The Ferry, the Graveyard and the Spruce Goose

We finally got the Musemobile back from the shop for some minor warranty work (Thank you Winnebago) and decided to hit the trail for a short adventure in Oregon. The Destination was McMinnville and the Evergreen Air Museum. We followed our mapquest directions and were right on course until we came to the ferry.......


After a forced U-Turn we proceeded on through the Oregon countryside. We followed the 219 into a small town named after me - St. Paul. I stopped to take a few pictures at the St. Paul cemetery and included two of them here. I have a friend I exchange photos every now and then named Phil Coles and his Welsh pictures are wonderful. This area around St. Paul reminds me a lot of his photos.




Well we finally got to the Evergreen Air Museum and it's a sight to behold.


Looking inside as you drive up you see the Famous HK-1 "Spruce Goose"


The aircraft is so huge it's impossible to photograph within the building so I got this one of a model they had on display.


As we walked in the door the first exhibits we saw helicopters (for you Larry) of all shapes and sizes.


I love these bubble cockpit one's

You saw the size of the building and the HK-1, "Spruce Goose," fills it from end to end in both width and height.


The cargo bay of the "Spruce Goose" seems to go on forever........


I used to love drawing these Corsairs my favorite as a young boy.


As were the "Flying Tigers".......


I'm not sure what this plane is but it was really cool to see suspended from the ceiling..... Note the hammer and sickle and Red stars....


The building was filled with aircraft including a Titan II missile lying on it's side.

But we did have someone with us who drove up for the visit to the Museum.
Isaac................ That was a cool thing since one of his college classes is aviation science.


No Scrabble

Quote of the Day:

"The great art of life is sensation, to feel that we exist, even in pain."

~ George Gordon, Lord Byron

Yachats and LaDeDa plus a slug

The drive of the day was through Florence, Oregon and north on the Coast Highway past the first stunning view of the Pacific we encountered when we moved here, Heceta Lighthouse.


I added a close-up


Then there was Yachats(pronounced "Yah-hawts") the destination of the day for was the Mushroom Festival and Salmon Bake held there annually (we were honored that this was the first year they used ceramic vs paper plates for the salmon bake). Yachats is a town located in Lincoln County Oregon. The mushroom festival and salmon bake was moved into the community center and it was kind of like the crafts festivals in some of the small New England towns we used to patronize. We ate, met some nice folks from Salem, bought some goat cheese, an Iris, a wooden spatula and that was Yachats. Their city motto was rather unique. Unlike a purposeful saying like Ferris, Texas' "Forward Ever - Backward Never" It was a rather lackadaisical "LaDeDa"


We actually spent a little more time at another great coastal stop, Cape Perpetua National Recreation Area. The Cape is just south of Yachats and was actually participating in the Mushroom Festival by giving nature walks to show how the mushrooms grow wild in the forest along the coast. The center for Cape Perpetua had this wonderful sculpture of a whale in front of the building.



The views of the forest as it drops into the sea are spactacular and the wind shaped trees are magnificant.






On the way back to the car from the center I took this picture of some stairs and started to get into the car when Sharyn (my top navigator) spotted something on the stairs. You can see it on the face of the third stair from the bottom. On closer inspection.....

..... it was a 6 inch Banana Slug, mascot of University of California Santa Cruz Yuck!!!!!


A little further south I stopped for a picture of some driftwood dragons (they looked a lot like that slug) I had seen on the way up to Yachats.


The dragons were cute but on the other side of the highway was a common but beautiful view of the coastal woods I'm glad I noticed. I love this place (Oregon Coast) and it's simple beauty. This spot is near Point Cook named after the explorer Captain James Cook.


Scrabble Score - put two more games in the contender's column and I know Scrabble queen is plotting sweet revenge in her dreams.....

Quote of the Day

"Do just once what others say you can't do, and you will never pay attention to their limitations again." ~ James Cook

Fall Comes with Covered Bridges and a Christmas Dahlia

We took a drive today with our neighbor Serena A.K.A. Gail and started at one of the
Willamalane parks where the fall colors were coming out in force.


I liked the curve of these blue pipes


....and the overhang of these Cedar trees.


On the drive we drove south east of Eugene and Springfield on Marcola Road to Wendling Road and 3.5 miles later we came to the Wendling covered bridge.


It's a smallish covered bridge with no windows but well kept and used often although not one car came by in the 20 minutes we were there.


We reversed tracks on Wendling and came across the staple of the rural landscape - the falling down barn - so I stopped the mini-Musemobile and took a picture.


We to a road we had passed on the way to the bridge called Paschelke Road and followed it aways past the Paschelke homestead a nice rural home and came to Paul road where a sign pointed to a Dahlia farm. We followed the winding road to the farm and no one was home so I snapped a few pictures of some of the Dahlias most in late bloom. This one was called a Santa Clause Dahlia.



This beautiful bloom had fallen to the ground but it was nice so I got this picture also.


We backtracked again t Paschelke Road and a little further came across the J Bar C (J-C) Ranch. I loved the entrance.


Finally we got to the Paschelke Road Covered Bridge more commonly called Earnest bridge. It must have been Earnest Paschelke it was named after. I managed to get a picture of a school bus exiting the bridge.


And finally the river that runs under both bridges, the Mohawk River, and created the Mohawk Valley of Oregon (pronounced in parts of OHIO as OR-E-GONE)


Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen lost by 2 points to the Contender.....

Quote of the Day

A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone. When you stand before God, you cannot say, "But I was told by others to do thus." Or that, "Virtue was not convenient at the time." This will not suffice. Remember that. ~ King Baldwin IV, the Leper King of Jerusalem from the Movie "Kingdom of Heaven"

Picking some of the best

I'm starting to take stock of the thousands of photographs and possibly entering them in a contest or working at getting them seen. I've been very lucky to have a very good camera given to me for my birthday by Sharyn and the time to go places and take pictures.

The first one here is actually in my front yard at the entrance to the house. It's a Tulip that was nearing the end of the blooming cycle and one of the petals had fallen in the winds a bit earlier. I was fascinated by the glimpse inside the flower.



This one was also taken in the front yard looking west at the sunset. I took this picture at almost the exact spot of the tulip.


Sunset Bay and the island at the inlet to the cove. This was taken with my older camera on our first RV adventure to the State Parks of Oregon.


Along the Siuslaw River at Florence, Oregon you can still see the docks where lumber was floated and where the salmon still run.


The Kennedy Library was a remarkable place with an amazingly creative space for this huge US Flag. This glass and scaffolding area is at least six stories tall giving you an idea of the size of the flag. I took the picture laying flat on my back on a marble bench.


Sunset in Gettysburg. This was in the travel blog in July but it's worth a second look.


On a trip to San Diego we took longer route this time and went along the Pacific Coast through Oregon. As we cut over through northern California we passed an over flowing lake and I stopped to take a picture. While there I got this picture I call "Road to Nowhere."


Awhile back we visited San Diego to see family and Matt and the girls were with us as we drove to Mt. Solidad for a look at the city. I got this one of Matt tying Sierra's shoes at the base of the War Memorial this the US flag and the controversial cross at the peak of Mt. Solidad.


Along the Oregon Coast Highway near Bandon/Gold Beach.


Sunset at Beverly beach another great Oregon State Park.


Scrabble Score from last night - today's game was cancelled to watch a movie. SQ 327 TC 332

Quote of the day -

"The truth of our faith becomes a matter of ridicule among the infidels if any Catholic, not gifted with the necessary scientific learning, presents as dogma what scientific scrutiny shows to be false." ~ St. Thomas Aquinas quotes (Scholastic philosopher and theologian, 1225-1274)

On the Coast Again

We went for a drive the first day out and went to Bandon for some cheese curds, fudge and a seafood lunch on Coquille Bay. I like this area for the view and the goodies and taking pictures of the area around the bay. People relaxing


.... and writing letter home to England like Allison and Michael. Wonderful people on their way to Idaho. They were taking off from Eugene so I suggested, if they had time to visit the Eugene Saturday Market (the last Episode) and that seemed excited about going there for vegies and tie-dye tees.



others on the bay were crabbing...



...even others had been kayaking



but there is always that beautiful Coquille lighthouse overlooking all that happens in Bandon, Oregon



Day Two Shore Acres

One of our favorite places to visit Shore Acres Botanical Gardens is a demi-Eden. Nestled into the Oregon coast between Cape Arago and the sleepy town of Charleston


Aside from the formal gardens there is a Japanes Water Garden


This day was a day for Daliahs of many colors

Red

Yellow

Pink


Red AND Pink


Purple


and even Black


and even one called Zorro


There was even some orchids


...and some other flowers of all kinds. I call these organic sunshine



and back at our RV space, in the weeds, behind the picnic table, on the hill, was a beautiful, single

California poppy


Scrabble Score Scrabble Queen 347 - the Contender 320

Quote of the day

We are Stardust
We are golden
Caught in the devil’s bargain
And we’ve got to get ourselves
Back to the garden ~ Joni Mitchel from Woodstock