At the Foot of Mount Saint Helens

I count myself pretty lucky to live in such a beautiful state. I have grown up being surrounded by beautiful mountains, forests and breathtaking coasts. Since I have lived in the Seattle area for the last ten years, I have spent most of my time in the Olympic mountain range. However, this weekend my brother and I went back to the south side of the state where we use to live when we were younger.

Yale lake is situated at the foot hills of Mount Saint Helens and only twelve miles from Apes Caves. (if you haven't been to Ape Caves...go!) Because we went on a weekday for the most part, we had the lake to ourselves which allowed me to take lots of photographs.

Here is a picture of Yale Lake later in the evening with Mount Saint Helens barely peeking out from behind the clouds in the background. I love photographing in the late afternoon because that is where I tend to find the beautiful golden lighting.

Further back in one of the corners of the lake we found this beautiful little area, although we had to dodge a few tree stumps. 

Loving my macro photography, I was able to relax in the sun and take time to look at the little things. 

Including, this adorable little Newt!

As well as these logs sticking up out of the water surrounded by beautiful shades of blue!

My Camera, My Dog and the Open Road

Summer Road trips are always a must for me and probably should be for anyone. This summers road trip was prompted by a friends wedding and turned into a trip to find an apartment in Montana. It began by driving from Seattle to Pullman the first day where I met with old friends and took some nice long strolls down memory lane. The wedding was about thirty miles outside of Pullman on the Snake river surrounded by impressive cliff walls.

Here is a photographic of the lovely bride and groom during there fast dance as a married couple. 

The Palouse is an incredible area with lots of beautiful rolling hills, and many times greatly underestimated by people who have never been there. There are two main buttes outside of Pullman, Kamiack Butte and Steptoe Butte and both make for an incredible backdrop for photographers. 

Although it can seam at times to be solely wheat fields, they have a certain beauty about them that for me is alluring. 

Having lived in the area for four years, I have a lot of pictures of the Palouse at many different times of year. It is the late summer thunderstorms though that I find this area to be the most beautiful and interesting. 

And because I love flowers (even prickly ones) and because I couldn't help it, here is a picture of a thistle I found on my hike up Kamiack Butte!

After a few days in Pullman I left one very early morning and headed to Bozeman Montana. Right when the border changes from Idaho to Montana is one of the prettiest and dramatic landscapes I have seen. This picture just doesn't do it justice. (maybe because it was taken from a car...) 

I finally reached the beautiful Bozeman Montana area and was in awe of how much sky there was...which is probably why it is called big sky country...or the fact that I currently live on an island that is surrounded by trees. Either way, I am always surprised by the beauty there is in our country. 

I didn't spend much time in Montana since I had to get back to work the next day, so I started the very long trek back to Seattle. My furry companion and I certainly got anxious to get out of the car as we started to get long glimpses of ocean. 

Oh and did I mention fresh and cool ocean air!

Here is my fuzzy companion just as happy to see the ocean as I. Thank you for looking at my blog and I hope you are all out there taking at least some little road trips. Happy photographing!