Rosario (continued)

Rosario is a nice blend of old and new.  Built by Robert Moran between 1906 and 1909, the mansion and the grounds are impressive.  I won’t repeat the whole story here, but he came to Seattle about 25 years after the landing at Alki and early during his career he was a ships engineer on a few of John Muir’s Alaska expeditions.  Whether that had any effect on him or not, I don’t know, but it’s easy to surmise that some of John Muirs respect for nature rubbed off on him.   The grounds are a mixture of respect for nature oddly combined with an industrialists iron will to impose order and built a lasting structure forever changing the landscape.   Opposing forces, but the combination works.

These two pictures were taken about 100 years apart.  Much of the grounds are still intact and even 100 years later, Moran would find much familiar with the resort.  

After breakfast, Jodi took Rex for a brief walk.

We were sad to leave, but the gravitational tug of obligations forced our departure.

One last shot of the mansion.

Altered as if from yesteryear.

We had some fun with Rex on the way back.

Moran was a photographer  and for some reason I tried to capture images of birds (they are harder to shoot than I thought!!) and general wildlife.

Yes, there really is a camel on San Juan.  Her name is Mona.  I don’t know if she’s got the mange or is molting.

Just as we arrived back at the house, there was a small deer in the yard.  We had a stare down before it bolted.

All in all a fun short cruise.