Home!

For two years, I have been thinking of Oregon as my new home.  As of three days ago, that dream became real.  I am now an Oregon resident.  It took longer with DMV than I expected, with one false start and a 1 week delay before my documents were accepted.

No pictures today - Oregon is having one of the wettest Septembers ever.  I have only seen the sun twice in the past few weeks.  In 4 days I head south to Mount Shasta and Lake Siskayou.  Hopefully, I will have a chance at some photography there.

September Mist, Northern Oregon Coast

Sweet.

What a Difference a Day Makes

Yesterday morning I posted a photo of the moon setting over Tillamook Bay.  The day before, I had been returning from Cape Meares when I saw the moon, just to the right of a headland, about to set.  The sky was not yet dark but was late twilight.  Dark blue sky easing into a burnt orange, and a bright orange crescent moon, framed by a headland to the south and a massive rock to the north - a magnificent shot.  There was no place to safely stop on the road!  About a quarter mile later, there was a pull-out area where I could stop.  My moving meant that I no longer had the frame of the headland and rock, but I did have reflective water.

The moon was dropping fast.  I had no time to put on the big lens, nor set up the tripod.  I grabbed my camera and took the shot that was there.  Within minutes the moon was gone.

Yesterday afternoon I returned, hoping to find a vantage point that would let me get the shot I wanted.  I found a seafood wharf and restaurant in the approximate area, had dinner, and settled down to wait.

I had forgotten that the moon sets later every evening.  By the time the right moment approached I realized that I had miscalculated in two ways.  First, the sky was almost dark and had lost the color from the night before.  Second, I was too far south, so that the sun was now setting behind the headland.  Still, I had a nice photography discussion with two young ladies and I managed to get a few fair shots.

First, some driftwood on the beach...

Next, a gull, with feet and feathers backlit and aglow from the setting sun...

Finally, the setting moon.

In Memoriam

On the Coast Again

I am at Nehalem Bay, north of Tillamook.  The weather has been mostly grey but yesterday afternoon it cleared off a bit.

First, a roadway to the coast north of here.  Classic, emerald green vegetation so common to the Oregon Coast...

Next, approaching sunset at Cape Meares...

Finally, as I was returning to my campground, the moon was setting over Tillamook Bay.

Two Majestic Volcanoes

I am near Hood River in the Columbia River Gorge.  About 35 miles to the north is Mount Adams and 25 miles to the south is Mount Hood.

Mount Adams is a stratovolcano located east of Mount St. Helens in Washington.  Like so many of the volcanoes in the Cascades, it looms over the surrounding lush forests.

Standing before it, and still 20 miles away, it dwarfs everything around it.

I now know what to look for, which allowed me to identify a collapsed lava tube with a remnant natural bridge.

Mount Hood is the highest point in Oregon.  It extends above the surrounding peaks like the Matterhorn towers above the forests of Switzerland.

I wish I knew how to yodel...

The sheer massiveness of Mount Hood is awesome.

Tomorrow, I move on to the coast.