Looky Loo

Sometimes you have only one choice- if you want to get the right image you have to go there by foot.. or is it feet? Everytime we plan a trip it seems to take longer than expected… I mean you try to get up early but one thing leads to another- between packing food and water, getting your maps together and making sure you have the right gear for the day’s weather… the time slips by and once again we find that we’re not on the trail until after noon. Which is okay because the days here in the early fall are beautiful and the earlybirds are already on their way down .. and we can check in with their experiences.

Our first trip up Pilchuck was a bit of a grind- but well worth the effort to pull ourselves away from the Olympic games and do something heroic ourselves. Our legs weren’t accustomed to the demands of a rocky climb but fortunately I had my camera that needed to appreciate all the views and that allowed for many short rests to catch my wind (or let it out!). Just for laughs I asked hikers on their way down if there were any treats left at the top from the ice cream social.. most of them looked at me like I was a bit out of my mind.. naturally, but when we got closer to the top there actually was a group coming down that still had on their party hats … so the joke was on me!

The views are fantastic—if you can get around all the tired huffing and puffing hikers that crowded the lookout tower. Everyone was scarfing food and taking photos like they were at the Olympic games or something… well we were all pretty proud of our efforts and while nobody was handing out gold medals or ice cream we all felt like winners.

The trip was so inspiring that the following week I worked on three paintings! Rocky Rumba is a view from the top looking south to Mt Rainier. Looky Loo gives views to the west, the Puget Sound Islands and the distant Olympic Range. And of course Pilchuck Palette, half way up, displays the rocky range that we had conquered!

This weekend, September 13th and 14th, the paintings will be shown at Art at the Plant Farm- 15022 Twin Lakes Ave. Marysville, WA - Smokey Point exit south of the new Costco. Hope to see you there!