Redwoods National Forest

Susan and I went to the Redwoods National Park. I love a beautiful tree and there an awful lot of them there. I felt like they were majestic and very peaceful. That's me inside the tree there. I believe these are the tallest trees in the world. The Sequoia are bigger in mass but the redwoods are taller. Enjoy!

Susan's Cottage look

I wish I came up with witty things to write like Cindy and Lezlee. And I think I could if I spent more time at this blog. But instead, I mostly have nice photos for you to look at!
This is my friend Susan's house in Oregon. She is wonderful at gardening and is really into the "cottage" look. She does a great job with "found"objects and things that she has picked up from the metal salvage place.
This Arizona girl love sitting out in her yard and reading or just enjoying the cooler temps and views.

Look, look, I got a bee in the middle of the Dahlia!

Here is the dahlia without the bee.

I LOVE this. Susan came up with this all her self. It's a little sun room off her family room. The sides are made up of Sliding glass doors. The room is fiberglass. So when it's cold, you can sit out there in the sun with the doors closed. When it's nice you can open all the sides up. Is that cool or what?

Here is her little gazebo that she had her brother put together from a kit.

Here are some of her "found" objects on her fence, including her old license plate.

I LOVE the pots she has turned into planters.

This is a view across her backyard. She got the window and I think the door of her shed from a house that was torn down behind her. The old claw foot bathtub she has made into a water garden. The Shower head works and becomes a little fountain.

This is the view the other way, towards the sun room, deck and gazebo.

This is looking towards the little paved area where her hot tub is.

Very decorative shed!

Susan's dad had a commercial fishing boat. She has some old fishing floats on her fence.

The bench and trellis hide some pipes or something in the backyard. She had an arcadia door put into her bedroom and the ramp built so she could go from her bedroom to the hot tub.

Decorations on the fence by the hot tub. The door knobs are to hang your towel on.

Isn't this old chair fun? Seat is missing and a plant put in instead.

Rogue River Jet Boat

Jet boats! Doesn't that just sound fun? I went on one with a big fan in the back when I was in Florida last year. When I heard about these, I wanted to go. Susan wasn't too enthused, but even she had a good time.
Here we are at the beginning, waiting in line.

And this is what the boats looked like. They put about 50 people a boat and there were 4 boats that went.

This is what the river looks like in the beginning while we are still in Grants Pass. There were also a lot of gorgeous homes on the shores. We went slow when we were in town.

And this was a salmon swimming by.

Can you see the bald eagle in this tree? It looks better if you make the picture bigger.


This is what it looks like when the boats go fast. They also periodically spin in a 360 for the thrills and to get you all wet.

Here was an Osprey.



And we saw lots of Osprey nests.

We went all the way up to Hellsgate. This is where they did the shot of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid jumping off the cliff. They also shot the movie "The River Wild" with Kevin Bacon here. It was pretty, but a relatively short section of the river.

This is where they fed us dinner. They called it the OK corral and it was very nice. We had a great time although pretty windblown and wet by the time we got back!

Random Oregon Photos

So on our way to Crater Lake, we found Salt Creek Falls.They are supposed to be one of the highest falls in Oregon. They were really beautiful.

And then I was rather fascinated by this moss. It was a bright lime green and all over some of the trees.

And this is at the beginning of the Rogue River and called the Rogue river gorge. It was also very pretty. Later in the day we road a jet boat on this river. It was much bigger then.

And this is the Rogue River from the balcony of our hotel in Grants Pass. This is where we rode the jet boats on the river.

Covered Bridges in Oregon

There are several covered bridges in Oregon. Susan and I visited two. There is something picturesque and romantic about a covered bridge that doesn't exist in the metal ones of today. There are some really awesome modern bridges, but these are just fun and charming. Susan hates to have her picture taken, but she actually gave me permission to take this one. I usually have to sneak it or take it really quick.

Crater Lake

I was in Oregon last week visiting my friend Susan. One of the things we did was go to Crater Lake National Park. I had been there once before, briefly, when I was about 13. I always thought that it was a volcano that had blown, left a crater and then a lake formed. Well that is only sort of the truth. There are several volcanoes in the area. What happened, thousands of years ago, is that some of the surrounding volcanoes blew. There was sort of a common pool of lava that centered under this mountain. When the lava was decreased by the other eruptions, the peak collapsed in on itself because there was nothing under it to support it anymore. The lake was formed by rain water falling into this hole over the eons. The result is an almost perfectly circular calm lake with beautiful reflections. It is almost 2000 ft. deep in the deepest area. And yes it really is that blue.

I loved the sunset and full moon and tried to get a few photos with them. These were some of the better ones. I loved that you could see mountain range after mountain range in this one.

I thought this log looked like a big lizard or a small dragon!