A new bird for me - A Cedar Waxwing

Nothing like waking up to an alarm clock on your day off... After stopping for breakfast at a local coffee shop, we headed for the hills. The local weather forecast said the smoke wasn't going to return until Sunday, it wasn't long until we started smelling smoke though. 

The first extra - Both photos were taken from the same place looking at Mount Baker. The photo on the left was taken today, the one on the right was taken 29 July 2017. The longer we were there, the heavier the smoke got. 

The second extra - one of the lakes we walked around, my mom adding a flat rock to a trail marker, fireweed - a plant that reminds my mom of fields in Alaska along with a picture she has on the wall of a moose in a field of fireweed, a cute little bird, a very odd black flower that reminded me of blackberries on a stick, and a swallow that I have never seen turning over rocks - getting the bugs underneath..

The main photo though just topped off my day.. Going to see my dad tomorrow, look at freezers and....  then get ready to go to Lebanon Oregon on Monday..