Whether it's thousands of shorebirds rising and twisting in perfect sync above the Grays Harbor mudflats or a lone Eurasian thrush lost in an Olympia subdivision, the same chorus of hushed human voices fills the air.
It's a universal reaction — a long, communal inward gasp of awe at the unexpected beauty of the natural world.
"I don't know what the deep magic is," said Bill Tweit, a leading regional birder. "It's something about flight, but it's also something about color. Just the magic of life and creation."
April 28, 2005
An achievement 22 years in the making deserves more hoopla than your standard ribbon-cutting.
So when Snohomish County on Saturday officially opens a 10.3-mile section of the Centennial Trail, celebrants instead will lift a faux railroad-crossing arm, symbolizing the trail's 116-year-old roots as a railroad grade.
"It definitely was worth the wait," said former state Rep. John Wynne, who was among a small group of Lake Stevens visionaries who conceived the rails-to-trails project in December 1982.
March 30, 2005
COUPEVILLE, Island County While our children leaned over the Coupeville Wharf railing admiring tangles of bright-orange starfish and the squirting clams exposed by a low tide, we lifted our eyes toward shore.
"If you squint, it probably doesn't look much different than it did 100 years ago," I said, pointing to the pioneer-style shops lining the Whidbey Island town's tiny main drag.
"Probably not except for the big Pepsi truck," said my friend, Leslie Foss.
August 9, 2001
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