22/2011 : I belong to an online photo group called DPChallenge (www.dpchallenge.com). This is an international group of photographers who gather electronically, share their photographs in a competitive environment to learn and improve their photography and editing skills. By and large those who are active develop relationships with other photographers but we seldom, if ever, meet in real life (IRL). Those of us in Seattle and surrounds met IRL last Saturday to get to know one another and to shoot Seattle. It was a wonderful winter day in Seattle and here's my take.

Seattle Today 1/22/2011

I belong to an online photo group called DPChallenge (www.dpchallenge. ...

Updated: Jan 24, 2011 7:02pm PST

Hawaii Jan 2011 : We enjoyed a trip to Maui Hawaii in January. Well we didn't enjoy it all. We the plane reached Maui, we executed a missed approach and diverted to Kona for fuel and to allow the violent front to pass. We arrived Maui midnight-ish instead of 5:00 PM-ish. Didn't enjoy that. We had two days of hard rain - 7.5" on rain in one day closed roads. Didn't enjoy that. But otherwise the weather was fine and it was a nice break.

Hawaii Jan 2011

We enjoyed a trip to Maui Hawaii in January. Well we didn't enjoy it a ...

Updated: Jan 28, 2011 9:41pm PST

Hurricane Ridge : On New Year's Day, my daughter, son-in-law and I arose before dawn and drove three hours to Hurricane Ridge - Near Port Angeles, Washington for a day of snowshoeing. Weather was warm - around freezing, wind was calm, and the sun was bright. Fun Fun Fun. They don't call this Hurricane Ridge for nothing. The ridge is several thousand feet above the Straights of Juan de Fuca and often experiences hurricane strength winds. When it's snowing at the same time, the wind drives the snow into trees forming fantastic sculpted shapes.

Hurricane Ridge

On New Year's Day, my daughter, son-in-law and I arose before dawn and ...

Updated: Jan 02, 2011 2:10pm PST

Bellevue Today : I took my camera to Bellevue today to shoot a building I’ve had my eye on. It has an innovative design and because it’s a mostly-glass and steel structure, it reflects our dramatic Pacific Northwest skies wonderfully. If you don’t believe gray comes in many colors - just visit the Pacific Northwest. The first four photos are obviously the same building.

Bellevue Today

I took my camera to Bellevue today to shoot a building I’ve had my eye ...

Updated: Dec 27, 2010 6:04pm PST

Crater Lake Tour 2010 : Ever want to be a Blue Angel pilot? Has the question, “Will the world end in fire or ice?” ever been more than an existential thought experiment for you? Have you ever been thrown from a moving vehicle? When last were you literally soaked-to-the-skin (in your clothes this time)? Herein hangs a tale, so buckle up – but wait, we can’t; we’re on our Ducati Sport Bikes. I’ve done the Crater Lake moto-tour once before with my daughter in August of 2008. I remember it was bloody hot inland and cold on the coast – fire and ice. I remember it fondly enough to want to do it again. So when our planned 2010 moto-tour of Yellowstone fell through, my daughter Carry (nee Carolyn), son-in-law Nick and I decided to reprise the trip to Crater Lake, this time in a clockwise direction. Will our tour deliver fire, or ice? READ THE WHOLE SIX-DAY STORY IN THE CAPTION UNDER THE MAP.

Crater Lake Tour 2010

Ever want to be a Blue Angel pilot? Has the question, “Will the world ...

Updated: Dec 31, 2010 4:49pm PST

Blue Angels 2010 : Seattle - Seafair - Blue Angels Every year we watch the Blue Angles at Seafair as they perform over Lake Washington. We position the boat just under the flight line and hijinks ensue. This year - 2010 - the weather was troubled. On Thursday we had white-hazy blue skies and temperatures in the low 80's. By Friday we have solid white overcast forcing the Blues to do their "low show." This year I was focused on trying to capture the F/A18's showing off their massively raw power. I think i caught a few good ones but you decide. Saturday and Sunday may get scrubbed. Stay tuned. My tax dollars at work!

Blue Angels 2010

Seattle - Seafair - Blue Angels Every year we watch the Blue Angles a ...

Updated: Aug 08, 2010 11:58am PST

Seattle - Sculpture Park : I spent the early morning - from about 7:00 AM shooting the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. Mostly early Sunday morning is a great time to go anywhere in Seattle because traffic is nonexistent. And an early, crisp, sunny morning is arguably the best time of any day. They call the hour after dawn, and the hour just before sunset the "golden hour." That's because the sun is low in the sky and passes through a lot of atmosphere which softens it and warms the color. And at those hours, there are usually great defining shadows which make the world more interesting. So it was today! I expected the Sculpture Park to be empty, except for possibly some folks sleeping in the park. It was entirely empty except for police who presumably woke everyone up at opening ... 30 minutes before dawn. Ever polite, maybe they said something like, "Excuse me sir, this is your 4:30 AM wake-up. Have a nice day." After the park, I wandered down Western past the cruise ship terminal to the convention center. I tailgated someone entering the marina there and shot a couple of marina pictures. Then home to see what the take looked like on the big screen. Fun morning!

Seattle - Sculpture Park

I spent the early morning - from about 7:00 AM shooting the Olympic Sc ...

Updated: Jul 25, 2010 10:32pm PST

Mt. Rainier Sunrise : On June 25th, at noon, the road to Sunrise on the shoulder of Mt. Rainier opened for the season. What a spectacular inducement to gather "Les Canards Sauvages," plus "The Usual Suspects," plus a couple of provisional members, for a ride. For the uninitiated, the unwashed masses, "Les Canards Sauvages" is a biker group who rides exclusively Ducati motorcycles and translates roughly to "The Wild Ducs." The "Usual Suspects" often, frequently, join them on short rides but have yet to break the 1,000 mile barrier. Provisional members ... well, think probies. This is a 200 mile ride from Seattle. We leave the nice, thick, rich, sea-level air and climb to 6,000 feet (2,000 meters more or less). In June, there's snow there - actually a lot of it but it's been plowed and brushed off the roads. The pavement is a bit challenging. But it's capable of 2x the posted limit - stay tuned. Today is a picture postcard perfect day ... clear, relatively warm, without wind ... better than perfect, spectacular. Stay tuned? One of our pack attracted the attention of the local "speed-tax-collector." 61 in a 35 zone. All was well with a warning ... hmm.

Mt. Rainier Sunrise

On June 25th, at noon, the road to Sunrise on the shoulder of Mt. Rain ...

Updated: Jun 27, 2010 5:05pm PST

June in Seattle : June 26th, 2010 ... I took myself off to "shoot Seattle," as I do from time to time. Today, my goal was to shoot from the top of the Smith Tower. It was Seattle's first Skyscraper, and at 42 stories it was the tallest building west of Chicago for 50 years. Since I arrived before opening, I walked around downtown looking for pictures. Got some too.

June in Seattle

June 26th, 2010 ... I took myself off to "shoot Seattle," as I do from ...

Updated: Jun 26, 2010 5:03pm PST

Sunshine Coast Tour : A hot bike between my legs. A 4-day weekend. Wonderful roads and scenery. A chance to "bond" with my kids. What could be better? A few things, actually. Read on. Our original plan ... which did not survive the first encounter with reality ... was for my daughter, my son-in-law, and me to ride Vancouver Island and the Sunshine coast of British Columbia on our Ducatis. Unfortunately, my son-in-law's bike experienced a near death experience just days before the trip. One of the battery cables came loose and shorted across the frame to the battery. I'm not an electrical engineer, but I know that melting the cable is not a good thing. He ordered a replacement cable from Ducati (yep, in Italy) and they sent one ... actually they sent half of one, and his bike was out of commission until the other half arrived. Not in time, as it turned out. So my daughter and I rode our Ducatis to Victoria, and he drove his car. (Why? More later.) We had planned to ride to Port Angeles and take the Black Ball ferry directly to Victoria. But we'd had a very severe wind storm and there were HEAVY seas on the Straight of Juan de Fuca. We heard reports of swells which gained stature through out the weekend ... from 10-20 footers and up. Our plans were Fuca'd. Rather than suffer the risk of dumping (and damaging) the bikes on the ferry, we rode (in rain) to Twassen and took the ferry to Nanaimo and motored on in to Victoria from there. Why did he drive his car? I promised "more later." It's now officially later. My daughter and her husband are Eddie Izzard fans and he was performing a show in Victoria Thursday night. Fans? Big fans! I was able to pick up a ticket at the last minute and we saw the show. My last minute ticket was in the last row of the last balcony with poor acoustics. I heard about 1/3. Based on the third I heard, the rest of the show was brilliant. Oh well. Next day, we rode north toward Campbell River. Our original plan to ride out to Gold River was too optimistic so we bagged it and rode to the top of Mount Washington, instead. Wonderful ride and we had a bit more time to explore Courtenay. See the photo captions for color commentary. The next day, we had our best riding day and had a chance to ride on THREE ferries. We were up at 5:30 - so much for the myth of bikers partying late and sleeping late - and caught the ferry form Comox to Powell River. Breakfast on Board! We then rode north to Lund which has three things going for it: A nice hotel according to some bikers we met who stayed there; A wonderful bakery where we had our "second breakfast;" and the start of highway 101. If you want to ride 101 the whole length, it starts here and ends at the tip of South America. So that's kind of cool and the Sunshine Coast part is a fabulous motorcycle road. Our second ferry was from Saltery Bay to Earl's Cove. It was a relaxing ride with Killer Whales playing in the waters around us. If you've never seen Killer Whales in the wild, it's quite a treat! Waiting for the ferry, we chatted with half a dozen other bikers. Everyone had checked their rank at the door and we enjoyed talking bikes, roads, and adventures. We'd been advised to be the first off the ferry to enjoy what was to be the best road of our trip. And we were. The road was empty, perfectly paved, and perfectly cambered. Our bikes are better than we are riders and performed superbly. We did 40 km/h corners at 40 mph; 70 km/h corners at 70 mph; but drew the line at 90 km/h corners. We avoided a brush with a Speed-Tax-Collector and in general enjoyed the ride immensely. Pretty much the same group of bikers rolled up to our last ferry leg, and we picked up a few. This was from Langdale to Horseshoe Bay. From Horseshoe Bay we took Marine Drive through Stanley Park and into Vancouver. Note to self, don't ride a motorcycle in Vancouver during rush hour! We took a passenger ferry over to Granville Island, walked around, had dinner, and hit the sack. Next day, Sunday, we had breakfast and blasted home via I-5. We did find a FABULOUS BORDER BYPASS ROUTE that saved us an hour and a half at the border crossing. It was recommended by one of the bikers we met who lived in the area. It works, and we're selling the route for $50. Send me an email and we'll arrange for the transfer of funds and information. We detoured from I-5 briefly to take Chuckanaut Drive around Bellingham which was fun. And we were home by noon. 700 miles. Great ride. Fun long weekend!

Sunshine Coast Tour

A hot bike between my legs. A 4-day weekend. Wonderful roads and scene ...

Updated: Jun 02, 2010 9:05pm PST

Winter at Rainier : On Monday, February 8, 2010, two unusual things happened. I found a blank day on my calendar, and the weather found a hole in our perpetually sodden winter skies. These combined to create the possibility of driving to Paradise, on the shoulder of Mt. Rainier (5,400 feet) without the need of chains. When I got there, the sun was spectacular. The skies were cerulean ... I think that's a sky color. It was a brilliant day. There were about 20 cars in the lot and although there was some coming and going, the number never increased. During the summer there are lots of hiking trails, but these were covered by more than 100 inches of Snow Monday. I don't own cross country skis or snow shoes, so I expected to take a few photos and leave. To my surprise, there were lots of well trod snowshoe trails and I was able to hike all over the mountain in simple boots by simply walking in their tracks. And I shot nearly 2,000 pictures. Here are the 50 or so best ones (in my humble opinion). I spent about 4 hours hiking, and at the end of these pictures are photos of ALL the people i saw on the mountain. In effect, I had this magnificent place all to myself. Feel free to use the comment button and let me know which ones you liked best!

Winter at Rainier

On Monday, February 8, 2010, two unusual things happened. I found a bl ...

Updated: Feb 11, 2010 7:03pm PST

Happy New Year! : December 31, 2009. We went to the Seattle Center, had dinner, saw Avatar in the Imax theatre, and stayed for fireworks. We had to wait about 2 hours from the end of the movie until the fireworks. It was cold, dry at times, foggy at times, raining at times, and misting the rest of the time. In other words, a fine December evening in Seattle. There were maybe 20,000 folks waiting for the show, all in good humor, all well behaved. In other words a fine Seattle crowd. At the end of the show, I said to my wife, "That was SO worth it!" And she agreed. What a great way to spend New Years Eve!

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2009. We went to the Seattle Center, had dinner, saw Avat ...

Updated: Jan 01, 2010 3:53pm PST

Aviation Nation : It's obvious if you look around here that I'm an air show fan. With this gallery, I'm adding yet another air show to the collection. Nellis Air Force Base is the "Home of the Thunderbirds." Each year at the end of the air show season, they put on a show for the good citizens of las Vegas. Free parking. Free entrance. Great static and flying exhibits! So I went this year, and while there shot some of the Las Vegas strip. Enjoy. I find it interesting. As you walk around the strip, and through the casinos ... almost nobody is smiling whose smile hasn't been purchased in some fashion. But at the airshow, almost everyone is smiling. Big ear-to-ear grins when the jets fly over. Big smiles talking to the pilots and crews. Big grins at campy stuff like racing a MiG 17 against a jet powered car. I find this fascinating.

Aviation Nation

It's obvious if you look around here that I'm an air show fan. With th ...

Updated: Nov 29, 2009 3:11pm PST

Pax Electronica : A Tale in Three Acts Act I: My son grew up in our household never knowing a time without a computer in the house. He played games on our old Radio Shack TRS-80. He played console games like Nintendo’s Legend of Zelda. He played computer games on our Macs and PCs. In college, he studied computer animation and after graduation worked for game companies like Surreal (where he worked on The Suffering) and ArenaNet (where he worked on Guild Wars). After a detour through grad school to get his MBA, he now works for NCSoft, one of the worlds biggest game companies (which is about to launch their new game, Aion). Intermission: This past weekend, he invited me to PAX09 – the largest game conference in the US – which is held here in Seattle. And he provided a “Speaker Badge” so I could get into the show. He and I met for coffee in advance and headed to the show before opening Sunday morning. “What happens if someone asks me what my speech was about,” I asked him. “Don’t worry, they won’t.” Act II: In my working life I have attended many big conferences and I always thought it would be fun to crash a conference. Pick up an unclaimed badge at the last minute. Talk my way into the show. Eat the rubber chicken and hit the hospitality suites. But to this day, I have never tried it on purpose. I accidentally crashed a conference once in Spain because I was confused about which conference room my conference was in. It took be about 3 hours to figure out I was in the wrong place … the conference being in Spanish and my command of the language primitive at best. But I digress. Here’s what happened at PAX09. Act III: My son and I approached the Exhibitors’ door to the conference early. The guard looked at his Exhibitor badge and let him pass. He looked at my Speaker badge and tried to stop me. I was carrying my big pro-looking Nikon D3 camera. I told the guard I was “His Publicist,” never stopping, never making eye contact, and never looking back. The guard let me pass. We got to the door to the show floor itself and another guard let my son pass, but stopped me. “I’m his publicist,” I said to the guard holding up my Nikon, which guard was profoundly unimpressed and refused me entry. “We were informed that a Speaker badge had the same access as an Exhibitor badge.” Well, the guard would have to verify that. A few minutes passed while he was in dialog with someone at the other end of the radio. No conclusive answers were forth coming, but he let me pass. So now I’ve fulfilled my dream to intentionally crash a conference … even though I was invited. Once in, it was a hoot. 80,000 people attended the conference. It occupied the entire venue of the Trade Center. There were tons of booths set up by game companies. There were Booth Babes! There was a ton of schwag. There were lots and lots and lots of eclectic attendees. All in all, it was an incredible and incredibly enjoyable show. Thanks B for the invitation. Oh, and remember the Speaker badge? As I was chatting with folks, about a dozen asked me what I spoke about. I told them my topic had to do, “with intellectual property considerations of buying a start-up game company.” I could actually have given a talk on this subject, but no one asked follow-up questions. I took about 500 pictures on the trade show floor. Most folks were happy to have their picture taken or to have pictures taken of their booths. I ran into trouble in one booth. A guy told me, “The Company wants to know who’s taking pictures of their booth.” I introduced myself with my real name and said I was “an independent.” I then started interviewing him about the show, traffic through their booth, what he thought of competitors and he forgot to ask me anything else. Ah, the gift of gab! Anyway, here are the pictures. There are Booths, Booth Babes, Game Art, Game Paraphernalia, and presumably paying conference attendees. What a hoot!

Pax Electronica

A Tale in Three Acts Act I: My son grew up in our household never kno ...

Updated: Sep 09, 2009 10:31pm PST

Les Canards Sauvages : A wise man once said, "I chose the road less traveled...now where the heck am I?" Which is why I rarely lead on our motorcycle road trips. I tell others that during my 30-year career as a consultant, I led much of the time and now I’m content to follow. But the truth is, when I lead a pack of bikers, I make wrong turns. It’s more efficient when I follow. My daughter, son-in-law and I just got back from a 9-day road trip on our motorcycles from Seattle to Banff, Alberta, Canada. We chose the roads less traveled, but didn’t get lost. We reprised Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso when it came to weather. We encountered plenty of interesting people including an 80-year-old town historian, a lesbian couple, a Luxembourger innkeeper, a helicopter pilot for a smoke jumper team, and lots of bikers ranging from daring to demure. In the end it was a great trip; everything a road trip ought to be. Recommended if you’ve got a powerful bike between your legs and the time to enjoy it. But I’m getting ahead of myself … check out the photos, for the meaning of “Les Canards Sauvages,” and the rest of the story. Most of the "color commentary is stored in the caption of the map.

Les Canards Sauvages

A wise man once said, "I chose the road less traveled...now where the ...

Updated: Aug 26, 2009 5:06pm PST

Seafair : Each year we take teh boat to watch the Blue Angels at Seattle's Seafair. And we did again this year. But this year I had an added treat. A friend of mine drives Unlimited Light Hydros competitively. Last year he won Seafair in the Miss Critical Logic. and this year, he invited us into the pits where we could not only watch the Blue Angels but also watch the Unlimited Light Hydros and the Unlimited Hydros race. Fun!

Seafair

Each year we take teh boat to watch the Blue Angels at Seattle's Seafa ...

Updated: Aug 02, 2009 8:47pm PST

Vintage Auto Racing : On the 4th of July, my friend Chris and I attended the 21st annual Pacific Northwest Historics Vintage car race, tickets courtesy of UBS (thanks Tim). Here's how the brochure described it: The Pacific Northwest Historics features many of the world’s rarest and most beautiful pre-1970 race cars. Most have been restored to mint condition and a handful retain the patina earned while racing years ago. This year, more than 250 vintage race cars from all over the West Coast and Canada participated. Fan favorites include Ferraris, Lotuses, Cobras, Corvettes, Porsches, Austin Healeys and some less recognizable names like Elva, Ginetta, and McLaren; many with impressive racing histories. Some of the cars are valued at over $1 million, but the high values don't hold back the owners and drivers - most cars will exceed 100 mph and some over 150 mph during the wheel to wheel competition. The Pacific Raceways circuit is a challenging 2 ¼-mile road course that includes nine turns, a 300 foot elevation drop and a near ¾-mile straightaway. Spectators are welcome in the paddock area and encouraged to take a close-up look at the cars and visit with the drivers. The first 4 photos here show some of the more interesting cars. The next 7 show the course. The next 19 show the cars during the race. and the final 15 show various bits and pieces. Enjoy!

Vintage Auto Racing

On the 4th of July, my friend Chris and I attended the 21st annual Pac ...

Updated: Jul 05, 2009 11:36pm PST

Road Less Traveled Tour : My daughter, son-in-law and I just completed a 1.200 mile road trip on our Motorcycles. It was great, great, fun. Why do I like these trips? Partly I simply enjoy riding a powerful motorcycle. I like the sensation of speed. I like that my skills seem to improve on these trips. I like the physics of cornering, accelerating, and braking. Maybe it’s similar to riding a powerful horse. Maybe it’s similar to skiing a powerful hill. I don’t know, but I like the riding. I like riding a bike that turns heads. It’s not just another cruiser. It attracts attention, curiosity, and conversation. Sometimes it’s with other bikers, sometimes not. People smile when they see it. I like being in riding gear and relating to other riders without class, rank or badge. I like that other riders wave when we see each other on the road. I like the road less traveled. In cities we’re used to cutting freeways through hills. We’re used to straightening the crooked path. The road less traveled goes around hills, climbs valleys defined by crooked rivers, and conforms to the texture of the lumpy planet. I like that you can smell the difference between farmland and forest. I’ve always liked weather. In our normal lives most of us are separated from the weather around us. We’re in our cars, in our buildings, unaware even of the weather that’s happening. I like the feeling of a cool dawn before a hot day. I like the look of clouds that change before my eyes. I don’t always like being too hot, or too cold, or too wet. But I like simply being aware of the weather I’m in. I’m a sucker for Americana. I like our small towns with their diners, their town halls, and their main streets. I like the funny conversations that happen when you strike up a conversation. I like a restaurant that serves biscuits and gravy (I don’t actually like biscuits and gravy – but restaurants that serve it tend to be good ones.) I like that people are helpful when I get lost. It makes me want to be helpful in return. I like the company. Spending time with my daughter and son-in-law is fun. Enough! Maybe it’s enough to like it without becoming over analytical about why. Here's the link to the Play-by-play ... http://www.digitalquixote.com/system/blog.php

Road Less Traveled Tour

My daughter, son-in-law and I just completed a 1.200 mile road trip on ...

Updated: Jun 03, 2009 8:41pm PST

Fireworks : Who doesn't love fireworks? We live on Lake Washington. 4th of July fireworks are the reason I have a boat. To see fireworks up close (sound you can feel) without 27,000 of your closest friends standing up in front of you at the best parts ... well that's pretty cool! I took these photos on 7/4/2008 and 2009, hand held from a rocking boat. If you've never tried this ... it's realy challenging. The first is the best and clearest shot. The others show some artifacts of the boat's movement. The ones you're not seeing? Well, there's LOTS of movement in those.

Fireworks

Who doesn't love fireworks? We live on Lake Washington. 4th of July fi ...

Updated: Jul 05, 2009 12:36pm PST

Seattle Grunge : I drove over to Seacrest Park today to photograph the Seattle skyline at sunset. Immediate problem: Clouds obscuring the sun. So this is the take. Maybe worth looking at. I recognize these have a dark theme. With markets as they are ... I'm feeling in a dark mood i guess.

Seattle Grunge

I drove over to Seacrest Park today to photograph the Seattle skyline ...

Updated: Apr 11, 2009 1:07am PST

Notch Day April 2009 : From our house, the Olympic Mountains 80 miles west of Seattle form a "notch." The sun sets in the notch twice a year approximately April 5 and September 5th. Your mileage may vary because of leap year. Usually it's too cloudy or rainy to see the notch on the actual notch day but this year it was spectacularly clear. So here for your vicarious pleasure is Notch Day - April 2009!

Notch Day April 2009

From our house, the Olympic Mountains 80 miles west of Seattle form a ...

Updated: Apr 05, 2009 8:51pm PST

Best of 2008 : I take a lot of photos each year (20,000 to 30,000), and at the end of each year I try to sort out the best of best. I've narrowed the candidates down substantially, and with the help of lots of "friends and family" have narrowed it down to these 19. So think of these as the "Peoples Choice Awards." In order from number 1 to number 19 - here are ... the best of 2008.

Best of 2008

I take a lot of photos each year (20,000 to 30,000), and at the end of ...

Updated: Jan 01, 2009 11:12pm PST

Oyster Run: Characters Welcome : It all started with a few guys getting together at the end of the summer to go for a ride and eat some oysters. Limp Lee had just returned from months of working in Alaska, He talked with the some guys and they all met at what was then the California Tavern in Marysville. They then decided to ride along HWY 9, stop at some places along the way and end up in Everson to have oyster cocktails. The next year a few more people joined in, the next year a few more, and by the fourth year there were almost 200 bikes. We couldn’t believe it! Well, as the years went by there we just too many people to have an organized run up hwy 9, so Limp Lee talked to the beautiful city of Anacortes about having the run there. I think at first the town was not real hip on the idea, as they were not sure what to expect and most of the town closed up as the bikes rolled in. But soon more and more businesses stayed open and now the whole town has joined in..... and the rest is history. As for how Limp Lee got his name, well that’s another story!

Oyster Run: Characters Welcome

It all started with a few guys getting together at the end of the summ ...

Updated: Sep 28, 2008 8:57pm PST

Seattle Today : I spent the day today in Seattle, my home town. This is a great city, and a great people-watching town. Enjoy.

Seattle Today

I spent the day today in Seattle, my home town. This is a great city, ...

Updated: Sep 27, 2008 9:40pm PST

Mt. Rainier : Part I: First Five Photos Paradise, on Mt Rainier, is 112 miles from my house by the most direct route. I know this because I've driven it 4 times in the last week looking for the perfect picture of this great mountain. The first trip, I spent the night at the remodeled Paradise Inn. Good news, the remodel didn't harm the historic Inn's character. Bad news, most of the improvements were to infrastructure items which also didn't improve the Inn much from a visitor's perspective. On the first trip, I came prepared for cold, for rain (or snow), and for wind ... just not all four at the same time. The clouds started at the ground and it was difficult to see beyond about 20 feet. Not much good for photography. On the second trip, the weather had warmed up, the wind stopped, and the skies were clear ... better than clear, humidity was very low. A perfect day for photos. I drug my sorry ass out of bed at 5:00 AM and was on the mountain by 8:00. I was there so early I had it to myself for a couple of hours. By noon I'd hiked about as far as my aging and slightly hurty knees would go and returned home with these lovely photos. The line of cars at the National Park entrance was 2 miles long when I left. I got out while the getting was good! Part II: Last Seven Photos Several weeks later my wife and I returned to hike the Sunrise side of the mountain. Very different feel. Very different climate. Great fun. Great hiking. Less of a story line. I put my long 300 mm lens on my camera with the intent of exploring the texture of the glaciers descending from the mountain. As we hiked, our perspective changed as did the direction and intensity of the sun. The weather was perfect ... temperature in the 60's, humidity low, a cloudless day ... truly a lovely spot. I am delighted with the photos that result ... just what I wanted.

Mt. Rainier

Part I: First Five Photos Paradise, on Mt Rainier, is 112 miles from ...

Updated: Sep 20, 2008 4:11pm PST

Americana : When I was young, say 7 years old, I remember traveling by car from Billings, Montana to my grandmother's cabin on a lake in Iowa. It felt like a bloody long trip, but it exposed me to "Americana," in the form of road house restaurants, by-the-side-of-the-road motels, canvas waterbags hung from the grill of the car ... are you feeling this? Now, I can relive this nostalgia trip on a journey with my daughter, on our Ducati motorcycles, from Seattle where I now live around Crater Lake (Oregon) and back ... 1,200 miles. I treasure the time with my daughter. And I delight in the nostalgia trip.

Americana

When I was young, say 7 years old, I remember traveling by car from Bi ...

Updated: Aug 22, 2008 10:02pm PST

Angels 2008 : Seafair Seattle 2008: The first weekend in August every year, Seattle throws a party. There are lots of things going on ... a parade, a marathon, pirate high jinks, unlimited hydro racing ... and a performance by the Blue Angels over Lake Washington. And each year I take our boat to the show line and watch/film the Blue Angels. This year, as usual, there were about 500 other boats with the same idea. The weather was warm. Boats were full of young people. Some young people should wear bikinis, and in fact it would be criminal not to, ... and some should not. Anyway, enjoy the angels, blue or otherwise. Let the record show, I put the Blue Angels before the other angels.

Angels 2008

Seafair Seattle 2008: The first weekend in August every year, Seattle ...

Updated: Aug 03, 2008 9:31pm PST

NW Flower & Garden Show : If you live in the Pacific Northwest in February, the only “flower power” available is at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show. And for me, the “power flower” of the show is the orchid. It’s why I go. I could go to stroll around the convention center for 3 hours at an average pace of 0.5 mph due to the crowds. I could go to look at the gardens created by fantastic garden designers and set up indoors for the show. I could also go to see funky garden art, or peruse four thousand twenty-two different varieties of Sunflower seeds. Nope, I go for the orchids. But I’m ecumenical, I’ll even look at the occasional rose.

NW Flower & Garden Show

If you live in the Pacific Northwest in February, the only “flower pow ...

Updated: Feb 24, 2008 12:19pm PST

Concorde : In July 2000, I had a chance to fly the Concorde - by accident - and for free. I was on my way from London to San Francisco when a system wide radar failure occurred. One flight after another from Heathrow was delayed, delayed again, delayed yet again ... and so it was with my flight. I noticed they were readying the Concorde for take-off and I asked if there was space aboard. Yes, came the answer. I'm a gold-tier British Airways flyer ... can you put me in one of those empty seats, I asked. yes, came the answer and the rest was history. Little did i know that a few weeks later, a Concorde would crash at Le Bourget and end the types flying history. Do Not Adjust Your Set: These pictures were taken in July 2000 with a first generation digital camera. They are as big and as good as they'll ever get.

Concorde

In July 2000, I had a chance to fly the Concorde - by accident - and f ...

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 5:05pm PST

Experience Music Project : At Seattle Center, Paul Allen (Microsoft fame) has created a Rock & Roll museum and Science Fiction museum called the Experience Music Project (EMP for short). Herre are some photos from opening day.

Experience Music Project

At Seattle Center, Paul Allen (Microsoft fame) has created a Rock & Ro ...

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 5:29pm PST

SFMOMA : On 15 June 2002, we visited the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. This is first rate museum with art of virtually all genres: painting; sculpture; photography; and architecture. The museum had two temporary exhibits on at the moment: 1) A mixed media sculpture by Sarah Sze; and 2) A print exhibit called Perfect Acts of Architecture. Most of the pictures below are of the Sarah Sze sculpture. I think you're going to like these!

SFMOMA

On 15 June 2002, we visited the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. ...

Updated: Aug 29, 2009 5:38pm PST

Guru Awards :

Guru Awards

Updated: Jul 29, 2010 11:22am PST

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Grant's Baptism

Updated: Jan 17, 2013 12:33pm PST

Seattle This Week 2013.02.24 :

Seattle This Week 2013.02.24

Updated: Feb 24, 2013 4:12pm PST