Summer Roadtrip 2011

Ron and I have been planning on taking a photography/camping trip for several months........the last two weeks of August finally arrived and we packed up the truck and headed south. We left Camano Island on Monday morning, August 22nd, and drove down to Grants Pass, Oregon where we stayed for the first night. We got up the next morning and headed into California, to the Redwoods Humbolt Stake Park, which is about 45 minutes south of Eureka. Our daughter, Jenni, wanted to have us take a photo of the Redwoods, in a certain grove.......it had lots of sorel (clover) which she wants to use on her upcoming album "Illuminations."

If you've never been to the Redwoods, then it's hard to describe just how massive these trees are. We drove along a road called "The Avenue of the Giants"......which is exactly what they are: Giants. They made our truck look so small.

This is the grove which Jenni wanted the photo taken.......the sorel (clover) looks like a soft velvet carpet of green. (the photo below was taken with my point and shoot camera.......Ron had to wait 2 days for the right light, so he could get the right shot.)

I can't say that we really enjoyed camping in California......they are fairly expensive and not really that nice. The Oregon camp grounds are another thing however......fabulous! (grass, privacy, electricity, water at each campsite, showers.)

One of the best parts of the trip was the drive up the Oregon Coast. It has to be one of the most beautifful drives in the world. And it is ALL public beach. There are so many beauitful places to stop and see along the Oregon Coast, that it's hard to choose which ones to visit. We stopped in Port Orford and drove down onto the beach to have our lunch......it was a warm day with just a light breeze from the ocean. Perfect. The tailgate of the truck makes a perfect picnic table.

We stopped in Gold Beach, Oregon and stayed one night in a motel......Ron had gotten sick the day that we started out, and he wasn't getting any better. Not a very fun way to spend a much anticipated vacation. The motel was warm, comfortable, quiet and dry. Ron got a really good night's sleep and he felt much better the next day.

Our next stop was Bullard's Beach State Park, right by Bandon, Oregon. It is one of our favorite state parks for camping. We had high hopes and getting great sunset and sunrise photos at Bandon.....however, mother nature had different ideas. There was a huge fog bank that hung just off the coastline the entire time we were there.....so much for sunsets. During the night, the fog would come inland, and not burn off until mid to late morning.......so much for sunrises. We really felt bummed.

We got up between 4:30 and 5:00 every morning to head down to the beach for a sunrise photo. Since there was fog, we would get comfortable and snooze in the truck for a couple of hours (or more) waiting for the sun to burn off the fog. One morning, the fog burned off, and Ron grabbed his camera and dashed off the rocks below the lighthouse for the shot. I was too tired and sleepy, (or maybe the word is lazy) so I just stepped out of the truck and snapped this one....then got back in the truck and closed my eyes again. Just in case you couldn't figure it out......I'm not much of an early riser.

We started getting hopeful when the fog burned off, that we would get a great sunset.......it was a beautiful sunny day for the most part. The beach at Bullard's is long and soft white sand.

That evening, we walked down to the beach in Bandon, hoping to get some great sunset shots. At the time, there wasn't a cloud in the sky, so we thought that it was likely to be at least a decent sunset. There are so many huge and interesting sea stacks at Bandon.

A seagull enjoying the evening on the beach. As you can see, the fog is starting to form again.......we were starting to get worried about the sunset...or rather lack of one.

A few clouds started to appear on the horizon, which we thought was great......makes a more interesting photo.

Ron, all geared up for the shoot.

And then the fog bank made it's appearance again......and boy, was it a thick one. Our sunset lasted less than a minute

Going.....going.......gone.

The next day, we decided to go in search of something else. We drove up the coast about 25 miles to the Umpqua River Lighthouse. It is still a working lighthouse, and they have built lots of Coast Guard buildings around it, so it's very difficult to get a good shot of it. So, we just took pictures for the fun of it.

I love the detail of the building.......the architecture is really cool......and I love lighthouses.

The weather was not improving.....still the same fog and gray clouds, so we decided to leave Bandon and drive farther up the coast. We took our time and explored some areas that we hadn't stopped to see before. One of the most beautiful places was Cape Perpetua. The rocks running out into the ocean were all lava runs, and there were incredibly rugged.

We finally stopped in Newport, and drove out to the Yaquina Head Lighthouse. It was the wrong time of day to photograph it, but it was interesting to look at.

The Yaquina Head lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse on the Oregon Coast. I sure look short standing next to it.

A view from the beach, during a very low tide.

That night we drove a few miles south of Newport, to Seal Rock. We found a spot on the beach where no one else was, and climbed down.......and I mean that in the literal sense. It was pratically a cliff! We both had tripods with cameras, and it was not an easy thing getting down to the beach. Going down in the daylight was one thing.......climbing back up with a flashlight when it was pitch black, was another. Oh my......sometimes I wonder about all the places where I tag along behind Ron to photograph something.

No clouds, but there was another fog bank out to sea. I slowed the shutter speed for this one....makes for an interesting effect.

Ron was determined to get something worth keeping....... Look closely.....I slowed the shutter speed down, and you can actually see Ron moving from one position to another. I guess that I should have told him to hold still.

The sun was gone, but I kept shooting.....trying to get something worthwhile.

I like how this one looks like an impressionistic painting.

The sun had been down for quite a while, but we were still shooting pictures. With a slow shutter speed, it makes the water looks like mist, instead of crashing waves.

Our next stop on the coast was Ecola State Park, near Cannon Beach. Ecola has always been one of our favorite places to visit. The ferns and trees are thick, and there are lots of huge sea stacks along the beach. Ron wanted to take a photo of Crescent Beach in Ecola Stake Park, so he climbed over the railing onto a small ledge. The sunset lasted all of 1 minute, and didn't even light up the beach.......but I managed to get Ron in a silhouette.

By this time, we were getting pretty discouraged about getting the photos that we had hoped for. So at 8:30 pm, after Ron climbed in from the ledge, we decided to drive to Pendleton to visit my mother. She had been asking us when we were going to come and visit, so we thought that this would be a good time. So we got in the truck and headed east toward Pendleton......we arrived around 1:00 am.

We spent the day with mom, and it was a beautiful day.....sunshine with beautiful puffy clouds. But Ron had checked the weather for Mt. Rainier, and it was supposed to be clear the next morning.......and he wanted to get a sunrise shot of Mt. Rainier. So, we climbed in the truck again around 6:00 pm, being in Pendleton less than 24 hours, and started driving towards Mt. Rainier. We arrived at the mountain at 11:30 pm, and Ron immediately got out and started shooting night photos of the mountain. It was pretty funny, because he couldn't even see the mountain in his camera view finder, so he just had to guess. They turned out pretty interesting in spite of not being able to see what he was photographing!

Ron finished his night photography around 2:00 am, then we wrapped ourselves in our down sleeping bags to stay warm, and tried to sleep for a couple of hours before Ron started photographing the sunrise over Mt. Rainier. We woke up to ice on the truck......so I'm sure it got below freezing. At 5:30 am Ron was out with his camera again, taking panoramic shots of the mountain.

I was too tired and too cold to get out of the truck. I had caught Ron's cold by this time.....darn......I thought that I had dodged the bullet, but I didn't. So I just stepped out of the truck once and snapped a quick photo.......just to prove that I was there!

It was a rare day for Mt. Rainier......crystal clear skies all night and into the morning. You should have seen the stars that night.....they were absolutely brilliant. We drove over to Tipsoo Lake which is on Chinook Pass, just a few miles from where we were photographing Mt. Rainier, and had breakfast and walked around the lake. Our trip was coming to an end, but we didn't want to just get on the freeway and drive home, so we took the scenic route home........up through the Olympic Pennisula and then took the ferry across to Whidbey Island from Port Townsend. We got home around 6:00 pm September 1st. Ron's already made a list of places he wants to go back to and photograph. Hmmmmm.......September looks like it's going to be busy.