Scenes from the commute

Seattle is blessed with surprises. One day, when I reached the top of the hill on NE 175th street, right between Safeway and Walgreen's drugstore, I saw this (click on the small picture to enlarge):

It was still kind of dark everywhere, but the low-angle sun was bathing the mountains on the Olympic Penninsula.

My house is only 20 minutes drive north from the UW campus, but the road that leads to it (28th/30th Ave. NE)  looks like this:

And at one point it passes forested wetlands:

which looks like this closer up (and in the rain, of course):



and takes on subtle (and beautiful, I think) colors in the autumn:

In the woods, live creatures like the barred Owl:

and the pelliated woodpecker:

One of our neighbors has two seep, named Sprout and Sweet Pea (I don't know who this one is in the picture):



The wetlands are the headwaters of a stream, and you can sometimes see spawning salmon downstream:

Life's good here. And with a "back-ravine" instead of a backyard, there's no lawn to mow!

To see where I go astray when distracted by a January sun and blue sky, click here.