Owen Rose Garden - Hidden Jewel of Eugene, Oregon

We were in Eugene for some personal errands and I took my Sony Alpha Camera (more practice) so after all the errands were done we took the Mini-Musemobile to Owen Rose Garden for some pictures and a short walk.


The entrance is through an arbor of arches.


Being a rose garden there were lots of reds. I liked this flower though it was not a rose.


Halfway through the arbor of arches and I liked the curve of the path and benches to just sit and enjoy the view.


I'm not sure what this is but it looked like a red sunflower to me.


Dahlias I do know and this is a beautiful. I'm not sure but it looks a lot like the "Zorro" Dahlia I once saw at Shore Acres State Park.


Cosmos I know as well. We even have some "volunteer" cosmos growing in the back yard and even between bricks on the side of the house.


I don't know if the rose someone had laid here was for Alissa Davis (on the plaque) but it was a touching image I couldn't resist.


There isn't much I can say about the roses other than Wow!


The Peach color roses were especially beautiful.


Of course I had to take this picture of a Red, Red Rose"


This 7.5 acre display garden features over 400 varieties of roses and other ornamental plants, and is also home to what is believed to be the country's oldest and largest Black Tartarian cherry tree.


Some of the blooms were past prime like the edges of this rose but to me they were still beautifully imperfect, like most of us.


Of course being a native Texan I had to get a shot of the Yellow Rose...


... No, make that two shots...


... Well I got 3 shots.


I assure there were lots of rose bushes ...

... and rose vines.


There were roses with highlights that looked like an "inner glow."


Red and yellow like brilliant flames really caught my eye.


These reminded of the little mints at the cash registers in restaurants.


This garden is surely someones "field of dreams" but of flowers not baseball.


The rose varieties are spectacular.


The way the light hit this rose and the coloration almost makes it look translucent.


There couldn't be a more peaceful walk on a nice day and I suspect even on a rainy day it would have a special charm.


There is also an arbor on the east end of the garden , shady and hospitable after the walk.

Scrabble Score - No scrabble due to a long movie we watched.

Quote of the Day ~

“A single rose can be my garden...a single friend, my world.” ~ Leo F. Busctaglia (1924-1998) . He argued that social bonds are essential at transcending the stresses of everyday life ... as well as crossing communication gaps between generations.

Diamond Lake to Canyonville - Along the Rogue

On the way out of the RV park at Diamond Lake we stopped for some last pictures like this one of the lake and Mount Bailey.


There were several fishermen in the lake already at 8:00am


I really love that view across the lake.


To tone down the vast panorama I took this picture of a stump in the grass...


... and this dead tree with moss on a broken off branch like a mitten on a child's hand in winter.


There was one lone boat waiting for its owner.


We left Diamond Lake and headed south on Highway 230 and stopped at a roadside viewpoint. I thought it looked pretty tame and not very noteworthy until I read the information sign. We were looking at the remains of Mount Mazama. It's hard to grasp the enormity of what I was looking at. It was the rim of Crater Lake and, yes I've been there. What finally sunk in was that realization that Crater Lake is the shell of Mount Mazama.


Look at this picto-graph they showed on the sign...


Here it is overlaid on my picture. There is a huge chunk missing. The light went on!


My son Matthew majored in Geology originally and liked to talk about Mount Lassen in Northern California as being really, really huge. Oregon did California one better.


A little farther down the road we stopped at Muir Creek for a quick shot.


Next we arrived at the beginning of the Rouge River Gorge. There was a very narrow channel in the volcanic rock where the Rogue falls over and over and with great force.


As the channel narrows the water becomes frothy and very fast...


Creating many large...


...larger and ...

...smaller smooth falls.


You can see here how some spots narrow.


I thought this was a particularly pretty image of red and green leaves.


We walked a quarter of a mile watching the river churn,


We drove about a mile farther to the Natural Bridge. A spot where the river is diverted under the rock walls and re-emerges after about 20 feet. On the trail I spotted this oddly marked stump.


Then Sharyn wanted a picture of me so I sat on a bridge (Man made not the natural bridge) while she snapped away.


There were even more rapids here and the roar of the water just sounded like power. This was not a spot to fall in the river.


Looking downstream from the walking bridge the river was not as violent but still moving fast.


To understand the power of the river over time look at the cave that's been formed here...


... and here is a closer view. This cave was shaped in the rock by the force of the water and debris pushed against the rock.


I wonder how long it will take to wash this rock away.


This place is awesome and worth a visit.


Some spots looked placid but don't be deceived.


Looking down we saw where the water dives under the volcanic rock forming the Natural bridge.

We drove a little farther to a roadside park that said it was a viewpoint for the Mill Creek Falls but after a long walk on a steep downhill all we saw was these signs - Yikes!!


We finally gave up on the falls only to find out it was about a three mile hike I wasn't about to make on a very warm day. So back up we went with Sharyn far ahead of me and another hiker. All in all it was a wonderful day and we saw lots more but I was too worn out to even take a picture.

Scrabble Score - Scrabble Queen 345 ~ The Contender 302

Quote of the Day

"Keep close to Nature's heart...and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." John Muir (April 21, 1838 – December 24, 1914) was one of the first modern preservationists.

John Muir helped form an environmental organization called the Sierra Club on May 28, 1892; he was elected its first president (a position he held until his death 22 years later).