A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
I miss a good, old-fashioned Southern flea market, the kind where you can find anything from fishing lures to knives to rusty tools to outdated medicines to questionable Confederate adoration. There’s just nothing like that up here. The western term is “swap meet”, but I haven’t even been able to find one of those. At least in this corner of the state swap meets are infrequent and are nothing like those in the South. I was eager to find some alternative.
It took until May to get here, but it’s finally spring in the Pacific Northwest. Along with the tulip fields we’re getting rhododendron and other blooms. The weather is also improving, with sporadic sunshine temps reaching almost 70ยบ. It’s perfect weather for getting out and about, so I’ve been trying to take advantage of it when I can.
Read More “Random Skagit – Volume 6, Padilla to Bowman Bay to Guemes” »
I’ve got some catching up to do. The last few weeks have been a relaxed whirlwind and I’ve been having too much fun to write about it. It’s Tulip Festival time here in Skagit Valley, but, more importantly, we’ve had a visit from my brother, Houston. The past week was spent showing him all our favorite tourist spots and having a great time in general.
The past several days we have had the coldest weather for this winter. Snow has made its way down to the lower elevations, but for us it’s just been rain and wind. Even so, we were able to get out and about a bit. Here are some of the photos that just didn’t make it into other blog posts.
I was on an old-fashioned ramble, much like the ones I used to do back in South Carolina. I was visiting the site of Northern State Hospital, a former mental asylum that is purportedly haunted. So far I had visited the hospital’s on-site cemetery, but now I was ready to explore the park that surrounds the hospital.
Read More “A Visit to Northern State – Part 2, The Recreation Area” »
Laura and I were working on her mother’s estate and had an appointment in town with an insurance agent. We arrived a bit early, so Laura suggested that we try to find the old Northern State Hospital just outside of Sedro-Woolley. It had been featured Ghost Hunters, one of Laura’s favorite shows, so she wanted to see it. When we arrived we found only open space and ruins. We had to get back for our appointment, but I had seen enough to know that it warranted another visit. So the next morning I paid a visit to the old mental asylum.
Read More “A Visit to Northern State – Part 1, History and Cemetery” »
Paddling conditions have not been ideal lately. It’s been rainy and cold, not good weather for kayaking. Finally we got a forecast for clear skies with favorable tides. I knew I had to hit the water. I decided to try another fairly close venue, Padilla Bay.
This past weekend marked the 2017 Artist’s Studio Tour in Anacortes. Laura and I decided that we should check it out. We had a couple of other spots in the area that we wanted to explore, so on Sunday morning we headed in that direction.
I take a TON of photos. Sometimes these don’t fit into a cohesive blog narrative, but they still wind up in my Flickr stream. I decided that I’d just post a few of these all along with a caption. These aren’t necessarily in any order nor are they meant to convey anything. I’ll be doing these all along as I come across weird things out here.
I was still on a quest to find a good German restaurant. The Schweinhaus in Bellingham had good sausages and sauerkraut, but was missing some components (like a roof.) After expanding my search area I came across Gretchen’s Delights in Lynden. Laura was busy with Furman work, so I decided to head out to see if this would fit the bill. TLDR; version – It didn’t.