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Rhododendron Species Botanical Garden in Federal Way

Down in Federal Way, there is a rhododendron garden. It is next to the bonsai garden I have posted about previously but we hadn’t visited it before. We took a trip down when the rhododendrons should have been getting into bloom. The garden is a strange location since it is tucked in between two freeways. While you are walking around lots of lovely greenery, you can’t escape the rumble of traffic nearby.

Unlike some gardens that have a very manicured feel to them, this feels a lot more organic in the layout. I am sure there is a lot of planning that went in to the design but it feels like it is a natural growth. Supposedly, it has the largest collection of rhododendrons in the world. Not sure who verifies such things but it was certainly large.

It isn’t just rhododendrons, though. Lots of other plants are scattered around the place. They have a meadow that has blue poppies in it. They are lovely looking flowers if a little fragile looking. There is a glasshouse in the middle of the garden and we took a wander around in there but, with the sun out, it was pretty hot and humid in there so we didn’t spend too long.

The blooms were not extensive when we visited so it didn’t have the same feel as we got on our first visit to Meerkerk, for example. However, as a garden with a wide variety of plants and color, it was certainly a great place to wander about and I suspect we will be back there in the future.

Charter SAAB 2000

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The SAAB 2000 was not a best seller when it was in production and they are definitely not too common in the North American market these days. That makes it a nice surprise to get one. The 340 was a reasonable looking plane anyway and stretching it and adding bigger engines resulted in a more elegant look in my mind. This one is apparently used for charter operations and was a nice thing to get when taking some time off recently.

Donkeys

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I was driving through the Skagit Valley quite a while back when I passed a farm that seemed to have a lot of donkeys on their property. I only realized this as I passed at speed and I had somewhere else I was heading so I parked the thought for a while. Later in the day, when I had finished whatever it was I was planning on doing, I remembered that I had seen them so retraced my steps to see if I could remember exactly where the farm had been. That part of the valley has loads of farms so I wasn’t certain where it was exactly.

Fortunately, the road was quiet so I was able to slow down while passing each farm until I spotted the donkeys out in the field. A quick turn and I was able to pull off the road. Not only were they in the fields but they were also walking about in a yard right near the road. My arrival probably got them to move a little further away but I still got a bunch of shots of them. As a kid, a farm near where we lived for a short while had donkeys so I have always had a soft spot for them. They just look like a friendly creature.

Olga

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All of the communities on Orcas Island are small but Olga, despite being pretty tiny, had caught my attention because of its store. Currently closed, this had been a long lived facility. The community is currently working to try and get it opened up again. I imagine it is going to be a struggle since there aren’t too many customers within range. Hopefully they can do something. We stopped off and had a brief wander around the area near the store and down to the water’s edge. With the sun out, it was a tranquil spot, even if we did wonder whether someone was going to come out and ask us what we were doing there. (They didn’t but we did feel like we were an oddity there.)

Turbine Floatplane That’s New to Me

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While we were walking along the beach in Shoreline, I heard the sound of a plane coming our way. I could see it was a floatplane from a long way off but, even as it got closer, I didn’t know exactly what it was. I took a bunch of shots and then continued on our walk. Only when I got home did I look closer and still I didn’t know what it was. Time to hit the FAA registry. Turns out it is called a Murphy Moose. Never heard of this let alone seen one before.

Sailing Amongst the Islands

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The holiday weekend meant the San Juan Islands were definitely the place to be if you had a boat. We saw plenty of boats coming and going including plenty of sailing boats. Some seemed either to be racing or training together too. I just grabbed some shots of the boats when I could. The evening light on a spinnaker really looks very nice.

Korean Air BBJ

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I was surprised to discover that Korean Air, while being a major airline, is an operator of corporate jets. I’m not sure how an airline ends up in the bizjet market but they have. They have Globals, G650s and BBJs. One of the G650s was in SEA recently but I didn’t have an opportunity to see it. However, I did get the BBJ on one of its visits to BFI. It was stopping at BFI before making a direct run back to Korea. It is quite a nicely painted jet. Lots of the windows are blanked out on the front fuselage. A check on their website shows this is where some sleeping seats are installed. Plenty of smaller accommodation at the back for your lackeys to use while you rest up front if you like.

Strange Sunset Light in the Sky

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Sunsets are a regular theme for photographers since they provide a scene that resonates with people. I have shot plenty of them myself. However, while on Orcas, I saw something in the sky which I was quite baffled by and taken with. The sun was setting in the west and, looking off in that direction, the sky was lighting up as you would expect. However, looking directly south, the sky was doing something very odd. I don’t know exactly what was happening but my guess is that there was a lot of moisture in the sky in that direction and it was reflecting the setting sun back in our direction. It was a localized effect and quite something to see.

Boats That Other People Buy

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While boating across Lake Union, we saw a few of the sort of boats that you buy when you have amassed a decent amount of cash. Some of them looked quite elegant while others had a more aggressive look to them – perhaps the style is indicative of the owner? With the IT business being so large in the region, I suspect a lot of the boats are connected with people from that industry. I doubt I shall be buying something like this any time soon.

Embraer Departing Paine Field

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I was up at Paine Field one weekend morning awaiting a Dreamlifter movement – more of that in another post – and one of the local Embraer operations was departing while I was waiting. Sure, an Embraer E175 is not the most exciting photo subject but I wasn’t doing anything else and the morning light was alright so why not get some shots of it as it taxied by and lined up to depart.