Road trips beckon on long summer days. Whether you're headed out for field work, taking a  Metro bus to a trailhead in the Issaquah Alps, riding a ferry across Puget Sound, or taking a longer journey, pack a book in your bag.

Before you go (or when you return with questions about plant and animal identification or regional history), check out the fabulous selection of Road Trip Reads featured at the Miller Library throughout University of Washington's Summer Session. We offer field guides, plant-related novels, poetry anthologies, and other titles of regional and global interest.

The Miller Library welcomes Yoshi Nakagawa this month. Her Simple Life exhibit runs July 2-30 during  library open hours.

Yoshi Nakagawa is a Tacoma-based visual artist, specializing in printmaking since 1999. She pulled her first print at the University of Puget Sound, and continued her craft in Seattle and Oaxaca, Mexico. Her artwork is influenced by patterns of the natural world and Japanese textiles, along with her experiences living in Japan, Oaxaca, and the Pacific Northwest. She has exhibited and taught workshops in the US, Mexico, Canada, Japan, South Africa and Honduras.

Meet the artist at a reception in the library on Monday, July 7 from 5 to 7 pm. Enjoy refreshments from Wild Dreams Farm & Seed on Vashon Island, with their seeds also for sale.

Question:  I saw an interesting tree alongside northbound I-5, right where the South Columbian Way on-ramp to the freeway begins. There are four or five of this formal-looking, narrow, feathery-looking tree standing there together, in contrast to some broader, pyramidal deodar cedars nearby. I just love these trees. Do you know what they are, or who keeps track of plants in this area?

Answer: Looking at street view maps, I wonder if you are talking about several Calocedrus decurrens (incense cedar) trees that are planted there. It looks like this land (adjacent to the East Duwamish Greenbelt) is Washington State Department of Transportation property. You will likely be able to learn more from the  DOT contact listed here.

Update:  It is incense cedar, according to the WS-DOT Arborist. Now that I know this tree, I am seeing them all over town!

Reply: That is great to hear! Incense cedar is listed on  Great Plant Picks. There are dozens of these stately trees at the Washington Park Arboretum, as well. I'll send you a map.