Back at It

Here are some of the latest shots. I went out to Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge on a chilly, foggy day.The first stop was at a great place to watch the water fowl, if it isn't foggy. I could hear them making noise but couldn't see fifty yards from the parking lot. Instead I stayed focused on the area right around the lot which was filled with spider webs and dew. The above picture is of a fencepost and spider web. I was happy to get the shot between gusts of wind to keep it in focus.
I then headed to a short trail through the woods. I had been here before and knew what to expect and where some of the other promising spots would be. I was amazed at a couple of places where the trees would disappear into the fog. These two pictures don't quite capture the claustrophobic feeling that I had throughout the morning. I was never sure exactly what was twenty yards ahead.
The woulds open up a little at the top of the hill and it was very mysterious and quite shocking. The deer also seemed to appreciate this area. I came across 8 of them lying down and grazing in this part of the trail. In all I saw 13 deer during my hike. They were quite peaceful and I was able to get to within 10 feet of one before it slowly walked off the trail.

They foggy, damp, chilly pictures are nice, but I am ready for some cold and snowy shot followed by desert scenes.

Sunny Saturday

Last weekend we were able to enjoy some very nice weather. The sun forced it's way through the clouds and it warmed up very nicely. It was a perfect time for me to head to the parks on either side of the Willamette.
I started out at River Front Park on the east side and took most of my pictures there. The park was busy with families playing and people walking and running. The early morning fishermen were just finishing when I showed up - they did not appear to be successful. The above picture is of one of the abandoned factories or warehouses right next to the park. This gate was an entrance to the parking lot right from the park. Evidentially the buildings have been empty for quite some time - perhaps since before the park was established.
This is on the west side of the river in Wallace Marine Park. There is a large parking lot by the boat ramp which is separated from the main park by the old train tracks in the background. The tracks and the bridge over the river are being fixed, hence the orange fence.

Last Touches of Fall

Mill Creek has many places at which you can take some good pictures. These were taken just across the street from our place. Unfortunately there is no good access to the stream without climbing over a small hand rail by the sidewalk. I was not feeling too adventurous last weekend and it was starting to rain.
The backyards of the houses on the opposite border the creek and most of them have built a retaining wall. However, the outside of the turn has been left unchanged and is rather extraordinary. At this point, the creek is about 25 feet below the sidewalk and a foot bridge.
I really wanted to get closer to the water right by the bridge, but it wasn't very safe on one side and the other was private property. Some day I will have to drop down further upstream and walk to where I want to be. Hopefully I won't get too wet on the way.

Behold the Beast

Here are three pictures of the beast that attacked me the last time I made my way out to Mill Creek.



Here is a view where you can see the full size of the monster. BIG!

In the Flow Part II

As requested, here are some more pictures from my outing at Mill Creek. This is part 2 of 3 or perhaps 4. I have gone back to this spot a few times within the past couple of weeks.
My last outing surprised me. I had been gone for only one week but the water had dropped about 4 inches. I was under the assumption that since it had been raining quite often that the water would have remained about the same.
Also, I was attacked by a large crawfish, crayfish, crawdad, crustacean during my last visit. I looked down when changing spots and noticed the monster. At first I saw only one claw coming at me. Then the anttenae were whipping me in the face.
It grabbed a hold of my pants and was trying to drag me under the boulder that it called home but I was somehow able to reach the riverbank and hold on to a root. I grabbed my tripod with my other hand and started swatting at the beast. After a couple of good swats the thing let go and I was able to struggle ashore.
I decided to leave the area for safety and moved downstream about a hundred yards. I snapped off a couple more shots and was startled by movement in the water again. Another beast emerged from the depths and I was out of there!
Safe at home I realized that I was able to get off a couple of shots of the animal - while beating it off. In everyone of them the shaking of my hands is very evident and you can see death and hunger in it's eyes.

Perhaps I will post those some day. (My nightmares must end first.)

In the Flow

This weekend I spent both Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon at Mill Creek. There are many branches of said creek and many places to get down to it. This area was right by one of the high schools and there are apartments on the other side. On Saturday morning, the sun was out and the residents were mostly still sleeping. On Sunday, they were all aware enjoying the rainy weather. It wasn't quite as peaceful or quiet. I have to admit that this is probably my favorite spot in Salem now.

The leaves are starting to change, have fallen in to the water, and have been caught by the rocks. In one place the leaves created a small dam that the water piled up behind and then flowed over the leaves instead of washing them downstream. This is definitely a place to return to in the future.

Go Brew Crew

A tip of the hat and the Martinelli's bottle to the Brew Crew!!!

I finally will get to remember and enjoy a playoff series in Milwaukee! How much for tickets?! (Just kidding, unless they make it to the World Series.)

Morning Darkness

So I got up early last Saturday. If you don't believe me, just look at the pictures below. I don't like the fact that it is staying dark later in the morning, but it is nice that I don't have to get up quite as early to go take pictures.

This one was taken on my way to my destination. It was intended to just be a quick couple of pictures to get my "bearings," but it turned out to be one of my favorite pictures that I took that morning.


The capitol mall has lots of benches to sit and enjoy the weather when it is nice. I love the lights around the mall and have photographed them on a couple of occasions. The deep blue of the sky that is showing through the trees are the best part of this photo for me.

Saturday Morning Flowers

Here are two pictures that were taken early on Saturday. It was a hazardous walk to get there.There is a small park in downtown Salem with a couple of streams flowing through which are frequented by ducks.

I have some pictures of the ducks, but today you get flowers.

Opal Creek

Jenny and I had a great trip out to Opal Creek this past weekend. We intended to walk up the creek but the water was painfully cold and we decided against it. We enjoyed the hike and spent a good deal of time there. The above photo was taken at our first stop where we decided it was too cold. As you can see, the water is crystal clear. It was much higher than it was the past times that we have gone and the waterfalls were more impressive.

The above picture is of one of the small falls that are all along the road leading to Jawbone Flats. This is at my favorite spot along the road. A small stream flows its way through and around large trees and rocks. It is about 10 degrees cooler right by the falls than it is on the road.



These falls are just above Opal Pool. We sat on logs for our lunch and watched the tougher people dip in the pool. I had a scare when my lens hood and polarizer fell off my camera and into the water. Luckily I was able to grab them before they got away and I was very grateful that my camera was not the victim.

Return from Sunriver

Jenny and I went to Sunriver, OR a couple of weeks ago to volunteer at the Jeld-Wen Tradition golf tournament. We took the scenic route and made a few stops along the way. The first trip was at Lava River Cave. This is cave that was formed by lava flowing underground. Now that the lava is gone, it is much safer for people to explore the nearly mile long cave. Despite the outside temperature being near 100, it was a balmy 40 in the cave - and very dark. Don't believe me? Look at this:



After leaving the cave, we took the long way (as mentioned above). A magazine that we had suggested the side trip that we took with lots of possible stops along the way. One of the stops was at a place called Proxy Falls. As we got out of the car, the thunder started and we got a little worried. However, the rain held off and we got to visit the fantastic falls.

First, South Falls:



Next, a close up of the base of South Falls. Sorry, no pictures of North Falls on this post.

Manassas Battlefield

We enjoy our Civil War history and were able to take a day trip out to Manassas Battlefield Park. It is only about 30 miles outside of D.C., so it was a very short and easy trip.



It is very different from Gettysburg in that there are not nearly as many people, it is not a expansive, and there are very few monuments. The largest and most prominent is Stonewall Jackson. This picture looks like the Confederate cannon is pointed right at Stonewall on his horse, but it is not, I don't think. If it is, they aren't firing.



Yes, Jenny was with me. Here's the proof.



There was a Stone House on the battlefield grounds - that was used as a hospital. Here Jenny is sitting on a stone bridge that was rebuilt after it washed away, which was a replacement for a stone bridge of which the middle was destroyed by the Confederates and was then burned after the Union troops retreated. In other words, this is a replica of a replacement of the bridge that was burned after the battle whose middle section was destroyed before the battle. Confused? Me too. I don't think I have my facts right. But trust me, this is not the original bridge, or even the original replacement.

Washington D.C.

I have a lot of pictures from our trip to DC but I wanted to get this one up right away. This is the WWII Monument looking across the reflecting pool towards the Lincoln Memorial. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Yellow Flowers

I was going through my pictures and realized that I have a lot of pictures of yellow flowers. Perhaps I have a subconscious affinity towards yellow that I am not aware of. Perhaps Salem has a lot of yellow flowers. Either way, I have lots of yellow flower pictures. Here are a few.





These two are from the Capitol Mall. There were lots of yellow flowers here, but to be fair, the majority of the flowers were pink and white. I like those too. Perhaps I have an affinity for pink and yellow.





These are from a park in West Salem. I like the park enough to go in the morning and back in the evening. The only down-side was that I crushed a large slug with my elbow in the evening. It was squishy and gooey and sticky and somewhat gross. (Sorry, I don't have any pictures of the slug.)

I have more pictures of flowers (yellow, pink, and other colors). But I think I'll limit this post to these three. Gotta keep your interest peaked.

Cascades Gateway Park

I went out to this park in Salem a couple of weeks ago. There are a couple of lakes and a little stream running through it. One of the lakes - actually a man-made pond - was very popular with early morning fishermen and an osprey. There were many places to get some good shots, but many more were ruined because of the large amount of litter around. However, I was able to have some fun there.



Most of the good spot were off the main trail and a little bushwhacking was needed in a couple of places. These pictures were taken when the stream was high and flowing pretty quickly.



The roots of the trees were showing above the ground close to the water. After taking some shots of the stream, I tilted my camera down to capture this. I liked the roots flowing over the little rocks, the moss growing on the roots, and the roots being worn away in some spots.



This was my last stop here. It took some serious winding around and I took a few small branches and spider webs to the face. I was impressed with the roots on the far side flowing along with the water. The sun shining through the trees upstream made for a very calm and peaceful scene, despite the rapids just out of the shot to the left.

Alaska Part V

A few last pictures of the Seward and Anchorage part of our trip.



We hiked the Two Lakes Trail in Seward mostly because it was one of the few that was open and not completely covered with snow and/or ice. We were told to be on the look out for bears and moose. Unfortunately we did not see anything bigger than a squirrel.

Half way around the loop we came to a tall waterfall. This picture is just part of the whole, but the fall was a series of these smaller ones. It was definitely one of the coolest waterfalls that I have ever seen. If I had to guess, I would say that the entire fall was close to 200 feet tall.



This was our last sunset in Anchorage - and, actually, our first. We took a walk along the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail at about 1100 pm.



The last thing that we did before our flight to Fairbanks was to take a hike on the south side of the town. I am not sure the name of the trail, but it provide us with views of downtown Anchorage and the mountains beyond. We crossed over a small river with snow banks hanging over.
On our way back to the car, we heard a large rustling in the bushes around a turn in the trail. We were relieved to see that it was only two moose. However, being about 15 yards away from them was quite exciting.

OK, I'll leave our Alaska trip for a while. I'll share some pictures from around here.

Alaska Part IV

Time for a couple more pictures than usual. The first one is of a bald eagle that was perched in a spruce along the side of the road in Seward. It was a little too far to be captured with my lens, so Jenny held the binoculars so that I could zoom in a little closer. This is the best that I could do - still a little fuzzy.



This is our first moose in Seward. We were heading back to our room after a short trip to a beach. Across the street from the Safeway this young guy was just chillin' between the tracks.



The next day we saw another at the end of the road that our B&B was on. This one was enjoying a mid-afternoon snack along a creek that had overflowed its banks. She was not being very cooperative. Every time I tried to get the picture, she moved to have her backside pointing at me - not her best side! We were pretty close (but safe in the car) and could see that she was still pretty young. (I like to think that I'm the moose expert in the family and since she was small, she was young.)



Ever wonder what the harbor/marina in Seward looks like? (What's the difference?) Well wonder no longer. Here it is, my friends. (There's more of it, but that part is boring - boats and stuff.)



Ever wonder what Jenny does while I'm taking all of these fantastic photos? Well wonder no longer, my friends! She looks the other way contemplating life (or reading a magazine).

This is on the breakwater for the Seward harbor/marina. The darker clouds are outside of the fjord where the glacier cruise would have gone if it had gone. Since it did go...



...we headed to Exit Glacier. Unfortunately it was still very snowy and the road to the visitor center was closed. However, we were able to get some views of the glacier, just not up close. If you can't find the glacier in the picture, look for the snow in the middle. Still can't? There appears to be a "V" in between the hills on both sides of the picture. The "V" is cravases on the glacier.



I hope you have enjoyed this weekend's post. More to come!

Alaska Part III

On our way to Seward, we stopped at Whittier, a town that is very isolated. The only way to reach the town is via boat or through the one-lane tunnel pictured below. The cars and trains share the tunnel. Every half hour the direction is reversed - plan accordingly.



Whittier is very mush a town that is built around fishing and industry. The entire population of Whittier seems to live in one building above the police and fire department. Evidently it was a pretty big base during WWII. There are some old barracks above the town that look like they were abandoned shortly after the war. Now the cruise ships come in here and people can then take the Alaska Railroad to other places in AK.



All around town there are old fishing boats and cranes along the water. It was a sad little town while we were there - rainy, windy, and very few people. I am sure that the summer months bring a lot of people from the cruise ships and railroad.

It was a short little side trip but we enjoyed our time in Whittier and on our way there.