It is rainy and gray today and supposed to get cold toward the end of the week
but yesterday ....
Yesterday was glorious.
The beautiful weather caused us to reconsider our informal "we stay home on weekends" mantra. This time of year, it would be a shame to waste a blue sky day cooking and cleaning (or to be completely honest, doing nothing useful whatsoever.) And we knew it would rain again soon. So with no particular destination in mind, we drove out into the country northwest of Eugene. Through open farm country bordered in the distance by green hills and then over some woodsy back roads, and we found ourselves heading toward one of our favorite places, Alsea Falls.
Just a little unnamed waterfall.
We didn't stop because there were lots of cars in the parking lot (the reason we don't usually go out on weekends ever and especially nowadays). But we found a little waterfall not too far away - - and no people. A little waterfall and a little tiny bit of a walk.
A little further on, we passed several miles of a not-so-lovely scene:
Pictures taken January 23. 2021
I think they must mean they planted the sign! There was no sign of anything else at all having being planted on this clearcut. Or maybe they're coming back and the sign was put up in advance. It's certainly very early in the year to have had time to plant acres and acres of trees. (Not a fan of clear-cutting.)
We'll find out when the weather gets warmer, because we plan to spend more time in this area then. There were lots of interesting backroads to explore and if we come mid-week, we should even be able to walk into the big Falls.
Below is Alsea Falls taken in August a couple of years ago. It will be interesting to see how much water there is earlier in the season.
I'm thankful that we were able to get out and enjoy the sunshine and know how lucky we are to be able to do that at the end of January. And I'm grateful that we live where we can enjoy such beautiful scenery on a day trip.
Thankful also to the hosts of the following sharing opportunities where I'm linking this week. And for everyone who visits.
MOSAIC MONDAY; NATURE NOTES; THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS; OUR WORLD ON TUESDAY; MY CORNER OF THE WORLD; SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; and FRIDAY BLISS;