Vacation Photos

Why bother with super artistic vacation photos, when you can take photos like this.

March of Time

I have previously blogged about this date in 1886 when the first Northern Pacific train from North Yakima reached Ellensburg.  In that post, I spoke of sitting down by the rail yard and enjoying the West.  Something that did not cross my mind back in the days down by the tracks and even when I wrote my previous post on this event, was time.  Time prior to the arrival of the train was specific to your place on earth.  Where you stood with relation to the sun told you when it was high noon.  Once the train arrived, towns like Ellensburg were now on Northern Pacific time and the railroad's time suddenly was all that mattered.  You wonder were there grumpy old curmudgeons across the landscape stubbornly holding onto actual local time years after the arrival of the railroads, even if it was now incorrect?

Fade Away

Today after nearly 120 years, the federal government has finally closed Fort Lawton.  It has spent most the last 40 years as Discovery Park, but in corners here and there a fort still existed.  It really never was particularly an important fort, in 1938 the Army offered to sell all 700 acres for $1 to the City of Seattle.  The City couldn't afford the up keep so they declined.  It's finest and darkest hours came in World War II, as tens of thousands of men embarked on ships to far away islands in Pacific.  I have meant several old timers over the years that had been stationed there during the war before shipping out.  The conversation was almost identical, I would say I was from Seattle and they would say that they were there during the war at Fort Lawton.  Then I would tell them it was a park now and they would say that it rained too much.  One guy, an ex-patriot, I met in Mexico that owned a coffee shop, enjoyed Seattle and the weather, he was there in July and August of 1945, he was due to ship out right after VJ day but never had to go. 
Today the flag was lowered for the last time.  The land it is sanctuary within the city and hopefully it will stay that way.  Before the housing bubble burst the mayor talked of housing on the reclaimed land, lets hope it remains 700 acres of mostly open space. 

Monte Cristo

The first plat for Monte Cristo, was filed on this date back in 1893, in Cleveland, Ohio.  Why Cleveland?  Monte Cristo was a company town owned by some fellows from Cleveland, a couple guys named Colby and one man named Rockefeller.  This first plat did not deter a second group to file a plat in Washington State.  Predictably this lead to lawsuits and counter suits and two distinct parts of town, the upper town (from the Cleveland plat) running up Dumas Street to the concentrator and lower part of town on the flat above the South Fork of the Sauk River where the rail yard and depot were located.  Of course Monte Cristo turned out to be a great money loser for all involved, as it was too remote and the weather and forces of nature too extreme.  Oh and the silver and gold wasn't plentiful enough to be worth the bother.  By the Great War most the original town had returned to the earth.  Tonight's viewing pleasure photos from the upper and lower town.  Note that Peabody's Garage is the last original structure in Monte Cristo.

The George Washington Memorial Bridge

Today the George Washington Bridge turns 80 years old.  It opened on it's namesake's 200th birthday.  Most folks don't know what bridge I am talking about.  In fact I would guess that most people would guess I was taking about the bridge in New York.  I am not though, I am speaking of Aurora Bridge, which is actually named the George Washington Memorial Bridge.  The bridge was the final link of US 99 that linked Canada with Mexico.  Tonight a photo of the George Washington Memorial Bridge and the bridge it replaced.

Almost Winning

Well I didn't win the valley photo contest again, but I did come closer this year.  I finished second to a photo that was taken a 1/4 mile from my house.  Oh well, this year does mark the third straight that I had a photo in the paper.  Tonight a look back at the previous two photos, maybe you remember them.
Enjoy

Dan

MOHAI

Today is the 60th anniversary of the opening of the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle.  MOHAI is a great place, I can remember going there a  few times when I was a kid and few times since I've grown up and I seem to enjoy each time.  What seems to be the most perplexing is that much of what I remember as a part of Seattle when I was a kid is now stored at the museum.  It is a bit unsettling to see your past become an artifact.  Its not MOHAI's fault, it's the relentless march of time and the need for progress that has landed these items in the museum.  I look forward to the new building and taking my son there every few years.  Tonight, photos from our most recent visit.

Balloons

In 1945 on this date, seven miles north of Spokane, two balloon bombs from Japan were found.  There are considered the first two balloon bombs to be discovered in Washington.  In November of 1944, the Japanese launch maybe as many as 9,000 of these balloon bombs in hopes that they would cause forest fires on the west coast of North America which would require war resources to be diverted to deal with the them.  The plan was super villain clever and like most super villain plans it didn't work very well.  One bomb did however blow up a Sunday school teacher and five of her students in Southern Oregon.  Ironically, in the long run the plan's failure probably ensured the creation of modern Japan.  Had the plan worked, the Russians would have likely invaded and brought Marxist-Leninism with them or the United States would have dropped a lot more nuclear bombs on Japanese cities.  Tonight's photo then is of a balloon bomb on display in Victoria, B.C.

Looking Beyond The Market

Nothing to profound tonight, just two photos taken some 18 years apart.  The photos are taken about 100 yards apart, with the first photo being from a vantage furhter north.  This is also the older of the two photos.

Fort Lawton

On this date back in 1900, the US Government officially named Fort Lawton, the site had been a military installation since 1894..  Fort Lawton is named for Major General Henry Ware Lawton, veteran of the Civil War and the Indian Wars.  Lawton was killed in action in the Philippines in 1899.  Fort Lawton would remain in its original size through 1970 after that it was transferred to the City of Seattle to become Discovery Park.  But that is a story I have told before. 

Keeping With The Old Theme

Tonight I have a picture of my Mom's, Dad's Grandmother, my Great-Great Grandmother.  I know nothing of this person, until I saw this photo and I did not know she ever made it to America.  To my recollection I don't ever remember a conversation about her, much like Aunt Frannie.

Old Stuff

Today we look at Aunt Frannie.  I honestly am not really sure who Aunt Frannie is to be quite honest.  I believe she must have been a sister of my great-grandmother on my mom's side of the family.  I don't remember any conversations about Frannie from my youth, in fact I only remember discussing it briefly with my grandmother after my Mom's death.  Whereas there are a lot of photos of the Courts and a lot of photos of the Joe Paars, there are not that many photos of my Grandfather's side of the family.  Oddly enough there are no pictures of my Dad's side of the family (Although I remember we had pictures of my Dad's parents when I was a kid), so maybe there is something to this.  Whatever it maybe I children will have plenty of photos.  I am sort of lost now, anyway here is Aunt Frannie.

Skiing

It is one of those things that I sort of wish I learned how to do.  I don't know if I would be a better person if I knew who to ski, but at least I could say I had done it and I could maybe even teach my kid.  The couple times I mentioned it as a kid, I was shot down and after a bit I moved on to other things.

Tonight's photo, skiing in the old times.

Dan

Rain

So first of all, if tonight's photo has been previously used, my apologies.  It is getting increasingly tough to keep track.  Anyway I was going to do a post on climate change, but I decided to do that some other day.  I then was going to do something on The Raven, since it was first published on this date in 1845, but I can't seem to find a suitable photo of a raven.  So it is rain, because it was a rainy day.  What is so special about that?  Nothing really, it is rather mundane in fact, I mean it is raining in January, it special when it doesn't rain.  But it is easy to get down about the gray and rain, so avoid that America's Finest Blog will celebrate it in photo.  Tonight a rainy scene from the U District.

Enjoy

Dan

Why This Man

Six years ago today, Western Union ceased sending telegrams, something it had done for the previous 155 years.  The telegram had long since become a largely useless form of communication, but Western Union was still sending 20,000 a year.  That of course begins the question, why?  With the telephone, the cell phone, email, text messaging, instant messaging, etc, what do you suppose was the demographic for a telegram sender?  All that said, I've never received or sent a telegram, which makes me a bit sad.  Anyway why this man?  This is my Great Grandfather, a station agent and telegraph operator for the Milwaukee Road.

Behind the Lens

Sometimes when tasked with photographing life's events, you find yourself removed from said events, as if the camera in your hand is as large as a wall.  There is a fine line between documenting an event and being an active participant.  For me, photography is a way to create visual history of my life and my wife and kids lives.  History is very important to me and so is quality photography.  It is a fine line and one that I often seem to err on the side of photography, which frankly I shouldn't.  That all said, man is it difficult not to bring my camera.  Then again I do have a smart phone.
Dan

A Paar Photograph

Tonight with power on and nothing much to blog about, I have turned to the source of this blog, the Paar Family Photos.  This photo is one of those it would be really nice if there was some explanation to it.  Was there some sort of inside joke here, or was this completely spontaneous.  All I know is what was printed on the slide, this is Pat and Ray S. at my Grandparent's house warming party circa 1950.

Brrrr

Well the great icing has left me without power and a headache.   It was rather scary standing outside listening to trees snap a part.  But was cool to see the layer of ice coating everything.  Now for a picture of candle power.

Weyerhaeuser and Snow

What does Weyerhaeuser and snow have in common?  Nothing that I know of, other than it snowed at my house today, and my house has been built on land once owned by Weyerhaeuser .  Also that it snowed today and today is Weyerhaeuser 's birthday, I would go deeper into all of this, however SOPA and PIPA will not allow me to mention any, in fact I have probably breached the proposed laws as it is.  All I can say is keep speech on the Internet free.  Anyway, a picture of my house, taken by me.  Note, in case my wife reads this, the my picture of my house was taken when it snowed a different time. 

Day of The Cornflakes

The snow is here and it has created the usual havoc and caused some to become real grumpy and others to become kids and everyone one the roads to drive a bit worse.  It is like this always, of course I am not even mentioning the overblown news coverage, complete with live breaking news of the first flake.  How different it was back on this date back in 1943, the media couldn't avoid the issues of the day by dedicating 75% of its coverage to light snow.  It wasn't because it didn't snow, it did, it was because of a wartime ban on reporting the weather.  So the local papers referred to the snow as something like cornflakes and waited for the military to lift the ban on reporting of the weather.  Which the military did so a day later, and by this time the cornflakes were confirmed to be snow.  Then it had turned cold and snow even more.  The snow paralyzed the city (sound familiar?) bringing wartime building at Todd Shipyard and Boeing to a halt.  The government ordered homes to only turn the heat to 60 degrees and not use the oven.  The dreaded cornflakes/snow lasted until around January 23rd, at which time snow could once again not actually be mentioned.  

Today the snow that has been around the region finally found its way to North Bend, at times the flakes were as small as dandruff, but other times it was like cornflakes falling from the sky.  Tonight's photo then was taken today at Rattlesnake Lake. 

Enjoy

Dan