Saturday, March 25, 2006

Florence, Oregon - Sun then Rain

We headed for Florence, Oregon just west of Eugene and through this tunnel in the Coast range, the mountains between Interstate 5 and the Pacific ocean.


Along the beautiful Siuslaw River that brings back memories of the lumber boom in Oregon and great logs floating down the river to be loaded on freighters or milled.


We ate lunch at Mo's - the landmark eatery in several of the Oregon seaside towns. It was low tide giving us a great look at the barnacles affixed to the pilings of the pier.


Looking back up river from Mo's


Ed, Sharyn, Jill and George walking the plank to Mo's


After lunch Ed and Sharyn stop for a picture.


Then I turn west for a good shot of the bridge over the Siuslaw just before it reaches the ocean.


A new building in Florence appears to be the opening of a new hotel but I wasn't curious enough to verify that.


I got this seagull guarding the shore and looking for lunch.


Ed and Sharyn talking and taking a walk.


There was even a California poppy on the shore growing wild.


Ed had his camera with him talking pictures.


Flags over the doorways of the shops of "Old Town" Florence.


Some azaleas in Florence


A huge cedar with moss covered "arms" at the Darlingtonia wayside botanical garden.


This "Skunk Cabbage" bloom is beautiful but I'd suggest not smelling it.



Cobra Lily/Cobra Orchid/Pitcher Plant are all names of the Darlingtonia Californica
The Cobra Lily, Darlingtonia californica, is native to southwestern Oregon and northern California. This carnivorous plant lures it's insect prey with a sweet nectar which is inside the leaf opening under it's hood.
Once inside, the insect becomes confused by the many transparent areas of the upper leaf surfaces, which appear to be exits. As the insect checks these false exits searching for an escape route, it is led down the tube structure and is unable to return to the top of the plant because of the slippery smooth surface of the inner tube and the sharp, downward pointing hairs which effectively block any chance of escape. Eventually, the insects will fall into a pool of liquid digestive enzyme in the base of the leaf where they are absorbed as food for the plant.





I threatened to put this picture of the Salmon colored house across from the wayside on her computer desktop.... Just kidding


Farther north on a cliff over looking the ocean is the Seal Caves lookout with a world class view both north and this view south toward the Oregon Dunes National Recreation Area.


And this view south to the Heceta Head Light House


A little earlier at the seal caves George worked hard to get the perfect picture of Jill and Sharyn.


George, who loves the water, walking to check out where the creek enters the ocean at Heceta Beach.




It finally decided to rain as we stopped for a picture at the Heceta overlook.



Coming back along the Siuslaw toward Mapleton I stopped for this picture of a small building on the other side of the river.


We stopped a little out of Florence on the way back to look at some old small tugs at a salvage yard between Mapleton and Florence on the Siuslaw. I think Jill wanted to take this tug home for some yard art.


Jill stood on this old buoy for a better look.



George walking back to the car to leave.


As we were leaving the salvage yard Jill looked back from the middle of the road to look back down the Siuslaw.

Thursday, March 23, 2006

Ed moves and Jill looks at Oregon Ranch

Ed's new residence in Oregon is a lovely room at a local assisted living community. His room was ready for the move-in when Jill and George arrived with theit livestock trailer loaded with is furnishings.


After Ed made a quick inspection and a thumbs up Sharyn, Jill, Andrew, George and Ed started moving things in while I documented everything in pictures.


A few minuted later almost everything was unloaded.


Here is Sharyn and Jill moving a few things down the hall to the room.


As we got closer to finishing I took this picture of a model boat just outside of Ed's room.

Ed's new surroundings are great and very homey and cozy. It's a small facility and only 17 other residents and an absolutly wonderful staff.

I took Jill around the neighborhood of our house to show her a beautiful ranch. It's only a few miles from the house and down a dead end two lane road.


The barn (one of them) was beautifully set in the rolling hills that compose the pastures of the huge ranch.


Jill spotted this nice view of a creek that runs down then through the ranch.


She also spotted this green lichen on a fence post. Great color


What a great pasture for cattle.


The mini-musemobile (Great Honda Engineering) and Jill wondering what it would be like to own this 200+ acre ranch.


No Scrabble

Quote of the Day ~
"Anything important is never left to the vote of the people. We only get to vote on some man; we never get to vote on what he is to do." ~ Will Rogers was first an Indian, a cowboy then a national figure. He now is a legend.

Born in 1879 on a large ranch in the Cherokee Nation near what later would become Oologah, Oklahoma, Will Rogers was taught by a freed slave how to use a lasso as a tool to work Texas Longhorn cattle on the family ranch.

Inside himself, Will Rogers remained a simple Oklahoma cowboy. "I never met a man I didn't like," was his credo of genuine love and respect for humanity and all people everywhere. He gave his own money to disaster victims and raised thousands for the Red Cross and Salvation Army.

It was on a flight to Alaska in 1935 with a daring one-eyed Oklahoma pilot named Wiley Post that their plane crashed and both men lost their lives.

Monday, March 20, 2006

More at the Evergreen Museum

We missed a few things on the last blog do here they are starting with this great silver transport.


Ed got this great picture of an old U.S. Mail plane.


I got one of Ed taking the next picture.

His great picture of the SR-71 Spy Plane engine. There were all kinds of engines on display from this the fastest of them all to........


Four of the eight most powerful engines on the Hercules HK-1 Spruce Goose...


To the props on this troop carrier...


....and finally the jet end of a fighter.


on this plane the wings folded and I really like the red ribbon that read "REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT."


Wickedly fast.


Instrument flight trainer. Cute huh!


A stunt plane hung upside down from the ceiling.

We even had Radio/Television coverage from .......

Disney and ....

Oregon Living plus.....

an ad for www.webuyhousesswwa.com
6715 NE 63rd Street
Suite 123
Vancouver, WA 98661
Call Our 24 hour
pre-recorded message
800-913-9635
(this is not an endorsement unless I get a commission)


Some days are special enough to make up for two bad days.

No Scrabble today

Quote of the Day
"Writing is making sense of life. You work your whole life and perhaps you've made sense of one small area."” ~ Nadine Gordimer quotes (South African novelist and short-story writer, 1991 Nobel Prize for Literature, b.1923)

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©Paul Viel