Wallace Falls

I'll post the events of Friday in a later posting.

Saturday, I left Oak Harbor with a heavy heart. It's a beautiful place with great people - it'd gotten to me, in the short week that I was there. I had some time to kill before my 11:00 p.m. flight for home, so I decided to explore other parts of the region. Meg had researched the web for some likely ways to spend a day, and found some pictures of Wallace Falls that looked promising.

A good sign.

I wasn't sure how much of the 5.5 mile trail that I wanted to tackle.

The first thing that impressed me, was how much moss was growing on the trees. It was a lush and vibrant shade of green.

Once across the foot bridge over the North fork of the Wallace River, the path takes a steep ascent toward the falls.

As you climb the trail, there are occasional breaks in the trees that let you see out across the river valley.

The first stop is the lower falls.

The middle falls is spectacular!

Keep taking the path up and up, and you will come to an overlook at the top of the middle falls.

The last bit of the trail that leads to the upper falls is very steep, and it is less traveled. I thought it was worth the effort - And the way back is all downhill! Wallace Falls was definitely a magical place to visit.

I used the rest of the day to visit the Olympia Sculpture Park in Seattle. Generally, I was unimpressed, but I thought these black granite eye benches were pretty cool.

I missed my shot! The guy in the orange shirt (behind the woman in blue), lifted his shirt over his head, and pointed his arms up in imitation of the orange cone. Pretty funny, guess you had to be there.

Wednesday & Thursday in Oak Harbor

Wednesday August 27, was the scheduled date for the installation of my stone sculpture "Release" at Ft. Nugent Park in Oak Harbor, Washington.


Diamond Rentals gave effort and services "above and beyond the call of duty". They only were required to rent the forklift, but they volunteered to receive the freight truck, safely store the piece and then load it onto Island Sign's truck. I can't say enough about the community effort toward this project!

I followed the crated sculpture on its slow ride to Ft. Nugent Park.

Jeff, of Island Signs, and I use screw guns to uncrate the sculpture.

I used a hammer drill to make a 1 inch hole in the center of the concrete footer. Rick Marti used a square to make sure that I was drilling straight. (Looks like I need to move it to the right a bit). I had brought a small piece of threaded rod, just like what was under the sculpture, to insure that the hole was straight and big enough.

The sculpture was moved from the crate base to the footer using the rented forklift.

The hole and the top of the concrete footer had been covered with epoxy before the lift began. At this point Bob and Rick help me guide the pin toward the hole. Jeff is operating the forklift.

The final orientation had to be 'tweaked' a couple times. At this point -get it right, or forever hold your peace.

And speaking of community effort - Maillard Landscaping donated the topsoil! Steve Lang compacts the earth into shape.

Using a board, Rick and Bob make the conical shape that I was wanting.

One load wasn't enough, so I ordered a second load to be brought in.

This is how the installation looked at the end of Wednesday.

Carl Freund allows the local model railroad club to use his grandparents house, which is behind the house that they let me use for the week. They meet every Wednesday night, so I checked it out. Bill, one of the members, stands in the midst of the layered maze of railroad tracks that they've built.

John is operating the controllers. Two other members, Jay and Paul, were also in attendance.

Thursday morning, I snapped this shot of 2 Mule Deers nibbling in Karla's garden. An Anna's Hummingbird was working the red blossoms in the foreground, but too fast for my camera skills.

Throughout the day on Thursday, the Parks department installed the sod over the earthworks. They did a fantastic job - and donated the labor and material!!! I had a meeting with the Mayor of Oak Harbor, Jim Slowik, on Thursday morning. Also in attendance was Erica Schumacher, the project art coordinator, and Nora O'Connell-Balda, the chairperson for the Oak Harbor Arts Commission. Thursday afternoon, Erica Schumacher donated the use of her office and time to help me rewrite my speech for the dedication on Friday. Thursday night was topped off with a trip to Toby's in Coupeville where I sampled the mussels that are grown in the bay, right next to the pub. (and washed them down with a pint of Guinness). I was in the good company of Karla and Carl Freund, his daughter and niece, and Erica. You've definitely gotta try Toby's if you visit Whidbey Island.

San Juan Islands Ferry Ride

I needed to give the concrete footer time to dry and harden before installing my stone sculpture and earthworks for the Ft. Nugent commission.
So, I had Tuesday off - and on a tip from Erica Schumacher, I took the ferry from Anacortes as a walk-on passenger.



Cormorants had taken up residence in the moorings, as a safe place to raise their young.

It's pretty exciting when this huge thing that I'm standing on starts to move away from the dock.
I walked to the other end, so that I could see where I was going - rather than where I'd been. I was surprised about how fast it moved, considering its size. The island scenery is unbelievable. A camera can't capture the scale, depth and the 'feel' of the vistas.


The ferries are "push me - pull me" kind of things. They can load from either end, which can be either the front or the back. There are pilot houses at both ends that provide power and steering.

The area is dotted with lots of small islands - which are privately owned, I was told. Meg and I own an island here in Kentucky, but it looks nothing like this.
Our first stop was Lopez Island.

And then Shaw Island.

Right across was Orcas Island, where everybody had to depart for about an hour. A good way to drum up business for the only grocery store. My choices for lunch included either a bagel with alfalfa sprouts and a slice of tomato for $7, or a big slab of barbecued ribs for $3.50.

As I enjoyed my lunch on the beach, my new-found friend knew that I'd made the right choice. He's not a vegetarian, either.


I caught a different ferry that was going to Friday Harbor. My intent was to catch a whale watching tour out to Lime Kiln Point. But, I arrived too late for any tours leaving out that afternoon.

I caught a 3rd ferry out of Friday Harbor and started the journey back. They took a different route than what I'd already taken. Normally, I have a good sense of direction, but I was soon turned around as we wound our way around islands.

I had to transfer to a 4th ferry at Shaw for the return trip back to Anacortes. We passed this freight tug, which shares some characteristics with our riverboats. (some...). About the time that I turned the camera off after this shot, a seal popped his head up near by, looked at me, and was gone.

All-in-all, a great way to spend the day. Good call, Erica!

There are 2 other postings below that show more of the Oak Harbor experience. I'll be adding more soon, so check back often.

Deception Pass Park

During my sculpture installation in Washington, I had some time off to explore the area. There was still daylight on Monday, after pouring the footer (see posting below), so I went to Deception Pass Park.


My first stop was the west beach area.

From there, I picked up a trail toward the bridge. The path is shaded by the big trees that are abundant in the park.

They get a lot of rain fall on Whidbey Island and the park is lush with ferns, moss and plant cover. It's like something out of a story book- too cool!

The path led through the woods and to the north beach, toward the Deception Pass bridge.

The path led up the hill to the base of the bridge.

I was in the mood to walk, so I crossed the bridge, snapped this picture and went back. The pass has steep stone sides with a strong fast current running through it.

Back across the bridge, I took a steep path up to the 'balds' at the top of Goose Knob. The views in all directions were breathtaking. This picture doesn't do it justice.

Nestled between rock outcroppings were huge patches of lichen.

On the way back down, I found this patch of mushrooms. This whole area was quite a change from the hardwood forests of Kentucky, that I'm used to.

Washington installation

Last week was taken up with the installation of my stone and earthworks sculpture "Release" in Oak Harbor, Washington. Quite a bit happened in that short span, and it will take multiple postings to get it all up. So, check back over the next few days.


Sunday, I made the 2500 mile trip to Washington from Kentucky. Carl and Karla Freund had given me the use of a house for the week that belonged to his family. Carl's family has deep roots in the area, that began with his great, great grandfather's land claim of 320 acres in the early 1800's. Carl and Karl treated me to a great dinner at their home, after my long trip. We were joined by Erica Schumacher, the project's art director, and Erica's 8 year old daughter, 'Rocky'.

The installation began at 7:00 a.m. Monday morning. The first task was to determine were the sprinklers were, so that there would be no damage to them during the construction phase. Hank Nydem, Parks Superintendent turned them on, so that we could mark their position. Steve Lang showed up (a half hour early) with a trackhoe. Rick Marti (left) and Bob Black watch as he made the excavation for the footer. When you talk to contractors over the phone, to get quotes for an out-of-town job, you never know how it will work out. I got real lucky with this crew. They were experienced, enthusiastic about the project and great to work with - highly recommended!

We took a short trip to Norwest Concrete, to order the concrete and gather some materials. Bob and Rick cut, bent and shaped a rebar cage to reinforce the pier foundation.

The concrete truck showed up with 2 yards of strengthened concrete mix.

They poured a little bit of concrete into the excavation and then placed a 2 foot diameter sonotube form into place.

A little bit more concrete was poured into the tube, and then the rebar cage was put into place.

As the tube was filled, they checked it with a level to insure that it was plumb.

Right about the time that the concrete work was finished, Hank Nydem and 2 employees from the Parks Department came by and helped lay out the circle for the berm. By using a tape measure and spray paint they laid out a circular dashed line on the grass.

The 2 Parks Department employees used a sod cutter inside the dashed line, so that the new sod, to be laid on the berm, would match up with the existing sod.

They actually ended up doing most of the work by hand, because the ground was too hard for the sod cutter. That was a lot of hard work. This is just one of many examples, where people in this community went 'above and beyond the call of duty', to help me with this project.

At the end of the day's work, Erica Schumacher inscribed her name and the date on the flat, wet surface of the concrete pier. She earned the right - and I was happy to see her name permanently attached to this project. Her volunteer efforts were phenomenal.

At this point, I needed to stop work and give the concrete some time to dry and cure before installing the sculpture and earthworks.