A different ocean view

Oregon provided our 1st view of the Pacific Ocean. Bandon, on Oregon's southern coastline, is a really nice community that appears to be closely tied to the fishing industry. We even saw some  LOGGING TRUCKS!!!

We absolutely love ocean sunsets...this one was taken as we traveled southbound just before crossing the California border.

After we crossed into California, we came across a small theme park along Hwy 101. It featured Paul Bunyan and Babe...

Kinda like playing "where's Waldo?"...can you find me in the above picture?

Karen is in this picture. Do you see her?

This is an old logging arch (probably circa 1930)...designed to be pulled behind a large bulldozer. It was used to lift logs up as they were dragged into a loading area (this prevented them from digging into the dirt, making them easier to drag.)

I found this photo interesting because the same type is on the Oregon State University campus...my dad posed next to it with mom and Grandma Shelton on his graduation from forestry school almost 50 years ago.

More S. Oregon...and a sasquatch

The beautiful, quiet scenes of a woodland trail. This particular trail was located along the highway descending into Roseburg, Oregon. We had seen so much spectacular timber, mountains and rivers, we felt that it would be nice to get out and just stretch our legs. There were fresh deer tracks and so much spanish moss, ferns, alder, fir and hemlock trees. Most of this we haven't seen since our last visit to Washington State.

We had been walking up the trail and Karen noticed some really yummy-looking mushrooms along the bank, so we talked at length about different ways to prepare them. Of course, being tasty looking little things, we couldn't help ourselves. MMMM, they were sure good!

After a few more minutes of walking and enjoying the overwhelmingly sweet smells of the flowers and the fresh cool breeze of the canyon winds, we did a few dosey-does and started picking the flowers and putting them in our hair. Karen was so pretty. While we were sitting on a log, singing Kum ba yah, we noticed a rush of sudden movement coming down the trail towards us. We started laughing and giggling at the sight of the large creature, even suggesting it must've been looking for mushrooms also. Anyway, when I was done fumbling with the camera  around my neck, I was able to photograph the animal right as it strode past a large tree and jumped downhill towards the river.

Unfortunately, I was only able to catch a glimpse of its furry arm before it jumped out of view. We decided we would celebrate our afternoon by carving our name in one of the mushrooms before leaving the trail and heading down the road.

We will need to stop by here in July, and try to get better pics of  the sasquatch. I'm sure more pics won't be necessary, as most of you believe what I'm telling you is the truth.

Family visit in Oregon

Karen and I stopped for a visit in Bend, Oregon. Youngest brother Jerry (holding a freshly caught bass from his own pond in the background) and his family put up with us for a few days. Kathy (wife) made us feel so welcome, even though we used their lawn for our sewer field. Riley (son) plays on the freshman summer basketball team. We were able to attend some of his games...he is the tallest on his team. Mikayla (daughter) is becoming such a pretty, young lady and is sure looking forward to summer. Both Riley and Mikayla are raising pigs for show at the local fair and for market. What a great time we all had together!

Brother Jeff came over for a relaxing visit and some fishing. The next day, Karen and I drove over to his new home and Jeff showed us all of his prized possessions...elk, moose, deer, mountain lion and antelope game mounts, some of which are full-body. They were fantastic! It sure makes me miss hunting.

As you can see with Jerry and Jeff, fishing expertise and good looks run in the family.

We were also able to see my Dad and Mom, enjoying the time to catch up on what's been going on with them and everyone else. One morning I met Dad down at the cafe for coffee, a daily ritual he shared for years with his great friend, Gene Miller. Gene passed away last fall. It was a special time for Dad and me. Mom sure liked the conch shell we brought back for her...this is the shell from the one we made into conch salad last year. Our visit with them and everyone else was sure too short, but we will be back to attend Jerry's 50th Birthday party on July 3rd. Maybe then, we'll remember to more pics of everyone.

Karen and I were anxious to get on the road and do some "camping" time, so we headed south along the east side of the Cascade Mountains of Oregon. We stopped at a really nice (and vacant) campground in Chemult, OR.

Whooppeee! This is what we're talking about. We hiked on some of the trails, built a nice campfire, dumped out our sewer tanks for free. Does it get any better? And then......

We spent the day at Crater Lake. Just look at the pictures...is it possible to even describe how great the view was? For those of you not in the know, Crater Lake is one of the deepest lakes in the world. It was formed after the original volcano, Mt. Mazama, collapsed onto itself after an huge eruption a few years ago (about 5,000). The crater "hole" was formed and then filled with rainwater and snow melt. If you are ever in the area, this has to be a "must see" for anyone.

I can't remember if this picture was taken before or after I hit Karen with the snowball.

Can you believe how deep the snow was, even going half way up roof on some of the buildings?

As you can see below, Karen is planning on getting even for the snowball incident

 

We made one more stop before heading back to the camper in Chemult...Diamond Lake is just north of Crater Lake. Just about anything you can do on a lake is available there...camping, hiking, fishing, boat rentals and even a small marina. There's a small resort and even cabin rentals. The waters were so clear that we compared them to the Caribbean, except for the temperature...icewater!

Random wanderings of the free and easy

Cody's new apartment.....living room, den and the back porch

During the 2 1/2 weeks after our return trip to Billings, we visited many of the people that I had worked with at the tower as well as friends in the area. It was so nice to see them again. While there, we also helped Cody get situated in his new apartment and even stopped over at his work to see him do his stuff.

A friend and Cody hanging siding on a new home

Jeff Enck and I traveled to Canyon Ferry Lake and met another friend, Ron Mentzer to go fishing. We had pretty good success with the rainbows, but no walleyes of legal size.

Jeff isn't pictured...he had to take the pictures while Ron and I did most of the hard work looking like fishermen. We used Jeff's nearly-new Alumacraft 19' boat. Wow, what a nice boat.

Whew....after all of this, and some of the mega-repairs on the 5th wheel I had to do, Karen and I finally got to start the "actual traveling" part of our summer...heading to Oregon and California. On the way we stopped at numerous sights...one was the Preston Winery, just north of Pasco, WA.

That's Karen next to the large wine barrel

Then there was the John Day Dam on the Columbia River (between Washington and Oregon). Notice all of the wind generators on the surrounding hillsides...there must have been a thousand of them. These are probably 300' tall. Lately, I hear rumors that people have complained that they tend to ruin the ambiance of the local scenery, not to mention a danger to sage grouse...which only fly about 10' off of the ground. Hmmm....dams cause hazards for fish...wind generators cause problems for scenery and birds...maybe we should start using candles and fireplaces...oops...smoke...not to mention "bad loggers". Nuclear...yeah, right. Solar...probably not efficient enough. What is an environmentalist to do?