What’s missing from this picture?

A dam. 

The Elwha dam was one of the first hydroelectric dams in the region, being started in 1910 and finished in 1913. The dam provided power for a booming paper pulp industry in Port Angeles. However, there were no fish ladders or other ways for fish to get around, and it all but decimated multiple species of salmon and other fish. After years of legal battles Congress settled the issue in 1992 by passing the Elwha River Ecosystem and Fisheries Restoration Act. In 2011 dam removal was started. Today the dam is gone, and the salmon are back.

For more pictures we took and some links, see Elwha Dam Removal.

This is not actually the view from our door, but it is the view from a less than ten minute hike from our door. The black in the corners is because the image was shot through a telescope at the view point.

Image Credit: © Paul H. Byerly

In part of the Northwest blackberries are a weed. If you don’t mow your yard, it becomes a blackberry bramble.

This little patch is forty feet from my door, and was just begging to give me some fruit for my morning smoothie!

Image Credit: © Paul H. Byerly

Today we move from the beach to another night at a Casino, so we thought we’d treat you to our sunset last night.

Image Credit: © Paul H. Byerly