Washington's dramatic mountains and islands vs. desert

I had to visit Arizona this past week for the sad reason of attending the interment of my oldest sister. However, visiting Phoenix's Botannical Gardens was a pleasant respite. Here I found my own Washington State's Dale Chihuly's creations enhancing desert displays. Chihuly's famous works are created only minutes from the tragic Oso mudslide that has made international news this past month. Perhaps his colorful work helps to heal the sadness of both my personal and our state's citizens. The tube like creations were featured in several different colors and enhanced large desert shrubbery, too, if it is even possible to enhance Nature's beauties. 

So much beauty at all seasons is in our Washington State. Now spring along the Columbia River and in the warmer areas of the San Juan Islands is helping natural flowers to open their blooms to accent the already lovely forests and island seascapes of both areas. Rhododendrons, foxglove, and lupine, and acres of daisies of several kinds grow wild in the Northwest spring. Rhododendron are wild mostly on the Olympic Peninsula, foxglove waist-high in the islands, and lupine lines higher mountain roads and clearings.

You may wish to read about the Northwest in several of my books available nationwide and online, especially the recent San Juan Islands: Into the 21st Century and The Columbia River. There are others, too.