Hydrangeas

 In the Northwest, May and June are months when the Hydrangeas are in bloom, as long as it stays cool.

Maps of the Northwest USA

Maps of the Northwest USA

Yurt Camping in the Northwest

Information on the Cities and Towns in the Coastal Northwest

Washington, Oregon, California, British Columbia

Olympic Peninsula WA

California

Highway 99 & Interstate 5

California

Highway 101

Memories of Pacific Coast Places

Memories of Pacific Coast Places
Travels on US Highway 101 & 1
West Coast Snapshots & Snippets

Haiku, Short Poems, Photos
Graphics, Concrete Poems

By Michael P. Garofalo

"Loaded Logging Trucks Rumbling

Up and Down Daily on US 101,

In WA and Oregon.

They bring Timber to the Mills,

Where machines and men,

Shape Douglas Firs into 4x4's

For the Home Depot bins.

Timber and the Northwest,

a USA economic mainstay;

Replanted Managed Forests the Norm

in these 2022 days.

Coos Bay darkened in the fierce wind and rain;

while the Indian Casino was bright and gay,

slot machines running night and day.

Quiet Brooking, a humble seaside place,

with the nearby Pelican Bay Prison locking up

the worst of the human race.

A dead whale in the sand near Orick rots,

the carrion birds eat and happily squawk. 

Eureka Bay, was wasting away

in the plywood papermills' scum,

something needed to be done;

and, the old nuclear plant's

abandoned concrete core,

a statue in the sun,

had to be undone.

Whether in Oakland or Tacoma, ports so busy,

docks unloading, 24 hour bustling cities."

Memories of Pacific Coast Places
Travels on US Highway 101 & 1
West Coast Snapshots & Snippets

Haiku, Short Poems, Photos
Graphics, Concrete Poems

By Michael P. Garofalo

New Winter Experiences

I lived in the East Los Angeles metropolitan area from 1946-1998, and in Red Bluff, California, from 1998-2017.   We rarely saw snow fall and it melted quickly in these areas.  We always had to drive up into the mountains, e.g., the San Gabriel or San Gorgonio Mountains in the LA area, or Mt. Lassen or Mt. Shasta in Red Bluff if we wanted to play in and enjoy the snow.

Here in Vancouver, Washington, where we live now, snowing is a more common occurrence.  I think that last year Vancouver had about 8 - 10 inches of snow.  The nearby foothills and mountains (Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams, Mt. Ranier, and Mt. Hood of the Cascades) have lots of snow. 

Last night, about three inches fell as temperatures dropped and the cold front rolled into the Northeast Pacific Coast region.

We live about 500 miles north of Red Bluff, and 300 miles south from Vancouver, Canada.