We made salmonberry jam for the first time last week and it’s delicious. Wanting another couple of jars, I decided to pick some berries along the salmon stream running through the woods near my house. The picking was good – I filled a Nalgene with fresh berries in short order. Along the way I kept an eye out for mushrooms and found some gems.

We took advantage of the three day weekend to travel into the Olympics and see the spring runoff of the Dungeness River. The weather was pleasant and wonderfully warm in the sun. We had a picnic along side the river and found numerous flowers and mushrooms along the trailside. A great start to summer.

My daughter and I decided on a short walk through the Grand Forest East on Sunday to look for signs of spring. Along the way we found what my daughter is calling a “yellow pine cone” growing under some ferns. I have no idea what this is and haven’t been able to find something similar in either my wildflower or mushroom guides.

Sometimes a weekend works out perfectly, last weekend was that weekend for us. I had Friday off so we decided to spend some time at the beach fishing for pink salmon as they make their odd year return to Puget Sound.

Some photos from a recent trip to California. I usually fly the same route but this trip was at unusual hours for me resulting in new views of the same volcanoes.

I’ve been told many good things about Bend, Oregon – they are true.

Fresh eggs are wonderful. My wife has assured us this pleasure.

After returning from my trip my daughter and I decided a day of geocaching was in order. We went to the Grand Forest to look for a couple of new caches.

Joel was right. The Olympic rain shadow is pretty amazing. It was to be sunny & dry.

We have been fortunate for the last couple of years to be invited to view the Bainbridge Island fireworks from the deck of our friends’ house overlooking Eagle Harbor. The view is stunning throughout the year but the evening of the fireworks is especially enjoyable.