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Road Trip 2011: Days 9 & 10
On the morning of Day 9 we woke up in Grassy Flat Campground, had a quick breakfast of oatmeal and leftover bannock (which, I neglected to mention, we’d made over the fire the night before). Then it was off to the Oregon Caves National Monument. The caves were discovered in 1874, and made a national [...]
Road Trip 2011: Day 8
After visiting Lake Tahoe on Day 7, the only “must-see” left on our list was the Oregon Caves, which several friends had highly recommended before we left Portland. Looking at the map on the morning of Day 8, we figured that the best way to get from Greenville to Cave Junction was straight out to [...]
Road Trip 2011: Day 6 & 7
After doing laundry and puttering around downtown Elko on day 6, Perrie and I drove west on I-80, back through Winnemucca and on toward Pyramid Lake. When I lived in Nevada, I often heard about how beautiful Pyramid Lake was, but never found the time to visit it. Strangely, when we mentioned our plans to [...]
Road Trip 2011: Days 4 & 5
So (after a long delay), we pick up the story where we left off. On Day 4 of our trip, we drove from Winnemucca to Carlin, Nev., where I used to work. There, Perrie and I spent a few minutes in a local park calling family to announce our engagement. Then, we headed up to [...]
Road Trip 2011: Day 3
Our focal point for Day 3 of the trip was to visit the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge, established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds, is based around Harney and Malheur lakes. This pair of large, swampy lakes in the otherwise dry desert of southeastern [...]
Road Trip 2011: Day 2b
When I left off in our travels, we had just arrived at Crystal Crane Hot Springs, a place Perrie had found in her pre-travel research. The “spa” has a few small cabins and a small motel-esque building that is apparently partway through a protracted refurbishment. RV guests can park near the entrance to the property, [...]
Road Trip 2011: Day 2
On Day 2 of our road trip, Perrie and I woke up in the same place we went to sleep: Little Crater Lake campground in the Mount Hood National Forest. It was a beautiful morning, so after breakfast we went for a short hike past the camp’s namesake lake, hoping to find our way to [...]
Road Trip 2011: Day 1
Perrie and I were on vacation last week, making an epic road trip of about 2500 miles through three states, several different climate zones and encompassing a range of more than 10,000 feet of elevation. We didn’t plan it, but a geology theme cropped up in most of our activities. Over the next few days [...]
The other side of the road
Usually when I go somewhere with my camera, I have a pretty good idea what to expect. Even if I’ve never been there, the site probably has some significant or interesting feature that drew me (and others) to it. But if you’re looking for good photos, it always pays to look around you. A few [...]
Floating through life on a houseboat
As a city built at the confluence of two major rivers (which don’t freeze), Portland includes several communities of floating homes. They don’t have motors or steering systems, so they aren’t really “houseboats,” but that’s what most people call them anyway. They’re much closer together than most land homes and move up and down with [...]
California leftovers
Here are a handful of additional photos from my recent trip to California that didn’t fit in with my earlier posts. Many are from a quick visit we paid to Ferndale, a logging/dairy boom-town of the late 1800s about 20 miles south of Eureka. The town’s main street boasts numerous well-preserved buildings from the Victorian [...]
Airport
Airports have always fascinated me, and it’s a good thing because I seem to spend quite a bit of time in them these days. On this last trip (Portland to San Francisco to Arcata/Eureka), I took the opportunity to do some street photography* in the airports. It seems everybody has a different idea of what [...]
Gold Bluffs Beach
After our walk through Fern Canyon Friday afternoon, Isaac and I took a quick stroll on Gold Bluffs Beach, also part of Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park. The beach there reminds me a lot of the Oregon coast. We also took time to smell the lupines.
Fern Canyon
This past weekend, work took me to Eureka, Calif. We arrived around lunchtime Friday, and had the afternoon off. With the weather as good as could be expected for the rest of the weekend, fellow photographer Isaac Koval suggested we visit Fern Canyon in Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, about 50 miles north of town. [...]
After work
Of the 48 hours I was on the ground in D.C., a little more than 20 of them were spent in an arena. Here are a few images from a few precious hours that weren’t.
Wandering around Washington
Once I arrived in Washington, I picked up my rental car, missed a turn and added 18 miles to the half-mile drive from the airport to the hotel. After checking in and unpacking, I headed out to scout the route to the venue (American University) and grab a bite to eat. Dinner was a great [...]
Brunch at the Byways Cafe
As mentioned in my previous post, Perrie and I had an unplanned brunch at the Byways Cafe last Saturday. That is to say, the meal was planned, but the location was not. But when we discovered that our intended destination, the Everett Street Bistro, was closed, Byways seemed the obvious choice. The Byways Cafe is [...]
Another Saturday morning in the Pearl District
In what is becoming an annual mid-March tradition, Perrie and I headed down to Portland’s Pearl District early last Saturday morning. She meets with someone to have her taxes done and I wander around the neighborhood with my camera. Then we have brunch. Last year, the weather was gorgeous. This year, not so much. Once [...]
Around St. Johns
The sun came out for a few minutes yesterday, so Perrie and I took a quick walk around St. Johns.
NW 23rd Ave.
I happened to be in the NW 23rd Avenue area of Portland on Friday, with a few minutes to kill. What better way to fill the time than to make a few pictures?
Columbia Children’s Arboretum
Perrie and I are always on the lookout for a new park to explore. Saturday afternoon was sunny and mild, so I pulled up a map of Portland and looked for green spaces. The one that caught my eye was labeled “Columbia Children’s Arboretum.” Now a part of the Portland Parks system, this 28-acre green [...]
Important bird area
From a walk last weekend in the Carty Unit of the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge. Perrie and I also visited the Carty Unit in 2009.
Pier Park skate park
Portland is renowned for its system of skate parks. The 11,500-sq.-foot facility in North Portland’s Pier Park was the first in a planned 19-park system that covers every region of the city. Since it opened in 2006, four other parks have been built. Perrie and I stopped by for a look-see last Sunday afternoon.