february 2012 | by peter reedijk

I hung my head out the car window, as our wheels whirled over the tracks, peering in the dark for the light at the end of the tunnel. "Oh no! It's the train," Linda shrieked behind me. No way, it is supposed to be on a schedule and cars are not allowed in the tunnel if there is a train coming. But it sure did look like the headlight on a train. The four of us sat staring into the distance, questioning what we saw, as we sped toward the light. After a minute of silence (that is a long time in a narrow tunnel) we began to see the wet stone walls around us take shape in the daylight coming through the narrow arched entrance, and sure enough there was a train... waiting for passage through the Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel.

The Portage Valley outside Anchorage Alaska, is best known for its glaciers. But as the glacier recedes, the rich stories that surround this isthmus that nearly connects the beluga whales in Turnigan Arm with the tufted puffins of Prince William Sound, come alive. This is place where busloads of tourists from all over the world meet the wilds of Alaska; a place that the folks in Anchorage call their back yard. Sea Reach will be developing an interpretive plan and over 40 exhibits to celebrate this amazing place.

february 2012 | by susan jurasz

I thought the best place for a solar panel would be in the Sahara Desert, but it turns out, this is not true! Photovoltaic cells create a platform where photons (light) excites electrons into a higher state of energy, producing an electric current. These cells need light - not heat. So, solar panels work as well in cool weather (actually better) than they do in hot weather. All they need is access to light.

The Oregon Department of Transportation is in the process of covering vast areas of land, designated as highway right-of-ways, with solar arrays. These solar arrays can generate enough electricity to cover nearly all of the electrical expenses associated with the state highways from street lights to rest stops. And it all comes from the sun - even on a cloudy day!

Sea Reach designed, fabricated, and installed four exhibits introducing a large solar array installed at the Baldock Rest Area. To celebrate the clear sky and sunshine, the exhibit structures are powdercoated bright blue and sunshine-yellow. Bursting out of each exhibit is a three-dimensional title band with a sun and a photovoltaic cell.

february 2012 | by peter reedijk

With winter retreating, work has begun on the "waterlines" for the East Bay Plaza in the city of Olympia. Featuring water themed quotes from around the world, the waterlines are colorful designs that crisscross the plaza.

After completing the design work toward the end of last year, we converted our waterline designs into mosaics. With testing complete and a clear window in the damp weather, the first mosaics were embedded into the concrete pathways surrounding the new children's museum. The colorful lines create a lively pattern in contrast with the concrete paths, structures and stones in the created stream landscape. We're expecting to completed project by the end of May.

january 2012 | by megan whitaker | show project

Peggy Lee, not a singer that usually comes to mind nowadays outside of a jazz bar. But for months now, I've been working to dig up images for Midland Continental Train Depot in Wimbledon, North Dakota where Peggy Lee lived during her high school years. I've read the autobiography, the biography, and played enough of her music at home that one day while shopping at a local grocery store with my kids, my 11-year-old daughter excitedly pointed out, "Hey Mom, that's Peggy Lee on the musak thing." Nearby was an elderly couple who raised their eyebrows and said, "Wow, didn't know anyone under 50 even knew who she was anymore."

The Midland Continental was a short line railroad that operated between 1912 and 1970. Originally intended to be a north-south transcontinental line stretching from Winnipeg, Manitoba to Galveston, Texas, all that was ultimately constructed were about 70 miles of track between Wimbledon and Edgeley, North Dakota. Norma Egstrom, known to the world as Peggy Lee, was a product of the railroad. Her father was a depot agent for the Midland Continental Railroad for a number of years. After she graduated from high school in Wimbledon in 1937, she quickly followed her own talents and became a household name with singing and songwriting talents.

Sea Reach designed, fabricated and installed the exhibits in this two story, 3,000 square foot depot.

november 2011 | by susan jurasz

The Forest Service has an international branch? Really? In 75 countries? When I got the call that we had been chosen to design and fabricate exhibits for an environmental education program aboard a traveling bus in Amman Jordan, I held my breath. I was waiting for the caveat, for the part of the conversation that I simply misunderstood...

The next thing I knew, my partner and I are nestled into our seats for an 18-hour flight, accompanied by our two Forest Service liaisons, for an adventure in foreign diplomacy, explorations of a barren landscape, delightful hospitality, and an evening of hookah. In a country that is rated the third poorest in water in the world, we showered (guiltily) in our luxury hotel and then toured the dry and dusty terrain. This is a land of contradictions.

november 2011 | by ben harrison | show project

Being a classic western movie buff, I stumbled upon the fact that the famous director and actor Buster Keaton filmed the 1926 silent movie "The General", in the Cottage Grove area on the very tracks that we were now preparing to interpret.

"Wow," I thought and immediately got "steamed-up and rolling" on the 3D renderings and shop drawings for the two life-size exhibits representing the No. 4 steam engine. Upon completion of fabrication, I joined the install team. The first train (over 50 feet long and 14 feet high) was installed along the bridge's trusses, to give you the impression you were crossing the bridge beside it. Outside, when facing west toward the bridge's opening there appears to be a "ghost train" heading right towards you, this second silhouette is my favorite. With imagination, you can hear the trains haunting whistle and see its powerful steam pumping from its stack! A must see for anyone interested in America's old west history.

The Chambers Railroad Bridge is the only remaining covered railroad bridge in Oregon. It is believed to be the only remaining covered railroad bridge west of the Mississippi River. The Howe Truss bridge was constructed in 1925 by lumberman J.H. Chambers to transport logs across the Coast Fork Willamette River to his sawmill on the east side of the bridge. The bridge was in operation from 1925 to 1951. The bridge was in private ownership until December 2006, when the City of Cottage Grove finally secured full ownership of the bridge and rehabilitated it in 2011. The bridge is listed on the National Historic Register. Sea Reach designed, fabricated, and installed all of the exhibit elements for the bridge.

september 2011 | by ben harrison | show project

Sea Reach gets a job redoing all the signage for the Grand Canyon. It's a huge project (pardon the pun), which includes the design, fabrication and installation of what seems like a ton of signs. The largest one is this giant map of the South Rim featuring all the trailheads, villages, and bus routes. Just so you that have an idea of how large - this sign measures over 5 feet tall and 10 feet wide and we are making it double-sided!

Unfortunately, the size of this sign is too large to produce in the more familiar materials we commonly use for outdoor exhibits, but we are up to the challenge. The plan is to get a giant sheet of aluminum and adhere a huge vinyl print to it. We're talking industrial vinyl; the stuff they use for vehicle wraps. Combine that with the best adhesive 3M makes and it becomes permanent. Well that all may sound easy enough, but for me this means don't mess up - because there is no "undoing it."

With the aluminum plate on the floor, we paint adhesive on the entire surface, and then, three of my co-workers hold the giant vinyl print off the adhesive while I run back and forth sticking the print to the aluminum. One side takes about 45 minutes of constant back and forth, burnishing the print to the substrate. The closest thing I can liken it to is scrubbing the floor...really. Except, if you miss a spot, it creates a bubble, and bubbles are not acceptable in QC.

Good thing for me, I've done this on smaller pieces more times than I can count. An hour and half later, and over 100 square feet of giant sticker stuck, I have a new sign for the Grand Canyon... and very sore fingers.

august 2011 | by charles jurasz

Some of our projects find us stretching our thinking to include some significantly broader concepts than one might anticipate as Indo European thinkers and Western philosophers.

The Museum at Warm Springs found us in discussions regarding everything from vandalism and its dissuasions, to the orientation of exhibits for the purposes of respect and spiritual compatibilities. It is ultimately about listening and learning from one another.

The beauty generated by different cultures examining common ground makes for a very rich interpretive product for both visitor and client, for tourist and The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs along the Deschutes River in Northeastern Oregon.

"The Museum At Warm Springs is many things, not the least of which is a striking piece of architecture, a 25,000 square-foot structure that packs an emotional wallop all too seldom felt in contemporary public buildings." Sea Reach worked with the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs to develop exterior interpretive exhibits for the trail meandering around the museum. The exhibits are designed to complement the architectural elements of the building and site, while informing visitors about the surrounding geology, riparian area, and local history. Sea Reach also fabricated and installed.

october 2010 | by ben harrison | show project

The site was up on Mt. St. Helens. It's known as the petrified forest, because the trees are encased in rock from a lava flow. Planning for our install, we get all the exhibits and tools packed up the night before. The next morning, we drive up to meet with our client and it's raining the entire time. At first, it's that cute sprinkle that makes you hold your newspaper over your head (if people still do that?), but as we start gaining in elevation, it becomes a constant down pour and the temperature drops to the low 40s. Some rain is to be expected in the mountains (this is Washington after all), but I was not expecting a monsoon.

We get to the site and dig in. The large exhibit for the introductory sign is our first task. Unfortunately, the hardware from the old one is so rusted after years of disuse that we have to carve into the wood kiosk to release it.

Although we have rain gear and gloves we soon discover that in order to maintain the finger dexterity required to perform certain tasks we must go without. Well, Peter does. I have a nice pair of wool fingerless gloves that are somewhat effective in keeping my hands warm, despite being waterlogged.

After the large intro sign, we load our tools and equipment into the wheelbarrow, cover it with bubble wrap to keep it dry, and follow the boardwalk around to the seven sign locations. First to remove the old, then to install the new. Each of the seven exhibits is fastened to the wood railing by 4 sturdy bolts. At this point, however, it's clear that the weather is going to seriously impede our work. We decide to put 1 bolt in each frame and save the rest for the next day. Even doing just this much, takes us all day to complete. Soaking wet, we hop back into the van and drive the 2 hours home.

The next day, loaded with bad weather gear, we are ready to knuckle down and fight it out. When we arrive back on sight though, we are greeted with a perfect sunny day - almost 10 degrees warmer - and the work is finished up in less than 3 hours.

january 2010 | by linda repplinger

"Who's got a chain saw? Anyone?" There are seven downed trees between our loaded truck full of exhibits and the Verlot Ranger Station. My mind flashes to our drive the night before, which began on a sunny afternoon in Oregon - "This install will be a cinch, we can drive there" - and led us into the inky-black, near-hurricane-force winds of a northern Washington winter storm.

A full day and night later, the road cleared, and we arrive at the Verlot Ranger Station, a cozy CCC cabin nestled among the tall cedar trees of the Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest. We were glad for the shelter of this warm little building, as we worked to install the exhibits. Light glowed out of the hand-crafted windows. Outside a soft snow fell through the forest branches.

Somewhere on the other side of that storm, past the downed trees, over the river and through the woods, we landed back in time. In a real-life fairy-tale, spinning our craft installing exhibits in the shelter of the cabin just as men worked years ago.

The Verlot Public Service Center, in the Snoqualmie Mt. Baker National Forest, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corp between 1936-38. Originally built as a headquarters for the newly created Monte Cristo Ranger District, Verlot is now a staffed visitor center. The exhibits celebrate the history of the area from the Native Americans through the mining and lumber era, to today's scenic byway. Sea Reach planned, designed, fabricated, and installed the exhibits.