Tag Archives: travel

I Guess The Lake Level Is Down Now

Lake Chelan is a really deep body of water. According to some charts I saw, it is about 1,600’ to the very bottom at its deepest point. The water level does seem to fluctuate a bit. When I was walking along the shore at the resort, there were some swimming rafts. One was in the water but another was up on the land. I then realized that the jetties were a long way above the water surface and, what I thought was just a sandy area, was actually a beach.

I assume the run off from the winter melts results in the water level increasing. There is also a power plant at the end of the lake so that can control the water level. At this early time of year, there is no pressure to have the water too high. You can easily see where it is supposed to be in peak season, though. Given how big a lake it is, that is quite a lot of water to bring the level up that much. I doubt I shall be back in the summer but maybe I will see it as it is at its peak at some point.

Old School Movie Theater

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Downtown Chelan is not a big area but it has been around for a while and so has its movie theater. This theater has a look that is exactly what you would imagine for an oldie time movie theater. Having lots of cars parked up in front of it kind of ruins the ambience a bit and, if I had been around another time, I might have tried to find a way to get a cleaner shot of it at an odd time of day but this was just a brief opportunity to stroll around the town so it is what it is.

Second Go At Chelan Falls

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A few years back, we made a trip across the North Cascades Highway and back across Stevens Pass. One of the stops on that route was Chelan Falls. I was hoping to get photos of the falls but they were hard to see and the sun was backlighting them anyway. I still had a post about it but there wasn’t a huge amount to show for it. Work recently took me to Chelan and I figured I would try finding another view on the falls after the conference day was done.

Looking at Google Maps, there was a road that ran alongside the gorge that the river was flowing through. This road was confusingly named Gorge Road! It was not a paved road but it was actually a very smooth dirt surface. What was more intimidating about it was that it had some very steep drop-offs at the edge with a long drop below them!

I was able to see some of the river areas from the road but, being so far above it, meant things were rather distant. I could also get an oblique view of the lower falls and the bridge across them. It was a lovely sunny late afternoon so a nice time to be out and about with the camera. It was also a bit warmer than on our side of the mountains so a good time to explore.

Chelan Riverwalk

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The hotel where my conference was taking place was down by the bottom of the lake in Chelan. I decided to have a stroll one evening and, as soon as I came out of the hotel, I saw signs for a Riverwalk. It wasn’t a long walk but it took me down one side of the river, over a bridge, back up the other side and then another bridge back to where I had started. There were a few people out and about but it was still pretty quiet.

There was a small park area along the river with a pavilion. I’m not sure what sort of events they hold there in the peak season but it would seem like a nice spot to hang out and watch performers doing their thing. They also had some elevated boardwalk sections. With the water level so low, these were a long way above the water but I imagine they are quite close when the water is at its peak.

They had installed some art work along one side of the river. There was a sculpture about wolves and salmon which related to Native American stories of why the lake doesn’t have salmon. They also had boards of the bodies in the solar system spaced out along the river in proportion to their distance from the sun. I imagine the whole area gets very busy during the summer but it was a nice spot to stroll while visiting in March!

Flying Into Washington National

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For the first time in two years, I made a work trip by plane. I was heading to Virginia for some meetings and was flying into Washington National Airport. I picked a seat on the left side of the plane in the hope that we would make a river approach. That gives a good view of the Mall and the surrounding area as you are on final approach. The weather was lovely with a sunny day and low sun angles as we were arriving later in the day.

At first, we appeared to be heading the right way and then we were too far to the south. I thought we were going to approach from there but then we made a 180 and headed back towards Dulles before starting down and turning on to the river approach after all. I could see the area around the mall coming in to view as I looked forward obliquely, but aircraft windows are not good enough to get a shot like that.

I waited until we were closer in getting shots of Georgetown, the Watergate complex and the Kennedy Center. Then everything was in sight and I was trying to get shots as quickly as I could. Of course, we are not moving slowly at this point so it is not long before any shots have been missed so it was a question of getting as much as you can. I was a little hinder because I was shooting on the back screen of the M6. To see this clearly means taking off my glasses but that isn’t ideal for seeing where to look out of the window. I think I made it work well enough though.

Coast Guard Vessel

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A Canadian Coast Guard boat was up on the shipyard being worked on while we were in Victoria. A ship out of the water has a very different feel given how much it sits above you and the view of the area below the waterline. It changes the scale of the vessel to my eye. I’m not sure what work was being undertaken and wonder whether it is already back in service or not.

Mist In The Distance Along The Shore

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While the weather could be quite nice during our winter visit to Cannon Beach, the steady wind and the waves meant there was a lot of water in the air. With the length of the beach, this meant that things could look quite misty as you stared in to the distance. This look makes for quite an ethereal feel to the scene and it was something that I found appealing yet hard to capture in an image. I tried some wider shots and some tighter ones to emphasize the effect. Not sure what works better.

BC Ferries And A Competitor

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On our trip to Victoria, we took the BC Ferries crossing to Vancouver Island. On our return journey, we got to the terminal at Swartz Bay quite early and the sun was shining so I wandered down to the water edge near the ferries to see what was going on. There were more BC Ferries vessels in place along with a competitor ferry, Seaspan, that appears to be focused on freight traffic only.

That ferry left before we loaded but it ended up following us through the passage towards the Strait of Georgia. We made a couple of turns through the passage which meant it appeared and disappeared from view for me but I managed to catch it a couple of times. The passage is also the place where the ferries pass in opposite directions since it is mid journey. A chance to get some more ferry shots. After a pause, it seems I am back on the ferry photography trail!

Hatley Castle

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About half an hour from the center of Victoria BC is a large estate called Hatley Castle. It is a pretty grand place in a lot of land. Much of the land is now turned over to a university with the campus buildings spread out through the estate. The old house is still there and I think it now an administrative building for the university. I read that it is also used for a lot of filming work.

The house is quite impressive and there are also some formal gardens. We wandered around the outside of the house and up the hill a little. We could look over one of the gardens from the terrace area but it appeared the access to the gardens was restricted when we were there. Not sure whether that was a COVID issue or just for work to be done. The lawns slope down towards the sea and there is a nice view from the terrace. It isn’t hard to see why someone chose to build their home there!

Patterns In The Sand

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Another repeat of a previous theme. Water flowing over the sand on a beach creates some interesting patterns. The sand on Cannon Beach included a lot of very dark grains. These made the visualization of the movement of the sand easy to do. It also allowed you to see where the water was flowing deeper or shallower which helped when walking through the water running across the beach.