The sign reads: Today is a gift from God, use it wisely.
We could argue about whether a day comes from God or not, but today certainly felt like a gift in Hoquaim, Wash. We had temps near 60 F (summerlike in this area of the Pacific Coast), blue skies, and sunshine on a bounty of white clouds.
As far as using the day wisely, taking a #wednesdaywalk for some photos to share seemed to be just that.
I had planned to go out to the mouth of the Hoquiam River for some shots of the harbor, but I got sidetracked by the sights along the way. My first shot of the day is above: the back of the Saron Lutheran Church (the big building) and the sign in front of the Assembly of God behind it.
Just around the corner I came across the license branch. I’d always meant to photograph this building at some point, and today felt like the day.
The license branch building served as a passenger depot for the railroad until the 1950s, and it has been (I think beautifully) restored and preserved. The caboose sits there as historical adornment on a short, standalone section of track.
The railroad is still in use, and as I was taking photos of the back of the building, I noticed that the trestle in the Hoquiam River was turned so that it connected the rail across the river. Usually it sits parallel with the river so boats can pass – a train was coming!
I was hoping to take some shots of the train passing by the depot, and I set my tripod on a recumbent telephone pole next to the tracks and waited. It turned out that they were dropping the cars and taking the engine into the rail yard before the depot, so only the engine came into view. I did get to watch the engineer manually operating the switch to change tracks for the engine. I’m sure he was thrilled to be on camera.
From its position next to the caboose, the engine backed away toward the rail yard.
After that, I decided to forgo the trip to the harbor and explore the tracks in the other direction.
A little ways down the track I had fun practicing my wildlife photography with a trio of deer. But I think we’ll stick to the railroad photos for today – I definitely could use more practice at getting a good wildlife photo!
Have a great one!
