Taking in Life Around Me: #Sundaystills Theme: Earth Day

This #sundaystills challenge is hosted by Terri from Second Wind Leisure. It's a great themed photography challenge that you'll enjoy. I love seeing the other participants interpretation of the theme each week...it causes me to think outside the box. I joined in hopes of it pushing me to get out and take more photos...I have to some degree, but I also like that Terri is okay with us finding photos in our archives, which is also a lot of fun. So check out my photos and then head over to Terri's page to participate or visit other's posts. There are some awesome contributors who always inspire me.

This weeks theme is Earth Day. Earth Day marks the anniversary of the 1970 birth of the environmental movement. I believe, sadly, that so much of this has become politicized, like everything else...and often seems to just be to satisfy an agenda. With that, though, I believe we each have a responsibility to do what we can to reduce waste, to care for the earth that we have been entrusted with. 

Last week, my hubby and I were on a Washington trip to Mt. Rainier National Park and the Olympic Peninsula area. We had a great time. I thought I'd share photos from that trip as a celebration of how beautiful and amazing our world, and nature is. How resilient it can be. If you want to see more videos/photos, my personal FB page has a few public albums you can check out. 

This tree was near the small museum in the Mount Rainier National Park. You can hopefully zoom in to see some of the dates. The center dates says it began in 1293. It was cut down in 1963, that makes it 670 years old when it was cut down. As we wandered the various forests on our trips, we saw some trees that we were pretty sure were older than this. WOW!  

Nature is amazing. As we wandered through trails, I was often in awe of the beauty around us. If I was alone, I probably would have found a place to sit and take it all in. 

We went from mountains, to rain forests, to beaches. I love where we live. Above is Ruby Beach along Hwy 101.

The above tree is known as the Tree of Life on Kalaloch Beach. This is a great article on it's history. It is falling further and further, but has yet to completely collapse and remains alive despite all the exposed roots. No one can seem to explain how it is still alive and how it hasn't fallen. It is exposed to the winds and waters of the ocean. 

Another fascinating things we saw a few times in the rainforest are what are called nurse logs. In a nut shell, as a fallen tree decays, it provides ecological facilitation to seedlings and you see new trees and plants growing from it. WOW!

Above and below are examples of nurse logs. 

I felt like this fallen tree looked like a heart. Again, so amazing how things continue to grow. Up close, you can see rocks, etc embedded into it. 

Don't mind me, I think I'll just grow over this rock. 

So many interesting shapes and features in the forest. 

Sol Duc Falls is well worth the hike. It was fairly easy and so beautiful. 

Well, hello little mushroom! 

Lake Crescent. The water was so gorgeous and clear. This lake is the second deepest lake in Washington at about 623'. It is about 12 square miles in circumference. Apparently this lake also has very little nitrogen. Isn't it fun going down rabbit trails.  There are any legends surrounding the lake. 

Hurricane Ridge is another stunning must-see. WOW. The crazy thing about this whole trip, is many places we wanted to go to weren't that far, but it would literally take us 45 minutes to an hour to go 15-25 miles. This drive was worth it though. I feel like we were about a month behind wildflowers, which I'd love to see sometime. Sadly, last year, the visitor center burned down. 

Do you walk through nature and pause often to go "wow, that is so cool"? I sure do, it probably drives everyone I'm with crazy. Several times my hubby was like, let's get where we're going and we can stop on the way down...haha! 

At Longmire, in the Mt. Rainier National Park there are several spots where you can see the spring water coming up from the ground. The meadow was formed by volcanic mineral springs. Here is a bit of history. They became a tourist site around 1890. 

This was also very interesting...Throughout our hike along the Trail of Shadows we
 spotted areas that were very "rust colored" (and of course you could smell sulfur). Here is a bit of info. 

Hopefully you can see the videos. I never know if they're going to show up. One thing that did irritate me while we walked especially through the rain forest were people going off the trail. One family was literally standing next to a sign that said stay on the trail while their family members went and posed (off the trail). COME. ON. PEOPLE. 

So that's my take on Earth Day.  I don't have photos, but while we were in Hawaii, there was a shop that all kinds household and beauty items, that you could put in recycled glass bottles, etc. I found many places on the island that were all about reusing and reducing waste. Which I loved. Below is also an example of some of the other products that were for sale. The other side of the store was a thrift store....which I also LOVE!!! Let's keep things out of landfills as long as possible. 

With Joy Unquenchable,

Kirstin