Friday certainly was challenging. I woke up late, for starters. That didn’t bother me too much – I wouldn’t get as much as I’d like to do done, but surely I could still do lots! I was on the road by just after two. Then I had to turn around because I’d remembered every bag aside from the camera bag. Still, I’d caught that within a few blocks, so no worries! Traffic into downtown Seattle sucked, but it always does. Still no worries.

But traffic remained not just bad, but atrocious, all the way past Olympia. It took me over three hours to do a drive that normally would take me an hour and change. I didn’t get down to Castle Rock until seven. Gah. I’d meant to explore some bits I’d never seen before, but all I had time for was a walk around Silver Lake. Happily, Mount St. Helens was completely visible, so I could get you a volcano!

Look how dirty she is! All her snow is covered in ash and rock. There’s a lot of loose stuff that blows around, and more stuff that falls off the interior of the crater, so that lovely snowcap gets filthy over the summer.

Here’s one with a mini-mystery flora for you:

I know what that is, actually, but I’m not telling so that those of you who like to hunt up our native flora can have fun. The sunset has reddened them a bit: they’re normally more purple than pink. They’re very fuzzy, too. They look a bit like purple loosestrife, but they’re not! They’re actually not invasive at all!

Whilst I was setting up artsy shots with your mystery flora, a humongous great blue heron flew across the lake, obligingly doing so while I had the mountain in focus. So I got it for you!

There were so many herons! And other birds, but they were harder to photograph.

The lake was also full of dragonflies. Since I wasn’t in a hurry, and didn’t have anyone with me to entertain, I was able to watch them for a long time. I’ve got many photos of them, and will possibly share more soon, but here’s one to delight you now:

I love dragonflies so much, ya’ll.

I kept hearing frogs plop into the water, but I’ve never been able to catch sight of them there. This time, I finally got lucky! I saw a cute little bullfrog hiding beneath a bush.

It gave the most darling little scream when it noticed me looking at it, and hopped into the bush behind it.

I made it to Woodland without incident and am happily lodged in the hotel, which is surrounded by the Lewis River and many restaurants. I took a little walk and then chose the Mexican place, which has provided me with both dinner and breakfast. Suzanne and I will be having lovely adventures, and I may end up staying over at her place to do more exploring on Sunday, if I’m up for it. Misha will survive another day without me, I’m sure.

I’ll have many more photos for you to enjoy soon!