A Drive Up Hwys 530 and 20

This weekend was mostly relaxing and working on an adventure called "cleaning my house" which had been sadly neglected whilst I was out having other, more fun adventures.  : )

Today though, rather late in the day, I grabbed Adventure Dog, binoculars and my camera and headed up through Arlington, Darrington, Rockport and Marblemount.  We were once again in search of the illustrious bald eagle.  I did see 7 of them today, although none of them on the Skagit itself.  Most of them were along the Sauk River. 

We stopped and got out at various boat launches so Cedar could run around, and I talked to some fishermen.  They were just pulling off of the Skagit and one of them said a big storm was going to hit the valley tonight and that the bald eagles don't like that much, so they were further toward the coast or up more sheltered valleys.  It was really windy and quite cold compared to Mukilteo. 
It was a fun drive... whenever I saw a cool road or interesting turn, I took it.  One of those places said it was a Wildlife Viewing Area.  By the graffiti on the ruined building there (I wonder what it was!) and the gun shells laying around, I'd say it wasn't the wildlife I normally like to view. 

Since no other humans were there at that moment though, I was happy to see another eagle, a hawk/osprey (below) and a pheasant. 

There was a little retention pond of some sort there, and there were rings appearing in it, like fish coming up to the surface.  I got a picture of a cool-looking log because it was holding still for me.

It was a gorgeous day, with little skuddy clouds giving me peek-a-boo views of the jagged snow-capped peaks, and the rivers all full, swift and beautiful.  Ahhh, what a breathtaking place I call home.