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There is a “sell-buy” email list at work, which acts as a very dysfunctional corporate Craigslist. Dear lord, it is inefficient to get 100 emails a day about cellphones and cars. But, another ‘c’ category piques my interest: campsites.

Colleagues in distant departments frequently re-sell campground reservations, and I almost always see them immediately after they’ve been snagged. (Getting a campground reservation in the first place in the high season is often a massive challenge.)

In late June, I happened to see one, one night reservation for July 3rd to 4th at Cougar Rock campground in Mt. Rainier National Park. I was eager to return to Paradise and its surroundings, and I felt like having a tent site would give me a great opportunity to actually explore and take in the park better.

Also, I roped a friend into camping with me. (His response to the initial invite was “I could be convinced” to come camp with you.) I still wasn’t feeling 100%, and it seemed like a good idea not to be alone in these extremely popular woods.

Read on for an excessive quantity of pictures…

In May, a lot of plans and ambitions were left by the wayside as I succumbed to sickness. It took me until mid June to start going back to work, and to start again going on walks with my camera and enjoying my environs.

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May did not go as I expected. I expected that I would end the month, perhaps without getting this “Month in Review” post finished in time, because I’d be traveling, enjoying myself, celebrating a friend’s birthday.

Instead, I didn’t get the post finished or published because I was lying in bed feeling like shit. As my mother says, when I get sick, I get really sick. (Apparently.)

But hey, I did get to do some things before I got really sick. I watched Eurovision, visited Bellingham and Camano Island, went on my first scramble, and finished a book. And, then everything stopped.

This post is a look back at that time.

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Though I pretend not to be a self-centered egotist, this blog is centered around me (Steve) and no one else. Its central question: “Where is Steve?”.

Perhaps, over the last few months, this question has echoed in readers’ minds more often than not. I mean, where was Steve?

Surely, Steve was going to show up at some point and update their faithful followers on their whereabouts. Surely.

So, yes. Here I am.

I’ve been trying to do these month in review posts such that they’re published at the end of the month when I wrote them. Unfortunately, I slipped the deadline.

…And then I got dreadfully ill, but that’s a topic for the belated post about May.

I write even when I don’t publish. It’s easy to put text into documents, and easy to take pictures. It is harder to put the two together, especially when I have a lot going on. This post has more-or-less languished on my hard drive for the last two months, and my recent edits are quite minimal.

So, let’s time warp.

Hello, readers!

Have you ever noticed that I feel a weird compulsion to “start from the beginning” when I start writing about a place? So, uh, I have held off on writing about my *checks notes* recent visits to Vancouver, B.C., because I hadn’t yet written about *checks notes* that time I took the train there, and then sorta ambled around downtown, and then took a boat someplace and thought it was the prettiest thing in the world?

Well, this is my post.

The story begins in April 2018.

Or, maybe it begins much earlier than that.

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The day was March, 26th 2023. Avalanche risk was low. I decided to try to squeeze in one last hike.

I knew that I’d soon be off to New York, and/or have other plans taking up most of my weekend days, and I figured it was a good chance for me to get out, hit a popular trail while it was hopefully less crowded, and give my fancy new boots a good workout.

Do note that this trail is very avalanche prone in the winter, and if you are heading out when I did, you should check the avalanche forecast at NWAC and be sure to watch for warning signs.

Hello again, readers!

I realize I haven’t updated this blog in forever, and I have good excuses for that. The main ones are work, mononucleosis, and work again, in that order. I’m actually still kinda under the weather and tired out easy, which gives me a good excuse to stay at home and work on music instead of this blog.

In the meantime, though, Chelsea and I spent a little bit of time yesterday enjoying the solstice parade in the quirky Fremont neighborhood of Seattle. I brought my camera with me, but I didn’t really think of the outing in photographic terms – I wanted to enjoy the parade, and enjoy being out and about without stressing myself and my body too much.

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The parade bills itself as a kaleidoscope of human expression, and that is absolutely true. It was a joyful, joyful event, with people being absolutely psyched to welcome summer, and with a great variety of body paint, costumes, and floats. Written words are banned per the wishes of the Fremont Art Council. Creativity and expression rule the day.

The first portion of the parade, or perhaps the pre-parade consisted of a great variety of cyclists, many of whom were nude.

So, yes I caution that many of the photos in this post include nudity. Please take that into account and continue reading!