4-30-02: Eric in the remains of the forest fire at July Creek in Icicle. In the summer of 2001 an unattended campfire spread to destroy many acres of forest. In the wake of the destruction, though, this area became a prime spot for picking morel mushrooms for the two months after this photo was taken. We were a little early. There were probably some here at that time, but our untrained eyes did not spot any.

5-15-02: We decided to take a day trip with our friends to Second Beach. We took a stretch break at Lake Crescent. Eric found a perch in a madrone on the edge of the brilliant blue water.

5-15-02: Eric looks particularly possessed in this photo, but the starfish against his shirt looks great.

5-15-02: The tidepools at Second Beach are rich in brightly colored starfish and anenomes. Note the two purple stars stuck to the rock above the orangey-pink one.

5-15-02: Sometimes the anenomes are pink, too.

5-15-02: Sometimes, they are amazingly prolific. There are easily twenty starfish and who knows how many anenomes crammed down into this little corner of rock.

In the late afternoon the fog rolled in, marking the time to go home.

7-9-02: There was a partial solar eclipse in 2002. It was a fairly slow day at the clinic, so we took some exposed xray paper to use as a UV shield and went out to look at the eclipse. I decided, for a lark, to try to take a photo of it. The sun is the small white dot at the center of the photo... which, you can clearly see, has a pretty sizable chunk out of the lower left edge. You can also see the reflection of me, my co-worker's car, the blackberries, and the edge of Mount Si.

7-9-02: Eric finally decided to shave. But, before he did, we decided to do this commemerative photo, to celebrate all the times he'd been randomly searched at the airport since growing out his beard. All terrorists have beards, after all. And wear tie dye. And turbans.

7-9-02: Stage two of the shaving process. He looks more like an art terrorist with this do.

7-9-02: An unusual rock near Tommy Creek campground. I don't know what caused this rock to appear so pitted, nor to jut from the ground while the hillside around it eroded away, but I'd guess it has something to do with volcanoes.

7-24-02: This is the summer my parents brought my sister and niece up to visit. We decided to take a trip up to Paradise. Here's Dad standing up by Paradise Creek.

7-24-02: And here's the same odd root formation, a year later.

7-24-02: It was a beautifully clear day for views of the mountain.

7-24-02: This is why they call them The Reflection Lakes.

7-24-02: My niece, of course, was much more interested in playing in the snow in July than in the scenery.

7-24-02: Here she's winding up to huck a snowball at Grandpa.

7-24-02: Every now and again you see proof that the kid really does share ¼ of my genes. She was absolutely, positively thrilled that I would go out and play with slugs with her. And boy, do we have slugs! These were just the ones hanging out under my doormat. My sister sighed. She can play with them, as long as she's willing to wash her hands afterwards.

7-24-02: Jamie was in a you can't take my picture phase, but she agreed to let me photograph her pet slugs.

7-24-02: I was able to sneak in a couple shots with her in them, too. Jamie says, I love slugs. Yeah, kid, I think they're pretty neat, too. Maybe some day you'll think genes are cool, too.

7-24-02: We also went to a ride-through wildlife park. I have lots of blurry pictures of unidenfiable hoofstock, but this picture of a buffalo bull actually came out pretty well.

7-24-02: We also went to the aquarium. Again, I have lots of pictures of unidentifiable things with fins and tentacles, but this picture of the clams open and filtering came out really well. They really are beautiful. And I'm sure they'd be great breaded and deep fried, too.

10-31-02: Hallowe'en again! I decided to go with the 360 degree idea again, but this time to do one I eventually titled bats in the belfry.

10-31-02: I modeled the bats after some silhouettes that I found on the 'net.

10-31-02: There were several bats all around the pumpkin. It ended up being very cool.