Oregon

 

                                                                                                                        Sunset - Eureka, California

'When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world.', 'The clearest way into the Universe' .........John Muir

My photographer buddy, David Reinfeld, met me in San Francisco and we headed up to Eureka, California.

                                                                                               Fern Canyon - Mystical Tree

Once we arrived in Eureka we rented a car and headed off to Fern Canyon and the Redwood National  Park located about 50 miles north on route 101. The 'Mystical Tree' image above is from Fern Canyon, and, of course, the Redwoods were amazing. Some of these trees are 280 feet tall and 30-40 around the trunk. One can only stare in amazement at what nature has created and standing amongst these trees is a cathartic experience. On a political note maybe a few of our Washington buddies need to take this trip - might change the way they think of our planet and what really needs to be done - but enough politics....

                                                                                                                  Neon Sign - Klamath, Oregon

After Eureka we headed up to Portland and the Oregon Coastline. My daughter Emiie joined us in Portland for the trip down the coast...

And, of course, the Oregon Coast lived up to the hype. First thing you notice is the access available to get to the various parks, beaches and ocean. The other oddity I noticed was that there are small drive through coffee places all along the coast - fabulous idea.

We headed out early and drove to Astoria located about 90 miles northwest of Portland. Astoria has been around since 1810 and is located just across the Columbia River from Washington State.After astroria it was south on the 101 to get to the '3 Cape Drive' which takes you through Cape Mears, Cape Lookout and Cape Kiwanda. At Cape Kiwanda we drove out on to the beach, parked and wandered around taking photographs. My guess is one needs at least 10 days to properly explore the coast of Oregon - need to stay out on the coast and catch the changing light all day - way to much for a 24 hour period.....

All in all a great trip and the local knowledge picked up along the way will help next time around.

Off to Bend, Oregon today......