Photo of the Day 366

Soccer and Sailboats, Port Townsend, Washington, 1984

Photograph by Sam Abell

A bustling seaport in the late 19th century, Port Townsend, Washington, has fought to maintain its historic charm. More than a million visitors come each year to see its Victorian mansions, mountain vistas, and water spectacles, like the Wooden Boat Festival in Puget Sound (top).

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Olympic Peninsula," May 1984, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 355

View of Pumice Plain and Mount St. Helens, Washington, 2000

Photograph by Jim Richardson

Vegetation has returned to the scenery of Washington’s Pumice Plain, which was stripped of life after Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980. Despite the immense pyroclastic flow (a mix of hot gas and ash) that scoured these plains after the eruption, the purple flowers of prairie lupines appeared within a few years and accelerated the landscape’s recovery.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Mount St. Helens: Nature on Fast Forward," May 2000, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 315

Sea Anemone Eating Crab, Washington, 1999

Photograph by George Grall

A giant green sea anemone eats a red cancer crab in a tidal pool in Washington's Clallam Bay. These carnivorous invertebrates snare their prey by firing a hooked filament into their victims, paralyzing them with a potent neurotoxin before engulfing the unlucky prey.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "The Pools of Spring," April 1999, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 314

Acid Rain, Washington, D.C., 1981

Photograph by Robert Sisson

In this macro close-up, a bromophemol solution is dripped on raindrops found on a daisy petal to test their acidity. The solution is reddish and has turned one drop yellow. The rain is pH 3, the same as vinegar.

(Text adapted from and photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Acid Rain: How Great a Menace?" November 1981, National Geographic magazine)

Photo of the Day 99

Volcanic Steam, Mount St. Helens, Washington, 2000

Photograph by Jim Richardson

On Mount St. Helens, a volcanic formation seems to come to life as it exhales a cloud of steam. The volcano in southwestern Washington's Cascade Range is most famous for its May 1980 eruption, one of the largest ever recorded in North America. The catastrophic eruption killed 57 people and triggered an enormous debris avalanche that carved a mile-wide (1.5-kilometer-wide) crater on the mountain.

(Photo shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Mount St. Helens: Nature on Fast Forward," May 2000, National Geographic magazine)