Eatonville, WA's Wildlife Trek Park

Zoos to me are and I think always will be a love/hate issue. I LOVE that I get the opportunity to see wild and/or exotic animals I would NEVER get a chance to see in the wild. On the other hand, some animals in these places eminate such sadness and dispair.
That said, the Wildlife Trek Park in Eatonville, WA was a very enjoyable experience!
The animals roam around free over acres and acres of natural terrain. The only concrete in sight was the path that snaked through their world that our (windowless) tram took over an hour to cover.
The Wildlife Trek Park houses, not exotic animals but North American species we don't think of normally as zoo displays, at least I don't think of them as something to stare in awe of up close and personal. The animals looked content and serene. There were adolescent/juvenile critters lolling about in meadows or camouflages under thick ferns and ground cover.
If you're ever in the Tacoma/Seattle area, try and make a trip a little further south to Eatonville and spend some time with beautiful North American creatures.



baby porcupine testing his balancing abilities.


A wee calf stood just off to the left of this fella's rump.


This was one display I wish wasn't so 'prison-like'.


This trio sat SO STILL everyone who wandered up honestly suspected that they were stuffed. I swear! I saw them weave and blink!

Queen's Park Garden & Petting Zoo

Nestled in New Westminster's Queen's Park, just a stone's throw from the arenas and playing fields is the 'Rose Garden' and a quick jog across the parking lot, is a kid's delight - the petting zoo.

Fraser River graveyard?

Was out and about on a sunny Sunday morning, getting in some driving practice and we stumbled on an interesting view or two driving along River Road. Spotted a swan family that taken up residence in a rundown hodge-podge of a pier (wharf?) not far from a rotting old boat moored at low tide.

Oh, and this is my crazy orange cat Pixel giving me either a yawn and stretch or is laughing hysterically at me. :o\

Taking the summer slooooow and ezzy

Haven't traveled much this summer. Did the economical 'stay-cation' thing instead in early July. Actually I've been as lazy as a "slug" during my time off and barely pointed the old Nikon at anything.

Finally stepped into the realm of manual settings

My friend recently discovered the thrill of shooting in "M" and encouraged me to take a step away from the "A" setting on my D60 and we spent a gorgeous Sunday afternoon shooting down by the Fraser River.


We parked right under the skytrain tracks


Low tide left little rivulets in the sand


Looking through a knot hole


Solitary rock stranded in sand ripples


Hidden mushrooms on the path above the beach


And I always seem to meet dogs on my photo outings. This beauty was skittish and barky.
But a good lesson: Bright sun + Dalmation + manual settings = many attempts at proper exposure

West Coast Train Museum, Squamish, BC

Bright and early, we booted it up to Squamish, BC along the newly beautified Sea-to-Sky Highway (the #99) on Saturday, a typically rainy, grey spring morning in this part of the world. We got to the West Coast Train Museum in good time and found the place - to our delight virtually deserted - only because of the relentless rain. But that suited us just fine. We weren't being jostling by absent-minded elbows or excitable youngsters or waiting for idling bodies to get out of our shots. It was a blast climbing in and out of the cars that were open to the public even despite the steady rain and there were some fascinating things to shoot. I was disappointed to see no passenger cars. If there ever were any, they may have been gutted to house the 'museum exhibits' (a lot of which were behind plexi-glass or obscured by "do not touch" signs. But it was interesting just the same. We also managed to take a tour of Brightbill House (circa 1930).


Engine car
Brakeman's perch in Caboose
Brakeman's quarters
Canadian Pacific place setting
Dining car
Telegraph car
Brightbill House
Inside Brightbill House

Taking stock?

A friend asked me recently if I'd submitted anything to competitions lately. Good question. Anything I've submitted has been through the Royal City Photography Club - of which I am a member. I've never entered anything on my own. I think I'm going to post the (club) ones I can remember submitting so far here (in no particular order) to keep track of them. I will probably post a batch from time to time just to keep a record for myself (hopefully there's a noticeable improvement in the quality of the images improves). I think I might finally join CAPA (Canadian Association of Photographic Arts) now too. They have competitions for individuals as well as clubs. Time to step it up. Thanks for the suggestion Deb, it was a good idea. :o)

Cafe on Hastings
Fraser Heights river walk
Bloedel Conservatory
Cleveland Dam
Burnaby Village Carousel
My living room
The Othello Tunnels
Bloedel Conservatory
The McQueen's front room