Big Sky Country: Wildlife

On Clay's recent trip to Montana, he put his new camera to the test. The zoom lens was very useful in getting "up close and personal" with a variety of the local wildlife. (Don't forget to click on the pictures to enlarge them for a better look).

Here's one of our feathered friends.



What a cutie!



The deer were plentiful. (Can you spot all three?)



Wouldn't want to mess with this fella!



But I think this might be the scariest one of all!

Sleepovers

Danica had a sleepover last Friday night -- with just Grandma because Clay had been in Montana all that week on his annual "guys only" trip to the family cabin outside Yellowstone. (He and his brothers try to get up there each fall -- initially it was to work on the cabin, but now they have time for more leisurely pursuits).

With Grandpa out of the picture, Grandma finally had a chance to be the "favorite" grandparent for a change. It was fun to have some "one on one" time with Danica.

She spent a long time playing with PlayDoh, which is one of her favorite activities (when we remember we have it!).

She takes her "art" very seriously.


She likes to practice her cutting skills.





She loves squeezing out the "worms."





Time to watch a movie -- this is what she picked out to watch. (I'm not sure why she likes this DVD so much, but she asks for it at least a couple of times a month!)


Getting comfortable -- gotta have popcorn!


The next day, Clay flew into the Portland Airport. Melissa and Danica consented to come with me to pick him up (I hate going to the Portland airport). After picking him up, we treated ourselves to dinner here (Clay had never been):


We all enjoyed their scrumptious milkshakes.

3-Day Weekend -- Part 2

Hopefully we’ll have further opportunities this fall for exploring….but we still wanted to make the most out of the holiday weekend so we took another daytrip on Monday/Labor Day. Clay wanted to try again for Waldo Lake (snow blocked the road when we tried in July). Neil and his friend Mandi decided to come with us. A good time was had by all!

(Warning: boring geography lesson ahead): Waldo Lake is the second largest lake in Oregon (after Crater Lake) and one of the purest lakes in the world. On a calm day, you can see more than 130 feet down. Since I did not get out on the lake itself, I cannot verify that fact. I'll take their word for it.

After we arrived at the lake, hiked a bit and ate our lunch, Neil and Mandi wanted to try the inflatable canoe and 1-man raft they had brought, and Clay jumped at the chance to get out on the water. It took a while to get the boats inflated by foot-power (we would have brought the motorized pump if we'd known). Neil and Mandi used the canoe, and Clay took the raft.

He needed a little push to get started (Mandi obliged)....

....then he was off on his great adventure. (Love that hat, dear!)

He was having a great time....

.....until the paddle fell apart and half of it sank before he could grab it. Neil and Mandi rowed over to rescue him, and it was decided that Clay and Neil should take the larger watercraft and tow Mandi in the raft. They made it back safely.

It was a beautiful day at the lake.


We loved the way the water sparkled with the sun shining on it.

There were a couple of sailboats, and other people were
out on the water in canoes and kayaks, etc. I don't
remember hearing any motorized watercraft. Very peaceful!

The rafting was done at the southern end of the lake. After they finished with that activity, we drove to the northern end of the lake. Clay and I headed off on a hike but we eventually ended up in an area that had a forest fire 12 years ago. It still looks pretty bad, doesn't it?

We hiked until we eventually found a path that led to the lake. We took a couple of pictures, but then turned around and headed back to the untouched, cooler parts of the forest. It was very "interesting" to see the part that burned, but I wouldn't want to go back. It was too hot...and bleak...for me.

We were glad to get back to the more picturesque areas.

Clay had a good time trying out his new camera!

He was able to get a few pictures of the "wildlife." (Ahhh!!)

He didn't spend quite as much time on his GPS now that he has a new "toy" to play with.


We had a great time, and we're looking forward to our next adventure.

3-Day Weekend -- Part 1

Clay and I were both excited about the 3-day weekend. With summer coming to an end soon, we know we will not have as many opportunities to take these fun daytrips that we have enjoyed so much the past couple of months. We considered going camping, but thought the campgrounds would probably be full. To our surprise, we noticed that there seemed to be plenty of places available at many of the campsites we passed. Oh well!

On Saturday, we headed for Cape Perpetua, which is a little ways north of the Heceta Head Lighthouse we visited recently. For a variation in scenery, we took a different route over to the coast, and still another route coming home (the sign said "one lane road with turnouts" which worried me a bit, but it turned out fine!)

Clay was anxious to try out his new camera. It has a 12x optical zoom, and he's excited to see if he can capture some interesting wildlife on his trip to Montana next week. To experiment, he took a picture of the lighthouse from the viewpoint at the normal (wide angle) setting.....





And then this one is taken from the same spot using full zoom.




This is part of the coast near Cape Perpetua. The tidepools are very interesting to explore, but unfortunately we arrived at high tide, so they were covered up.



But high tide is a great time to see some impressive splashing as the waves hit the rocks.




Enjoying the beauty of nature? Pondering the grandeur of the scenery? Thinking deep thoughts about my place in the universe? Well, yeah, but mostly pausing to catch my breath as we're hiking, because I'm really out of shape!




This is the Spouting Horn, which sends a great "poof" of water out the top when a wave comes up through a hole underneath. It makes a nice booming sound too. It was one of our favorite spots. (High tide was a great time to catch this).

Some pretty wildflowers along the trail -- a little flattened by the wind.

We had fun climbing out on the rocks. There were lots of signs posted warning people to never turn their back on the ocean, proceed with caution, enter at your own risk, etc.

We are now looking down from the top of the mountain (hill? whatever) at the places we had been hiking earlier. There's a trail that you can hike up to the top. Clay was ready to hike up it, but I voted for the alternate route driving up the road. You can see the zig-zagging path and the rocks we were on down in the bottom right of this picture.

This cute little rock shelter on the side of the cliff was very popular that day, especially with young couples. We only had a few minutes to ourselves, and then moved on so others could enjoy it. It had a great view.

Here is an explanation of why it's there. (You can click on the picture to enlarge it so you can read it).

Here is a view out one of its "windows."

A little ways past the rock shelter there was a break in the trees along the trail, and we could see the town of Yachats. Here is a picture I took with my camera.

And here is what Clay can get with his super zoom. He's having a lot of fun experimenting with it.

We spent a little while hanging out at a park near Yachats before heading home. Here Clay is trying out the lounge chair and pad that we found for a great clearance price at the Florence Fred Meyer when we stopped that morning to pick up some supplies for our trip.

The sound of the ocean is very relaxing!