Sunday, July 7, 2013

#47: Pacific Northwest Part One

I recently returned from a fantastic trip to Washington in the Pacific Northwest sponsored by the South Carolina ETV Endowment; we visited mountains, nature preserves, a rain forest and watched whales near the coastal islands.  This posting will cover the first half of the tour and the rest will be covered in the next, hopefully.  Once again the weather was ideal; in this installment we cover Fort Vancouver, Mount St. Helens, a nature reserve and Mount Rainer.  The only rain we experienced on the entire trip was at night or in the rain forest and what would you expect there?  After I returned to Southwestern New York State it has rained nearly every day so I guess they are getting even.

“Your short sojourn on Urantia, on this sphere of mortal infancy, is only a single link, the very first in the long chain that is to stretch across universes and through the eternal ages. It is not so much what you learn in this first life; it is the experience of living this life that is important. Even the work of this world, paramount though it is, is not nearly so important as the way in which you do this work. There is no material reward for righteous living, but there is profound satisfaction — consciousness of achievement — and this transcends any conceivable material reward.”  The Urantia Book (435.6) (39:4.13)

The theme of the quotes in this posting is experience; I believe I have used most of the nature quotes.  The phrase “it is the experience of living this life that is important” especially caught my attention.  These experiences are more important than what we learn, even more important than the work we do.  Enjoy!
Fort Vancouver Accountant’s House



After the tour gathered in Portland, Oregon our first stop was the restored Fort Vancouver National Park in Vancouver, Washington.  This fort was founded in the winter of 1824 – 1825 and was where trappers would bring their furs to sell to the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was under British control.  While touring the fort and taking photographs I was struck by the rough logs of the stockade walls, which were sharply contrasted with the bright white walls of the Governor’s house and that of the Accountant.  In fact the Accountant was practically the most important person in the fort, since he kept track of the money, and he lived very well indeed.  When the fort was in operation there was a sizeable Indian settlement just outside the fort, in fact stockade walls of the fort was mainly to prevent the Indians from getting in and absconding with goods, not because of any hostile threat. 
Mount St. Helens

Our next stop was at Mount Saint Helens.  There was some apprehension about the weather so we bypassed the earlier overlook stops and drove directly to the Johnston Ridge Observatory.  This visitor’s center is situated on the ridge where volcanologist David Johnston was camped out observing the St. Helens volcano when it erupted on May 18, 1980; his final words were “Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it.”  The center, which was named after him, is five miles from the mountain but it looks so close you think you can reach out and touch it.  The weather cooperated with the cone in full view; I was even able to get a photograph of the new lava dome that is building inside the peak and of the steam coming out of it.  In a couple of hundred years or so it might be ready to erupt again.  Stay tuned!

I had been there previously on the 2008 SC ETV tour to Oregon that also included a visit to the same Mount St. Helens visitor’s center.  The film shown in the center about the eruption has been updated and it is even more dramatic than it was before; the grass has perhaps crept a bit more up the mountain side, but otherwise the area pretty much looks the same as it did before.  Mommy Nature may act slowly, but the changes, though gradual, are robust and more certain to last.
Elk in the Valley

Once we had seen the main attraction, Mount St. Helens in all its glory, we could sample the other overlooks on the way out.  At one overlook there was a viewing platform overlooking the valley where a herd of Elk were grazing.  The above photo was taken with a hand held 420 mm telephoto lens with my elbows firmly resting on the corner of a chain link fence.  A ranger standing at the lookout point said that herd was about two miles away.  We watched them for some time as they wandered about calmly grazing.

Our next stop was at a wildlife refuge (unfortunately my notes did not include its name) where we saw several deer, or at least one deer several times, as well as one sweet young fawn in the woods.  Later I was watching a Doe as she grazed at the edge of the meadow nearby; then she started walking toward me and came within two or three feet of me.  The next thing I knew she totally ignored me (how dare she?) and marched up to her favorite bridge when, well see below.

Why are these creatures on MY Bridge?

We can nearly read her mind as she looks at her favorite bridge but finds the way blocked by a bunch of two legged creatures on the path.  Notice the members of our tour group mostly ignored the deer, being absorbed in their own matters.  She was comfortable with humans nearby but did not care to come any closer to them than necessary and I certainly understand that.  After seeing this she sadly turned aside, climbed up the hill alongside the creek and over fallen logs so she could cross to the other side of the creek.  I hope what was on the other side was worth all that.

One interesting note is that four of the five hotels the tour stayed in were Red Lion Hotels, including the one in Olympia.  When tour members went down to dinner at that hotel there were only two waiters on duty in the hotel restaurant to serve our 52 tour people!  Our tour organizer was not pleased and informed the management in no uncertain terms.  The next night there were several “experienced” waiters (is waiter emeritus a valid term?) in the restaurant; we were each given a free glass of Red Champagne and a fancy appetizer.  Obviously they were attempting to make up for the previous evening’s shortcomings.

Clark’s Nutcracker at Paradise

Our next stop was the visitor’s center for Mount Rainer, which is located in Paradise; truly, that is what they call the place.  An early explorer took his daughter there to see the mountain and she exclaimed that it was Paradise.  But then she was there in August, what would she have called it had she been there in February?  I can definitely say I have been to Paradise and there was snow on the ground.  I even walked a bit up the snow-covered slope to get a better picture of the mountain.  This Clark’s Nutcracker was hopping all around the picnic area; at one point it was sitting on a table staring at a couple siting on the other side of the table who were eating and totally ignored the bird; apparently it is well fed by tourists leaving tasty goodies behind.


Mount Rainer

Normally both Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainer are covered with clouds; I was fortunate to get photos of each on this trip.  Mount Rainer was mostly covered by clouds while we were there, but just before we were to leave they drifted away and we could see the mountaintop clearly. There were lovely Avalanche Lilies growing near the parking lot and we were able to get good pictures of them.

 “…[The] most thrilling and inspiring of all possible human experiences: the personal quest for truth, the exhilaration of facing the perils of intellectual discovery, the determination to explore the realities of personal religious experience, the supreme satisfaction of experiencing the personal triumph of the actual realization of the victory of spiritual faith over intellectual doubt as it is honestly won in the supreme adventure of all human existence — man seeking God, for himself and as himself, and finding him.”  The Urantia Book (1729.5) (155:5.10)

The personal quest for truth, seeking God and finding him is the most thrilling of all possible human experiences.  This MUST be the quest of each one of us; may each of us seek to do His will.

Thank you.

All photographs used in blog postings were taken by the Wandering Urantian, Doug Cable.




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