This refuge, located just west of Ridgefield, Washington, is home to a wide variety of plants and animals.

Let’s explore around Tacoma, Mount Rainier, Sumner, Puyallup, and University Place in Washington’s Pierce County…

A great urban park with ball fields and picnic areas, plus a gorgeous little lake to sit beside and let the pressures of the workaday world evaporate…

Even on a windy day you are guaranteed a lovely spectacle…

Few things are more exciting, and yet relaxing, than driving around Mount Rainier National Park…

Visiting Narada Falls, Longmire, Paradise, Alder Lake, and more…

Actress Mackenzie Firgens and I wandered around the Echo Park district of Los Angeles, California, in January 2018, laughing and having a blast...

During my 2014 Come See Turkey experience, after visiting Sümela, we traveled from Trabzon to Kars, and we stopped for a bit in the town of Uzungöl, a lovely mountain retreat in the Çaykara district that would be at home in Switzerland...

After a tough week with a very, very tough photoshoot at a hospital, I took a day off to just grab my swimming trunks and head off to some of the fabulous lakes south of Mount Hood in Oregon. By the time I arrived, a lovely morning fog had burned off and bright sunshine warmed the air. I hit Trillium Lake, Little Crater Lake, and Timothy Lake in Clackamas County, and briefly Clear Lake in Wasco County... 

Early in the morning of our second day on Mount Rainier (after the actual sunrise, but on our way to the area named Sunrise), we stopped for photos at Eunice Lake. It was a little too windy for good reflections, but still so lovely!

Reflection Lake is nestled in the foothills below Mount Rainier. There was just enough wind when we visited to send ripples across the water and prevent reflections of the mountain. Oh well! It was still absolutely gorgeous. 

In the summer of 2016 I visited Alaska, focusing on the areas around Juneau and Anchorage. It's a huge and lovely state, truly epic, and I cannot wait to return. For my first blog post about it, I thought we could take a look at the well-named Warm Lake (I figure its temperature was about 75 degrees Fahrenheit that day) near the equally well-named Twin Glaciers and Twin Glacier Lake, just off the Taku River, not too far from Juneau in southeast Alaska.

In November 2015 I worked with Oregon's Mount Hood Territory (OMHT) to explore seven (and a half) lakes south of Mount Hood in 48 hours. I loved them all, but the real surprise for me was Timothy Lake, a large, gorgeous body of water southeast of Government Camp. It's a jewel, and I am amazed I'd not visited previously. But I will certainly return.

In November 2015 I worked with Oregon's Mount Hood Territory (OMHT) to explore seven (and a half) lakes south of Mount Hood in 48 hours. This post is on Little Crater Lake, a few miles north of Timothy Lake, and a short, but icy drive from Oregon Highway 26 and Skyline Road.

In November 2015 I worked with Oregon's Mount Hood Territory (OMHT) to explore seven (and a half) lakes south of Mount Hood in 48 hours. This post is on Trillium Lake, a large lake a little southeast of Government Camp and Mount Hood.

In November 2015 I worked with Oregon's Mount Hood Territory (OMHT) to explore seven (and a half) lakes south of Mount Hood in 48 hours. This post is on North Fork Lake, a reservoir at the western edge of the Cascade Mountains, near Estacada, Oregon, and where the north fork of the Clackamas River splits off from the main. 

In November 2015 I worked with Oregon's Mount Hood Territory (OMHT) to explore seven (and a half) lakes south of Mount Hood in 48 hours. This post is on Lake Harriet, a seclude, serene reservoir off of Forest Road 57 between Ripplebrook ranger station to the west and Timothy Lake to the east.

A spectacular reservoir that rests amid Washington’s Cascades mountains near the North Cascades National Park…

Today I hopped in my car and visited the always fabulous Trillium Lake and the Columbia River Gorge…