Travel

Mount Major, New Hampshire

Photograph taken on Friday, October 08, 2021 by Henry
Mount Major, New Hampshire

Mount Major, New Hampshire

Yesterday’s outing was to a flat location (Plum Island) so we went to the other extreme today. After breakfast we drove up to Mount Major, overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee. The parking lot was full and overflowing but we were fortunate enough to get there just as someone was pulling out so we got a good parking spot. We went up by the Mt. Major Main Trail (1.4 miles, blue blazes) and then down the Boulder Loop trail (1.5 miles, yellow blazes). It’s a fairly steep climb but we managed it without too much trouble. It was certainly worth the effort. The woods below us were not yet at the peak of their fall color. Nevertheless, the view was terrific. I took a 13 shot panorama looking over the lake, which turned out pretty well. We also took a few of the two of us, including this one (with the camera sitting right down on the rocks).

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Coy Pond, Gordon College

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 06, 2021 by Henry
Coy Pond, Gordon College

Coy Pond, Gordon College

After driving up to New Hampshire yesterday, we spent most of today at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Hamilton, Massachusetts. There was an event there we wanted to attend and we had a really nice time visiting with family friends (even though it’s been years for Cathy and I’ve never actually met most of them). After the event, which included a chapel service and lunch, we had a little time before we were meeting other friends for dinner. So, we stopped at Gordon College and walked around Coy Pond. The fall color is not quite at peak yet, but it’s coming and it was already beautiful. Also, we weren’t at home, which was nice. After a lovely dinner with Rob and Iris, we drove back up to our hotel in New Hampshire, looking forward to three days of doing nothing in particular.

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Cathy and Jean at Scott’s Run Falls

Photograph taken on Sunday, May 30, 2021 by Henry
Cathy and Jean at Scott's Run Falls

Cathy and Jean at Scott’s Run Falls

We met up with Jean today for a walk. I found a new place that we’ve drive by without noticing up until now. It’s just into Virginia and right off the Capitol Beltway on Georgetown Pike. The hike was pleasant, although there’s a significant climb both ways down to the river. This waterfall is where Scott’s Run empties into the Potomac River. We also walked a little way down the river before retracing our steps back to the parking area. It’s a nice, quiet place and we really enjoyed it. Of course, that may have been the company, as much as the location. It’s always good to be with Jean.

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Theodore Roosevelt Island

Photograph taken on Monday, January 20, 2020 by Henry
Bob, Dorothy, Maureen, Cathy, and Henry at Teddy Roosevelt Monument

Bob, Dorothy, Maureen, Cathy, and Henry at Teddy Roosevelt Monument

Cathy and I have not had Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a holiday for many years. The company where we work has decided that starting this year, we will be honoring the day and so, for the first time in many years, we were off work for that today. We wanted to do something outdoors and talked through a lot of options. Then Dorothy suggested we go to “the island with the box with the hand sticking out of the top.” When I was young, we went to this island in our little jon boat (there was no bridge or causeway in the mid 1960s). In the center of the island was a huge wooden box with a brass hand sticking out of the top of it. We know the proper name for the island, of course, but we still refer to it, and now Dorothy does, too, in this somewhat more colorful manner. Our friends Bob and Maureen joined us for the outing and we had a lovely time on a lovely day.

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Dulles International Airport

Photograph taken on Tuesday, December 17, 2019 by Henry
Dulles International Airport

Dulles International Airport

Dorothy left Juneau yesterday and arrived here a few minutes before 6:00 AM this morning. I got to Dulles a few minutes early and had time to take some pictures of the lighting of the main terminal building. I assume this is for the holidays but I don’t actually know for certain. Whatever the reason, it was really nice. It was rainy this morning, possibly to help Dorothy feel more comfortable being here, as this is what she’s gotten used to in Juneau. Needless to say, it’s great to have her home and we’re looking forward to having here here for a while.

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Harrison Island from Ball’s Bluff

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 30, 2019 by Henry
Harrison Island from Ball's Bluff

Harrison Island from Ball’s Bluff

It was a cool but pleasant day and Cathy and I decided we needed an outing. We drove through Poolesville and crossed the Potomac River on White’s Ferry. From there we drove the short distance to Ball’s Bluff Battlefield. The battle fought here in October, 1961 is not one of the really well known engagements of the war and compared to the likes of Gettysburg, Chickamauga, Antietam, or Shiloh but it was significant nonetheless. Among other things, it marks the only sitting United States senator (Colonel Edward Baker of Oregon) to be killed in action. This photo was taken from below the bluffs. It was a quiet, peaceful place but would have been a really bad place to get caught with your back to the drop of the bluffs.

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Hogback Mountain

Photograph taken on Sunday, November 24, 2019 by Henry
Hogback Mountain, Skyline Drive

Hogback Mountain, Skyline Drive

We had a really nice outing today. As mentioned in Friday’s post, our friend Jan is in town and we drove with her, Rob, and Vicky out to Front Royal and onto the Skyline Drive. It was overcast when we left home and we even had a spattering of rain on the way out but after stopping for breakfast at the Marshall Diner, it cleared up and by the time we were on Skyline Drive, it was sunny and the sky was a beautiful, crisp blue. It was fairly breezy and chilly but we enjoyed the views from various overlooks and then walked a bit on the Appalachian Trail, which is where this photo was taken, near Hogback Mountain, a peak of about 3,460 feet (with a communications tower on top).

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Sunrise North of Seattle

Photograph taken on Saturday, November 02, 2019 by Henry
Sunrise North of Seattle

Sunrise North of Seattle

Our ten day journey to Alaska, like all good things, came to an end today. We were very sad to be leaving and of course were not very excited about getting up at 3:00 AM to get to the airport for our 5:00 AM flight, but it meant we’d get home during the day instead of the middle of the night. We had a great time and would happily have stayed for another week or even two. Of course not having to go to work is part of it. Anywhere on vacation is generally better than anywhere else with work. The weather was about what we expected, cool and damp, but we came prepared (and Dorothy gave me a really nice rain hat as an early birthday present). That meant we got out regardless of the weather and enjoyed pretty much every minute of it.

Sunrise North of Seattle

Sunrise North of Seattle

The trip home was relatively uneventful, which is sort of what you want when flying. There’s not much better than a sunrise or sunset from the air and we got a pretty good one as we headed south to Seattle, on the left side of the plane. Someone who knows the area might be able to recognize the coast line seen through the clouds in this first photo. The second, taken about ten minutes after the first, is possibly Mount Baker, but again, I don’t really know the area, so I’d be happy to be corrected. Much of the country from eastern Washington until we neared Maryland was covered with clouds, so there wasn’t much to see. We did recognize some landmarks as we made our descent into Dulles. And thus ends Alaska Trip, 2019.

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Brian, Lisa, Nathaniel, and Us

Photograph taken on Friday, November 01, 2019 by Henry
Brian, Lisa, Nathaniel, Cathy, Henry, and Dorothy

Brian, Lisa, Nathaniel, Cathy, Henry, and Dorothy

It’s our last evening in Juneau and we went out to dinner with our good friends Brian and Lisa and their son Nathaniel. This photo was taken by Nathaniel’s girlfriend, Alex and it’s nice to have a picture with all of us in it. We were sad to be leaving and could easily have been happy staying another week or even two. We’ve know Brian and Lisa since early 1986 and Dorothy’s been living with them since she arrived in mid July. I’d say it’s been very good for her to be here, although not without its struggles. But as a wise man once said, “Life is pain, highness. Anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something.”

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Tongass National Forest

Photograph taken on Friday, November 01, 2019 by Henry
Tongass National Forest

Tongass National Forest

One of my favorite hikes around Juneau is on the western extremity of Douglas Island. back in the 1980s there was a trail through woods, across muskeg, and to the shore. There is now a much shorter loop trail called the Rain Forest Trail that we took today. While I like the longer, older trail better, we didn’t have a huge amount of time to spend and it was also fairly wet as we drove out, with rain softly falling. You shouldn’t get the impression that the shorter trail isn’t very nice, because it’s actually wonderful. I took quite a few photos both in the woods and on the shore. This one is of a small pond just into the woods as we headed back on the southern part of the loop. The light in the woods is quite difficult, with fairly low light levels along with a very bright sky showing through. I’m pretty pleased with how this one turned out.

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Fourth Street Stairs

Photograph taken on Thursday, October 31, 2019 by Henry
Fourth Street Stairs

Fourth Street Stairs

When we first lived in Juneau, back in 1985 and 86, we rented the downstairs of the pale blue Quonset hut seen in the upper left of this photo. Our address was on Fourth Street but the street ended at Harris Street, almost two blocks away. To get to and from her job in the Goldstein Building, Cathy would walk down the long flight of stairs from above our house to Fourth and Harris. I don’t remember for sure how many steps there are, but my remembrance is that it’s 174 or so. Quite a few, anyway. In this photo you can see a person near the top of the stairs wearing a bright, red jacket.

We moved from the Quonset to an apartment on Douglas Island after a year or so and lived there the rest of our time in Juneau. Living in downtown Juneau certainly had its advantages, but it was also nice to have a few more windows as we did in the apartment. I’m not sure where I’d want to live if we moved back to Juneau. Land is at something of a premium, with usable land squeezed between the shore and the mountains and with so much given to National Forest. But I think I’d be inclined to be outside downtown at this point, just for the sake of having a bit more of a yard and garden.

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Granite Creek

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 by Henry
Granite Creek

Granite Creek

In addition to our visit to the Shrine this morning, Cathy, Dorothy, and I took our longest walk of the trip with Brian, Lisa, and their two dogs. We drove out Basin Road and went up Perseverance Trail and then a ways up Granite Creek Trail towards Granite Basis. I don’t know exactly how far we walked but it was at least three miles each way, possibly a little more. The Perseverance Trail goes up hill pretty significantly in places but it’s an easy trail to walk on. The view of Ebner Falls was nice, even in the light rain that was coming down. We turned off onto the much smaller Granite Creek Trail that zig-zags up a steep hill before becoming more gradual after that. We didn’t go too far up that and this photo was taken somewhere near where we turned around. It was after 5:00 PM and it was going to be dark before we got back. In fact, it was quite dark as we made our way past Ebner Falls and the rest of the way down, particularly those places under trees. But we didn’t lose anyone and had a really nice time.

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Shrine of Saint Thérèse

Photograph taken on Wednesday, October 30, 2019 by Henry
Shrine of Saint Thérèse

Shrine of Saint Thérèse

We went out to the Shrine of Saint Thérèse this morning and enjoyed a very pleasant walk onto the island (well, it was an island but is now connected by a causeway), into the chapel, and along a path on the shore (from which this photo was taken). It was cool and when we got there it looked like rain. Nevertheless, it didn’t actually come down and by the time we walked down the shore, there was some blue in the sky. If we see anyone else on any of our walks around Juneau, we like to joke that the place is getting overrun with tourists. Of course we’re tourists this time, and it’s only a joke anyway. There may have been a few other people at the Shrine the same time we were there but we hardly saw each other.

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The Empty Chair

Photograph taken on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 by Henry
The Empty Chair

The Empty Chair

In May, 1942, the valedictorian at Juneau High School, John Tanaka, was absent because he and others of Japanses ancestry had been forcibly removed and incarcertated in government internment camps a month earlier. The graduating class left an empty chair in his honor at their graduation, honoring John and the other Japanese Americans. John’s younger brother, Bill, was in my mother-in-law’s class and naturally she remembers this incident. The Empty Chair Memorial is in Capital School Park between 5th and 6th Streets and Franklin and Seward.

Today was the rainiest day of our trip. While Dorothy was at work, Cathy and I spent the morning in the State Museum and Library, which I highly recommend. We also drove around downtown a bit with Dorothy after she got off work. That’s when this photo was taken. You can also get an idea from this photo of the steepness of some of upper Franklin Street.

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Cathy, Henry, and the Dogs

Photograph taken on Monday, October 28, 2019 by Henry
Cathy, Henry, and the Dogs

Cathy, Henry, and the Dogs

This photo wasn’t taken by me, but I’ve already posted two photos from today that I did take, so I think I can get away with it. I don’t appear in many photographs and for the most part, that’s my preference. Nevertheless, I’m trying to learn that if I want to expect others to let me take their picture, I need to be willing to return the favor. Dorothy took this with my camera and while I don’t think it’s a particularly good photo of me, it’s at least evidence that I was there. Nugget falls is larger than it looks in this photo. The reality is that we’re quite a ways from it. If we walked so that we were right below it, you’d see how high it really is. I have a few photos like that, but this isn’t one of them, so you’ll just have to trust me, or better yet, go visit it for yourself.

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Cathy at the Mendenhall

Photograph taken on Monday, October 28, 2019 by Henry
Cathy at the Mendenhall

Cathy at the Mendenhall

We have a very fond and somewhat funny memory from the winter of 1986-87. It was on a relatively mild day in February when Cathy, Brian, Lisa, and I drove out to the glacier. There was eight to ten inches of snow on the ice on Mendenhall Lake and there were kids sledding on the hills of glacial moraine. Brian, Lisa, and Cathy walked out into the snow on the ice wearing boots and their bathing suits. They took off the boots and settled on a blanket laid on the snow (which naturally sank into the snow when they sat down. I took a handful of photographs of them, pretending it was a lovely day. Actually, for February in Juneau, clear skies make it a lovely day, regardless of the temperature. Anyway, here’s Cathy, 32 years later, in front of the Mendenhall, although she was dressed more warmly today than she was on that day in February.

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Mendenhall Glacier

Photograph taken on Monday, October 28, 2019 by Henry
Mendenhall Glacier

Mendenhall Glacier

We went to the glacier today. In Juneau, that’s short hand for the Mendenhall, since it’s the one you can basically drive to. When we lived here in the late 1980s the face of the glacier was just a little past Nugget Falls, on the right in this photo. When my mother-in-law lived in Juneau, the face of the glacier was considerably further out into the valley. Like most (but notably not all) glaciers since the last little ice age, roughly between 1300 and the mid to late 1800s, it is receding. It’s still pretty and the clouds separated long enough for us to see some of the mountains around it, at least briefly, although you can’t really see them well in this photo.

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Treadwell

Photograph taken on Sunday, October 27, 2019 by Henry
Treadwell Beach

Treadwell Beach

In 1898, Cathy’s great grandfather traveled from the iron mines of Michigan’s northern pinensula to the gold mines of Juneau. Specifically, he worked in the Mexican Mine in Treadwell on Douglas Island, across the Gastineau Channel. In 1917 the mine flooded and all work ceased. This photo was taken from near the cave-in site, which is on the extreme right although it’s not really visible. As you can see, it was more overcast than the previous two days, which were pretty nice. We couldn’t see the top of Mount Roberts across the channel. Nevertheless, it was good to get out and to walk where Cathy’s ancestors had walked (although we’ve been there before, of course). The Treadwell Mine’s office building, which was in pretty rough shape when we lived in Juneau, has been cleaned, painted, and given a new roof.

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Airport Flats

Photograph taken on Saturday, October 26, 2019 by Henry
Airport Flats

Airport Flats

As mentioned in my earlier post for today, it was a busy day. In the afternoon we went for a walk with Brian and Lisa around the airport. It’s a pretty place and it’s not like the busy airports we’re used to from the DC area with planes taking off and landing one after the next all day. It’s a relatively quiet place except for the occasional plane and we had a nice time outdoors. If you need a reason to go to Juneau, here’s one. It’s beautiful regardless of the weather. The clouds were high enough today that we could see the mountains pretty well. We didn’t have a clear day the entire ten days we were there but if you need clear skies to enjoy a place, then maybe it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. The airport walk is an easy one, with virtually no hills to deal with. Very nice for a mid-afternoon walk. Highly recommended.

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Rainbow Over Mendenhall

Photograph taken on Friday, October 25, 2019 by Henry
Rainbow Over Mendenhall

Rainbow Over Mendenhall

As mentioned in my previous post, it started raining as we returned to our car at the Eagle River trail near the Boy Scout Camp. It rained fairly hard but as we approached the Mendenhall River the sun came out and there was a rainbow to our left. We stopped at Brotherhood Bridge, where there’s a pretty decent view of the glacier and we had it framed by the rainbow. Rainbows can be tricky to photograph because the colors are fairly faint relative to other things in the photograph. Slight underexposure can help but that tends to make the rest of the shot dark. Anyway, This one turned out pretty well. At a different time of year, this photo would benefit from fireweed in the foreground, but the autumnal colors aren’t bad, either.

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