2025.6.29. Pride Parade

Seattle's Pride Parade is always fun to watch. A lot of groups. A lot of colors. A lot of flags and balloons. A lot of noise. All sorts of people. Some in wheelchairs. Everyone is happy.

The parade started at 11am, and we went ~1pm near the finish line. Stayed until 3pm, and it wasn't done. Mexican consulate has the best costumes. Quite a few small marching bands, dancing groups. We were just commenting on not many Asians, there came a Taiwanese group with a sign "first Asian country to legalize same sex marriage". A group of naked people near the end, some with both male and female physical distinctions. One teenage girl proudly walking topless without breasts. A large group of people in husky head and paws. Must be hot in today's weather.

2025.6.28. Iron Peak via Beverley Creek

6/28, Saturday. I signed up this WNPS field trip. 4 of us from Seattle, 1 from Bellevue who met us at the TH. One of us is 78 year old! She's in great shape, looks a lot younger. All of them are more knowledgeable than me. I learned a lot, also confirmed some flowers that I guessed 2 weeks ago on Earl Peak.

We started from the same Beverley Turnpike TH, wooded habitat. After ~0.5 mile, at the first junction, turn left following Beverley Creek. Some of us were delighted to see quite many white flowering rhododendrons.

Another half a mile later, we enter a meadow filled with scarlet gilia and buckwheat. I've never seen this much scarlet gilia before. We spent quite some time in this area. Some rare plants that are only found in the serpertine soil: Wenatchee paintbrush, Thompson's pincushion, lace fern and Shasta fern.

The trail goes through the meadow, steadily gaining elevation, away from the creek. More and more rocky, until going through a large scree field. The scree is not barren. A lot of Shasta fern. Richard, the hiker leader, scrambled up, looking for alpine collomia. We all started searching. I was the lucky one who spotted the lone plant.

Another trail junction. We turned left, crossed the thin creek again. More trees here. There's a camp site next to the water, where we made a snack break. The next 0.7 miles has many shooting stars, some bog orchid, some columbine (in different shades of red), some white rhodies.

The next trail junction, we took the left fork towards Eldorado Pass. Now dry and rocky. Wenatchee Lomatium, Shasta Buckwheat (new to me), bright rock penstemon, lupines of various shades (from yellow to scarlet), Anemone drummondi, phlox. The view is getting better as we approach the pass. Stuart is looming in front. Rocks here are yellow and red.

From here, turn south along a gentle ridge to the Iron Peak. 0.7 miles. Sand and rocks, reddish brown. May have iron. One of the highlights here is alpine Claytonia on the highest ridge. There are also a few Whitney's milk vetch, still in flower. Lots of white daisy, buckwheat, Thompson's Cryptantha (endemic). Lady bugs.

Had another food break on the summit ridge. It's so flat, not sure which rock is the highest. Very good view all around.

We walked down together happily. Didn't find another collombia on the way back, nor the one we saw earlier.

I was dropped off in downtown.

2025.6.27. Weave a coaster at Pier 62

6/27, Friday. Part of the Pride Week event. Pier 62 hosted this IndigiQueer Festival all afternoon. Too bad that I missed the drag shows and dances. Went to a weaving workshop with Kariel Galbraith. The material we worked with is some straw feom Asia. However, there's a sample of a hat made of cedar bark. There're 3 colors to chose from. Mine is the one still wet, in comparison with our model (with red). It is much more difficult than I expected. Especially to make it tighter, because the braids are a bit stiff. The clamps are needed.

2025.6.22. Tronsen Ridge

6/22, Sunday. Heading to Tronsen Ridge near Blewett Pass for flowers. Everyone I know who's into flowers ranks Tronsen Ridge as the premier spot in WA. For reference, consult this plant list.

Drove to the south TH off Wilcox Horse Camp. On the way, saw Tweedy's lewisia and yellow columbine. Stopped the car to take pictures. I was very happy to spot some tweedies, because I thought we were too late to see them this year.

Made a brief stop at Harney Meadow, opposite of Wilcox Camp. Oddly large, green in this dry landscape surrounded by burnt trees, thanks to Naneum Creek. A lot of Yellow Penstemon. There's a group from Native Plant Society, who parked here.

We continued about 0.8 mile further, parked at the road bend. Still had a bit of water, and a lot of Jacob's Ladder here. Started hiking along a dusty burnt road/trail. Heard wookpeckers. Endless dead trees, a lot of flowers underneath. No morrels.

The trail has a spur going up to point 5575, where we met the WNPS group. They were already turning back. It's almost a sand dune here, topped with some rock formation. Good view of the Stuart Range.

Back on trail, we continued north along the ridge, slowly lossing elevation. Saw a lot of blue clemantis. The next baldy ridge is the best, covered with bitterroot, buckwheat, and paintbrush, scarlet gilia. Some silenes (catchfly) too. Many penstemons, but not sure if we saw Chelan Penstemon.

As we continued north, more and more trees. Saw balsamroot, white colored lupine and pink ones, wall flower, death camas, a lot of mariposa lily, some Geum Triflorum (first time I see them in WA). More Tweedies. At some point, the entire forest floor is covered by mariposa lily. It's delightful.

We scrambled up a short bluff for lunch. Found these large pea pods of Whitney's milkvetch. No flowers. Saw a single guy going north on the ridge below us. I suspect him to be the outlaw. There is a sign of the man hunt at the trailhead. We turned around.

A relaxed day. On our drive out, going too fast on this rugged road (about 9-10 miles). A tire was slit open. Took some time putting on the spare tire. A few rain drops.

2025.6.21. Fremont Solstice Parade

6/21, Saturday. Solstice Parade. I was late arriving. It was still full of people. Difficult to move around with my bike. A lot of colors. A lot of vendors (weekly market). Many were lining up for the pink slide. $5/ride. I didn't expect to, but saw 3 naked people.

Here are some of the fun floats.

2025.6.20. Duel Reality at Seattle Rep

6/20, Friday. Duel Reality. Another acrobatic production of 7 Fingers. I was so impressed last time with their Passengers, so eager to see this one. It was fun, but it didn't live up to my high expectation.

It's loosely adapted from Romeo & Juliette. Blue and red teams competing. Even the audience was give a blue or red wrist ribbon. I still like the lady who does hula hoops most. This production is only 1 hour. A bit too short. The assemble choreography is a bit messy. Still very enjoyable.

2025.6.20. Inter Milan

6/20, Inter Milan set up a booth with a large screen in Seattle Center, handing out cozies and ice cream (in indigo and black color). I happened to walk by on my way to Seattle Rep. 6/25, Inter played River Plate here as part of the FIFA Club World Cup. Inter won the match 2-0.

2025.6.16 + 6.19. Gardens in NW WA

Since my last visit to the Rhododendron Garden in Federal Way, I've been keen in visiting other gardens in bloom. Now is a good time for most flowers. This week, I visited these 4 locations, on my way up to and back from Canada.

WSU Master Gardener's Demo Garden in west Mount Vernon. Right by the parking lot is a large area of roses, now in a rainbow of colors. Many sections, each with a theme (ground cover, good for polinator, heather family, ...). Many plants have tags (thanks), but still quite a lot don't.

Their website offers plant lists. In the garden, there are QR codes in various spots to link to the plant list. There's also an area for vegetable garden, and compost process.

I definitely enjoyed seeing the bright Siskiyou Lewisia (maybe some day, I'll see them in the wild).

Some very funny looking flowers are Turkey Sage, Love-in-a-mist, Gold Cotula, all non-native. Pitcher plants are always cool to see.


Fragrance Garden next to Tennant Lake in Ferndale (north of Bellingham). The garden is very small, but is nice with benches and an educaton center (closed). I like the observation tower. Its ground floor has a display with photos and illustration of the reconstruction of this new tower and the demolition of the original (build in 1978). From the top, great view of the lake (otherwise, you don't see the lake at all), and how small the garden is. Should come at dusk or dawn and bring a binocular to view wildlife, dusk for a better color of Mt. Baker. Now at 2:30pm, sun is beating on us, all animals are in hiding.

There're boardwalks leading to the lake, now choked with waterlilies. Flowers are big, but few and far between. The right-most one ends in rotten board that needs repair. The left-most one is the best.

The next door is Hovander Homestead Park. Different parking lot, about 0.5 mile east. It has a nice cottage (old home, closed this day), and a lovely small garden. The interesting one is the small display area of "native weed", with description of each one. So many of them I would happily (and regret later) to plant in my garden if I had a garden. There's a self-service plant sale here this week. On this large property, there's a barn with old farming equipment, an area with some animals (I only saw ducks and geese), a small maze, many picnic tables. A lookout, with very very steep stairs, where I took this photo. Too bad, you cannot see Mt. Baker from here. I saw quite a few families here with little kids.

Evergreen Arboretum and Garden is a small garden in Everett, next to a baseball field and a golf course. Narrow property. Very well designed with some sculptures. The planting extends to the parking lot, so making your walk to the garden more pleasant. Maybe half of the plants have labels. Many flowering nicely. On this day, there was a game going on, so I parked below on Alverson Blvd. A neighborhood gem.

The west of Alberson Blvd is a large green area with picnic tables, named Hibolt Lookout. View of Snohomish River going to the Sound. Can see Mt Baker. Too industrial-looking.

Rhody Ridge Arboretum in Bothel, is a too late now. Most flowers are gone. Very obscured entrance. Yes, with a sign. Parking in front of neighboring homes. It connects seamlessly (going slowly downhill) to a community park. It's very small, but pleasant. On this early evening (~6pm), I saw 2 people.