Lower Falls

So after going to Victoria the week before, we had yet another family adventure this past weekend. We spent two nights at Lower Falls on the Lewis River. We went there a couple years ago (as this blog post documents). If anything, I love that area now even more than I did then. It's just beautiful and a great place to camp and hike. The campground is just a short walk away from the viewpoint for Lower Falls. It's also right next to the trail that takes you to Middle and Upper Falls. All three falls are really impressive and the trail itself is very pretty and not terribly challenging (there are few narrow places where you may not want to look down if you don't like heights).

Lower Falls

One of several creeks that passes under the trail and joins the Lewis River

Middle Falls

The woods are so beautiful!

There's one tree in particular off the trail that's just enormous. As you can see, it makes Christina (standing at the bottom) look tiny, and yet you still can't see the whole thing.

A mini forest growing on top of a log, complete with trees and "ferns"

For a while, the trail is overhung by massive cliffs that echo the sound of the river below.

Another tributary creek.

Majestic Upper Falls

It's kind of become a tradition of mine to take fire pictures on camping trips. 

Victoria

About a week ago we took a quick trip up to Victoria, B.C. Mom and Dad had gone there before and this was an opportunity for them to show Christina and me some of the things they had seen and to explore some new places. I really enjoyed it and I hope we can go back some time. We started by looking around the downtown/waterfront area. This is where the beautiful Empress Hotel is located. The downtown area has a fun, British feel to it that I really enjoyed.

The lovely Empress hotel. 

The view of the waterfront across the street from the Empress.

There are lots of nice shops (including yarn shops!) and interesting restaurants in downtown Victoria. I wanted to eat lunch at the Sticky Wicket (loved the name!) but it wasn't open, so we went to another very cute place down the street.

Once we were finished in Victoria, we took the bus up to Butchart Gardens. This was definitely a highlight of the trip. The gardens are just amazing, and very extensive. They were developed on the site of the Butchart family's quarry operation. It's amazing how they were able to transform something ugly into something so beautiful and lush. We wish someone would do the same with the quarry down the street from us!

At the edge of the gardens is Butchart Cove, which was important for transportation from the quarry. Now they use it for tours.

I liked how they incorporated a hanging basket into the sign. 

Senior Pictures for Christina

June marked a major milestone in my sister Christina's life--a few weeks ago she completed her final courses for a bachelor's degree from Whitefield College, majoring in philosophy. I'm very proud of her! She's worked hard on this for years and has been a very dedicated student. Okay, almost everyone says something like, "Philosophy...wow... what is she going to do with that?" Well, she got it more for the knowledge, rather than to prepare herself for a job. She enjoyed her studies, but she's glad to have this behind her now. We're waiting to see where God takes her next.

As part of graduating, Christina wanted to get some on-location (non-studio) "senior pictures," because she only got Penney's studio portraits when she graduated from high school. And she was willing to let me take them, so I got some great opportunities to continue practicing with portraiture. These were taken at Lewisville Park. It's such a great place for doing portraits! We went on a weekday morning and it wasn't crowded, which was really nice.   

Christina has played flute for quite a few years now, so she wanted some shots of her with/playing her flute. 

Hawaii--Some Time on the Beach

My last day with Anna and family we went to the beach in Honolulu. Actually, this was my second to last day, but I spent a lot of the next one in the airport trying unsuccessfully to get on a flight (the risk you take when you fly standby), so it doesn't exactly count. 

We went to Alamoana Beach Park. It's more of a "local beach" (not so tourist-y), but very nice. Here's me with Sydney, Mack, Cole and Nora. You can see Waikiki and Diamond Head behind us.

Anna and the kids.

Then we went down to another beach that was supposed to have sea glass. Believe it or not, the beach-combing in Hawaii is not particularly good, so it was exciting when we actually found interesting stuff in the sand here.

Cole and Sydney scanning the beach in front of a perfectly blue backdrop.

I think that pretty much completes my recap of my time in Hawaii--now time to focus on enjoying and photographing our brief, but lovely, Northwest summer.

Hawaii--A Day on the East Side of Oahu

While I was in Hawaii we spent one day over on the east side of Oahu, which is the lush, green side. I just love the mountains over there!

We ate lunch in a park near Chinaman's Hat, a famous little island so named for its unique shape.

We also toured a Buddhist temple in the Valley of the Temples. The grounds there are lovely, as you can see.

There's a huge bell there that visitors can ring.

You are allowed to go inside the temple, but you have to remove your shoes first.

The actual statue inside the temple. The picture really doesn't get across how tall it is--over 18 feet. I'd never seen something quite like this before, so it was certainly an interesting experience.