Pilgrimage to the Northwest Begins

Here I'm taking a little drive to Canada and back before going to the Caucasus.

Driving out of Colorado and into the Pacific Northwest is a geological-scenery-treat. This is about Dinosaur National monument, just as one enters Utah.

Passing through Vail, I had to check on the Betty Ford Alpine Garden, so great that I found folks in Washington know about. It was under snow. But despite this, where there had been some thawing in the czech-style rockery, the first flowers of spring in Vail on the verge of opening:

Skipping all the fine scenery of Utah, interior Oregon, and Washington (go see it yourself, and if you can, do it in mixed snow and rainstorms with intermittant clear sky- it's very dramatic.)here is the view from the house of my friend/hostess here outside of Seattle. Let me just say this: some people like to garden, and some people are Gardeners. (Yes, capitalised)

The garden of K. H.:

Bravo! Encore! Let us see more, more, I say:

This garden looks like it has had a tryst with Adrian Bloom (backed up by a full-time staff of gardeners). But, in fact, it is the work of one dirt-rocking woman who works full-time, (and full-time at a "real" job, too.)

One more with the token this-is-my-vehicle-that-gets-me-everywhere nod: