northwestphotos

Point Defiance Park Flowers and Beach

Posted on August 3, 2022 by northwestphotos

Point Defiance Park, located in Tacoma, Washington, is my go-to park to explore beautiful gardens and to be with nature. Besides its well manicured gardens, it has acres of natural forest setting along with a public beach, a zoo and 2 aquariums. Owen Beach just reopened to the public, after being closed the past year to undergo renovations. A new road was put in to access the beach area, along with plenty of vehicle parking. Just beware of the many speed bumps that were put into place to slow down drivers.

The public gardens are just beautiful this time of year! The garden maintenance crew does a fantastic job every year to make these gardens as beautiful as possible. As well, the local Dahlia society does their part in maintaining a separate garden of their own. Below are a few images of flowers I spotted throughout the park yesterday, as well as a visit to Owen Beach. I was even lucky enough to spot a few Bald Eagles flying overheard. Enjoy!

Kayaker in Puget Sound with Mount Rainier in background

All images property of Peggy A Thompson

Posted in flowers, Nature, Photography, Travel | Tagged floral, flowers, gardens, Owen Beach, photography, Point Defiance Park, Tacoma | 1 Comment

A Trip to America’s Provence and a Beautiful Garden

Posted on July 26, 2022 by northwestphotos

Summers in the Pacific Northwest are glorious, except when we get an occasional heat wave. Seems to be what’s trending this year in many parts of the country! This past weekend I took a drive to the upper Olympic Peninsula, along the northern coastline, to the sunny community of Sequim, Washington, also known as America’s Provence, due to the perfect climate and growing conditions for Lavender herb. This region has the most lavender farms in the country and in North America. The farms are open to the public and have their own gift stores. The smell in the air is so delicious this time of year! And the color! One of the prettiest farms to visit is Purple Haze Lavender Far m.

After making a few stops in Lavender country, I visited the quaint, little town of Port Gamble and then on to Heronswood Garden, which is technically located in Kingston, another port town. The garden is owned and cared for by the Jamestown S’Klallam tribe. The garden is one of the most fantastic and beautiful gardens in the state, in my opinion. Last time I visited the garden was during the spring. It has a completely different look in the summer. So many different seasonal blooms! I hope you enjoy a few floral images of the garden and also of the lavender farm blooms!

The following photo images were taken at Heronswood Garden.

All images property of Peggy A Thompson

Posted in flowers, Nature, Photography, Travel | Tagged floral, flowers, gardens, Heronswood Garden, lavender, nature photograpy, Olympic Peninsula, Pacific Northwest, Sequim, travel | 4 Comments

Hail to the Hydrangea!

Posted on July 22, 2022 by northwestphotos

It’s summer garden time, and the biggest blooms of all belong to the colorful and popular Hydrangea. There seems to be so many varieties of them! I came across some really beautiful ones recently that I wanted to share with you. As well, I was enamored by a few other plant species that I couldn’t resist photographing. I hope you enjoy them all as much as I do!

All images property of Peggy A Thompson

Posted in flowers, Nature, Photography | Tagged botanical, floral, flowers, hydrangea, nature photography | 1 Comment

Ahoy, Me Mateys!

Posted on July 19, 2022 by northwestphotos

What’s more fun than pirate talk? Why, sailing on the open sea on a pirate ship! The official state ship of Washington State is the Lady Washington, more commonly known to many as the “Black Pearl” of the popular Disney movie series, Pirates of the Caribbean. I happened to be in the coastal town of Westport this past weekend, and the beloved ship was moored dockside for public tours and scheduled sailings for a few days. From there it will be docked in Aberdeen, as well as Port Orchard, and Olympia. Visit the Grays Harbor Historical Seaport website for more info on the dates, as well as purchasing a scheduled sailing ticket.

Below is an image of the Lady Washington at sea on one of her scheduled sailings that I took a few years ago, just to show you how beautiful she looks with her full sails.

A images property of Peggy A Thompson

Posted in Photography, Travel | Tagged coastal, Grays Harbor, historical, Lady Washington, photography, seaport, ships, tall ship, travel, Washington State | 2 Comments

By the Sea

Posted on July 18, 2022 by northwestphotos

It’s been a while since I visited the Pacific coastline, here in Washington State. I have been keeping my travels closer to home since the cost of petrol has skyrocketed in the past few months. We have finally come out of the extremely rainy and cold spring months that we experienced this year, and we are officially into our dry summer months…at least for the next two months, anyway. That’s not always the case with the coastline, with their usual marine layer of clouds that hang around for the morning hours. But for the photographer, clouds can make exquisite compositions, especially the white, puffy kind, or a sky full of striking cirrus clouds. Here are a few seascape images I captured along a coastal drive from Westport to Tokeland, Washington. On the way back, I briefly stopped by the popular Westport Winery Garden Resort.