Of all the photos that I've taken of our son Taraz, this one is my favorite. We found a grove of cottonwoods during one of our hikes on the weekend. The fluffy seeds covered the ground making it look like snow had fallen.
We camped for a few days at Quincy Lakes in eastern Washington, bringing Taraz and his friend Angela.
Hiking along the Dusty Lake Trail.
We had lunch along these immense basalt cliffs and watched the cliff swallows. They were busy feeding their young. As the birds swooped in to the nests the baby birds would buzz with excitement and the parents would hover overhead, flapping their wings like hummingbirds.
Some of the little fledglings did not survive, and small bones littered the ground.
Even though it was close to 90 degrees on Sunday we still had a three hour hike mid-day. This was Spring Lake, one of three. It was here that the heat got the best of Angela, and Taraz went into the water in his clothes and boots! (Flickr video.)
Taraz put sunscreen on my back several times, to prevent sunburn.
A late afternoon canoe paddle on gentle water.
I served a mixture of chorizo sausage, cheese and eggs, polenta and vegetables for breakfast on Sunday. It was simmered until the eggs are cooked, and the chorizo gives everything a wonderful zest and flavor. It is one of our favorite camping meals, similar to the shukshuka breakfast we had in Israel. A year ago when we were camping at Lake Wenatche I made a breakfast similar to this one, and accidently added Palmolive Dishwashing Liquid to the frypan rather than olive oil. I had to throw the entire meal away!
George has some of his videos of the trip up on Flickr...