My Journey in Image, Word, and Video: Sandy Brown Jensen
Storytellers
I belong to a tribe of storytellers…
This gallery tells the story of June 2015 when Mickey/Mom and her four big kids took a family trip up the Methow River in Eastern Washington with a day trip up Hart’s Pass, a favorite childhood stompin’ ground, as our Dad would call it.
Oldest sister Cheryl Renee Long, artist, sketched our location at the Mazama Ranch House.
The road up to the Mazama Ranch
The Mazama Ranch has wide, flower-filled meadows leading to distant out buildings and private homes.
The North Cascades Highway (Route 20) heading for Washington Pass.
Mickey/Mom and yours truly at the base of Liberty Bell, which my dad climbed back in the pre-highway days. Our childhood playground is all now the North Cascades National Park–and rightfully so!
Mickey/Mom once more at the top of the world! She’s esconced on a snow bank while everyone else climbs up Slate Peak.
Magenta Penstemon blooms where it can get the best view.
Sisters Toren Brolutti, Cheryl Renee Long, and Sandy Brown Jensen take a photo hike along the Methow River together.
The road up Hart’s Pass to Slate Peak, looking up.
The road to Slate Peak, looking down.
Slate Peak Lookout was the destination of many a family outing from the late 1950s on.
Mickey/Mom and son/brother Lisle Brown have a morning coffee and talk over the state of the world.
Lisle escorts Mickey/Mom up the hill.
Our dad used to chase butterflies with his camera from one end of the Cascades to the other.
You’ll see these un-shy and curious deer in the video.
In this photo, you can see how far up an old burn came up the valley.
Lisle grilled up all kinds of wonderful bbq for the birthday dinner (Cheryl and Lisle were both born on June 12, eight years apart.)
Birthday party!
And a big cheer goes up around the table for a great weekend together in Mickey/Mom’s 89th year.
I love what I see when I look in the rear view mirror of my life!
“Where We Are Now” is another of the William Stafford poem plaques that offered commentary on our stay in the Methow River Valley this magical June of 2015.“A Valley Like This” is a poem plaque by the late Poet Laureate of Oregon, William Stafford. The Forest Service approached Stafford in 1992, a year before his death, to write a series of poems that would reflect the landscape and spirit of the North Cascades.
