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Leaving the brilliant, windswept wilderness outpost of Flagstaff, I had a good view of the peaks and a few smaller cinder cones to the west.

I touched down in the metropolitan madness of arid Phoenix…

…flew back north over the geological wonderland of Northern Arizona and Utah:

…and touched down again in rainy Seattle.  SEA-TAC is a great airport.  I love the wall of glass, suspended on cables:

Finally, I landed in Victoria, BC, Canada, and drove several hours to Port Alberni, another wilderness outpost.

After getting a night’s rest and putting in a day’s work, I used the remaining light to visit Stamp falls regional park, where there is a roaring waterfall and a fish ladder.

It’s verdant, smells like healthy soil and fresh air, and moss covers everything, as is characteristic of the northwest.

There was this giant, which squirted out of a crevice in a cliff, made a 90-degree turn and shot towards the sky.