A collection of photography and exploration focusing on Upstate South Carolina and beyond.
We’ve been living on Samish Island for six months now, halfway through our sojourn here. As I’ve been writing about our experiences I’ve been tossing out lots of place names. For my friends back home I thought it might be helpful to review the geography of the area.
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” »
The sun finally came out. The waters receded, and we did not get trapped on the island. Saturday morning I awoke to a glorious sunrise and decided that I had to get out into it. I did and early morning photo trek, then headed back out for later morning afternoon. I didn’t cover any new territory, but I did catch a few good photos.
And the rains kept coming. We knew it would be wet when we moved to the Pacific Northwest, but I had no idea the extent of flooding that would occur. Some of it is normal. This past week what we got was quite a bit beyond that.
Art, Wine, Chocolate, Football, Beaches, Forts, Rain, Flooding – the past several days have been jam-packed, though large chunks of it were spent sitting around and waiting for the power to come back on. I’m going to save the flooding bit for a follow-up post, but here’s a rundown of our hectic weekend.
Elon Musk is officially the coolest dude on the planet right now. The test launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 Heavy was quite successful. But it wasn’t just the science, it was all of the flourishes that almost pushed this into the realization of science fiction. More importantly, though, in a world of such regressive politics and thought, this was a much needed push forward.
It seems like it’s been raining ever since we got back from South Carolina. There may be an occasional break, but for the most part it’s been gray, dark, and downright gloomy. On this particular Tuesday rain and clouds were still in the weather, but for some reason the sun decided it needed to break through. Laura declared that we were both suffering from cabin fever and kicked me out of the house with my camera while she did some Furman work. I wasn’t sure where I was going when I set out, but I wound up at Deception Pass.
Samish Island has a very active community. There are events year-round at the small community center on the northeast side of the island. This past Sunday Laura and I headed to the center to hear stories about the history of the island in the first session of Samish Island Stories.
The Illuminati – the “Enlightened Ones”. It may be an overused plot point for adventure novels and conspiracy theories, but the general idea of gaining enlightenment isn’t that bad. In this case it was literal enlightenment, a means to dispel the gloom of the long winter nights of the Pacific Northwest. With that in mind I joined other light-deprived citizens for the 4th Annual Mount Vernon Illuminight Walk.