The Haunting

"Whatever walked there... walked alone..."

This Halloween season Netflix has been streaming The Haunting of Hill House, a one-shot 10-part series inspired by Shirley Jackson's creepy 1959 book.

In the series, Hill House looks very similar to local landmark Hatley Castle. Hatley Castle is familiar to some movie fans as the Mutant Academy in the X-Men and Deadpool movies.

Of course, any castle has to have its share of ghosts and Hatley Castle is no exception. I spent numerous nights sleeping in the castle back in the day when it was a military academy. I had my share of creepy encounters during those nights, but only one that I would consider to be truly supernatural. One was enough...

Arco

Arco... City of Tomorrow...

Leaving behind Craters of the Moon, we were well and truly into the deserts of Idaho. We passed through the town of Arco whose claim to fame is that they were the first city to be totally lit with atomic power.

In researching Arco before we made our trip, I came across this odd X-Files-ish story on the website reddit. I'm not sure what to make of it. I can't say our experience was anything odd.

Arco... surrounded by desolation...

Beach ogre

Giving beachcombers a welcoming hand...

Looking like a refugee from a Lord of the Rings movie, this large sculpture of drift wood beckons beach combers along the Esquimalt Lagoon in Colwood...

The smile of a giant...

Desert dawn

A glorious dawn over the barren landscape...

 The sun rises over the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho.

We're all going one way... let's hope there's a light at the end... 💀

I'll Be Watching You

The one who patiently waits for all of us...

"Every breath you take

Every move you make

Every bond you break

Every step you take

I'll be watching you

Oh can't you see 

You belong to me"

So sang Sting and the Police in the 1983. Was he singing about a lover stalking his ex... or something more existential?

Craters of the Moon

All that remains of ancient eruptions...

Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho is a surreal black landscape of ancient volcanic rock deposited in a wild variety of shapes and textures.

Inferno Cone is a mountain of ground up pumice as black as pepper...

One tree hill...

Breathtaking

Idaho is a state that I tend to overlook when I think of breathtaking scenery.

That's really doing it a disservice because some of the scenery that we encountered caused us to stop and simply goggle at its scale. And we're from beautiful British Columbia where epic scenery is common!

Snake River

Looking across from Oregon to Idaho across Hells Canyon...

The Snake River winds between the states of Oregon and Idaho.

Hells Canyon is North America's deepest river gorge. At ten miles wide and over a mile and a half deep it almost rivals the Grand Canyon in its grandeur.

Once you descend down to the river, you'll see this breathtaking lunar-like landscape punctuated by oases of greenery.

The barren landscape of the Snake River...

The Overlook of the Wallawas

Apropro of the upcoming Halloween season, this decrepit and deserted hall near our campsite made me think of the Overlook Hotel from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining even though it looked nothing like it.

I think it was the shuttered windows and shadowed recesses that lent it a slightly sinister atmosphere.

Companions

BFFs at the Shaw Ocean Discovery Centre in Sidney, BC...

When you and bae are so tight that you are comfortable with each other's silence...

Men of Bronze

A contest forged in bronze...

Another view of "Attitude Adjustment", a popular sculpture by artist Austin Barton, that can be found on the main street of Joseph OR. It's probably the most photographed of the sculptures of Joseph.

A man's best friend...
next to another man

Further down the street is this statue. It pays tribute to the days when a half-naked muscular man with a solid moustache wearing only leather chaps could give his dog a bone without anyone judging him for it.

The Lonely Piano

Playing to an audience of seals, octopii and the occasional otter...

This solitary piano overlooking the Oak Bay waterfront was part of the summer's ArtsAlive program. Local artists contributed art to public spaces for the enjoyment of all. Anyone was free to stop and tickle the ivories...

Organic

Ribbons and rivers of rocks...

This rock wall beside the roadway in the local town of View Royal demonstrates catches your attention with its use of curves and colours.

Helping to distract from the boredom of the commute...