Santiam Pass & Bird Refuge

I really enjoyed the time I was able to spend with my brother and his wife!
Those four days flew by.
 Heather flew into Portland the night before I drove back down to Klamath Falls. She was ready for a vacation after graduating from college and wanted to surprise Dani.

It's a 5 hour drive but we stretched it to 8. It's a scenic drive and the weather was in the lovely 70's.

The above picture is a rest area we stopped at along State Hwy. 22.

Heather taking pictures along Detroit Lake.  
Oregon is chock full of trees ~ I stand in spots like this and try to absorb it all in. The smells, colors, textures ~ they all blend together in a seemingly endless carpet of evergreens.

It makes my heart happy :)

A hazy view of Mt. Jefferson over Detroit Lake.

Heather & I

Heather took this through the windshield. We are getting closer to Bend. The evergreens have changed from fir to pine.


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We spent another week in Klamath Falls visiting Dani and the rest of my family there.

Dani was beyond excited for her sister to be there. Heather hid in Dani's room under the covers ~ it was a very noisy surprise when Dani found her!

Mom , Dad and I drove out to the bird refuge one night. Pelicans are so fun to watch.

This guy had an itch :)

We enjoyed driving around looking for birds. The Klamath Basin is in the Pacific Flyway. Over 350 species migrate through there.  

Snow geese.

Snow geese and other birds with a hazy glimpse of Mt. Shasta in the background.

Next, it's a peek into Ashland....

Mt. Hood

In our day of exploring the Mt. Hood area my brother, David,and I discovered a great place to eat lunch. Saw Tooth Roadhouse sits along Hwy. 35 next to an active sawmill. It's small but the food was great.

It was fun watching them move logs around.

Pile of beautiful Douglas-fir.

Saw Tooth Roadhouse

Mt. Hood Forest Products in the background. On another note ~ We traded our Yukon in for a 2011 Subaru Outback ( in the above pic ) a week before my Oregon trip. I just have to say that the Outback  is my favorite vehicle I've ever owned. It's very comfortable, handles great and gets better gas mileage than the Yukon. I was in it pretty much every day the two weeks I was gone and I never got tired of sitting in it.

 

We watched this guy move logs for a little bit. It seemed like once he realized we were taking pictures he started grabbing bigger loads, to the point of some of the logs practically falling out. It made us laugh.

This picture doesn't even start to convey what it was like standing there. I took a picture of the road sign so I'd remember where that was. Mt. Hood is a little over 11,000 feet.

Mt. Hood in black and white. That's Hwy. 35 to the left.

We drove all the way around Mt. Hood that day. Every turn created new and fantastic views!

Lovely

 

 

 

My brother, David :)

David & I

Another view ~ I could have sat there all day staring at the beauty before us. 

Junction 26 is just down the road from this spot.

This was up the hill from where we pulled over to take pictures.

On our way back to Newberg we drove through Portland. I snapped a couple shots while we were driving. Portland is a very pretty city. I would like to take a few days next year to walk around capturing that city with my lens.

 

 What a fabulous day with a great guy! We had fun taking pictures, talking and just being out in this great big, beautiful world.

The Beautiful Columbia Gorge

These first two pictures I took at a park Dani and I stopped at on our way up to Portland. This park is just outside of Eugene.

My Dani girl :)

Moss on trees is so beautiful.

Pretty house in Newberg, my hometown.

We stayed with my brother, David, who still lives in Newberg, with his sweet wife, Kristjana. His house is the two story white one. It's a pretty house on a quiet street.

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David and I spent a good part of one day exploring the Columbia River Gorge and Mt. Hood.

We never get to spend time together so this day was really special and we had a lot of fun. He's one of my most favorite people. He's funny, kind and an all around wonderful person :)

We got off I-84 at Troutdale to get on the Historic Columbia River Highway Scenic Byway. It's been called "King of Roads".

Chicken dumplings is a family favorite so I had to take this picture :)

This is across the street from Tad's Chicken "N Dumplins.

The beautiful Columbia River Gorge. The Columbia River borders Oregon and Washington. This was taken from Portland Women's Forum State Scenic overlook.

Vista House at Crown Point. It was built as a memorial to Oregon pioneers. This is a popular place to view the gorge.

The Columbia River Gorge has been one of my favorite places to visit since I was kid. Lewis and Clarke must have had so much fun exploring here.

When I go home I always get excited to see logging trucks. I don't know why but I love them. I love the smell of freshly cut wood, stacking firewood and piles of fresh sawdust.

Bridal Veil Post Office.
We discovered the smallest Post Office I've seen. It's just off I-84 and is around 125 years old. We went inside and talked to the lady. Every year thousands of brides get their invitations postmarked here.

I noticed a few of these Little Free Libraries around Newberg also. People are welcome to take a book or two and leave books as well. It's a neat idea.

These next three pictures are taken at the top of Bridal Veil Falls. We had fun exploring under the bridge.

Oregon is an amazing state to explore. Tomorrow I will share pictures of Mt. Hood, my favorite mountain since childhood :)