A Full-time Life

SEPTEMBER'S END

   

 

The last of September was about enjoying  beautiful Fall flowers all around the City ....

 

 

 ... and the rich colors of Autumn in the country  ... here, on a walk to Kirk Pond.

 

  "Leaves of three, let it be."

Unfortunately, those richly colored plants included poison oak.   I paid for this macro shot with itches!  (Not the best memory of the month, but maybe posting it will help me remember next time.)   

 

Wall Signs as decoration at the home of our granddaughter and  family 

Like every month when we're home in Oregon, September included family get-togethers.  After all, that's really why we're here ...   the rest is a bonus!    For a change, I managed to remember to get a few snapshots.  I'm not very good at people photos.  It is more fun to just enjoy being together, but I like being able to look back.  

 

 

More floral beauty of the definitely non-poisonous variety.   All of the dahlia pictures were taken on the grounds of the Lane County Events Center (Fairgrounds) on the last day of September.

 

 

Out in the country again,  Mom and the youngsters were enjoying wild apples and leftover blackberries in a field near  our daughter and son-in-laws' home.

 

 

 

More flowers and below, another blue sky day.  We actually need rain and 'they' keep telling us it's coming.   But it is hard not to be grateful for beautiful Fall Days.

 

Thankful for Fall Beauty and family to enjoy it with.   And looking forward to October -- rain or shine!    Thankful also to  the hosts of the following sharing opportunities:

 

    NATURE NOTES; MACRO MONDAY; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY;  GOOD  RANDOM  FUN;  THROUGH MY LENS; Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS; THANKFUL THURSDAY;  FRIDAY BLISS; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;  and  SATURDAY CRITTERS;

 

 

 

 

COASTING AGAIN -- CLOSER TO HOME

 

A bit of Autumn color  from Saturday's  first-day-of-Fall walk in the country (near our daughter and son-in-law's home).    It's fun to see the seasonal change and I like Fall.  But this week, I'm still blogging about summer fun.

 

Siuslaw River Bridge, Florence

We spent a couple of  early September days in Florence (Oregon).   Florence, in the same county where we live here in Oregon, is only an hour's drive from home.  We're lucky  to be so close to the Pacific Coast, but even so we made this a two-day trip ...

 

 

 ...  so that we had more time to explore the beautiful Oregon Coast with these beautiful people.   Our (much-younger)  sister and brother-in-law were visiting from Seattle.   The weather was absolutely perfect.  Not necessarily a given in these parts! We were grateful.

  

Great Blue Heron  

This Great Blue Heron was among several birds that posed beautifully for us right outside of  our hotel room balcony.   

 

 

 

There were  the usual shorebirds and gulls on the beach.   It always looks like the gulls are babysitting the tiny waders.  

 

On the second morning of our stay, older sister and brother-in-law led the younger ones astray when we ventured on a totally out-of-character experience for all of us:

 

 

Between Florence and Coos Bay there are  miles and miles of rolling sand dunes.   It seems more like being on  a desert than right near the ocean.  We  went to a company just South of Florence that has offered rides on the dunes for years.  The four of us and the driver fit somehow into that red sand rail vehicle  ...goggles and seat belts in place we were off.  The  pictures don't do justice to  the roller coaster effect of riding the dunes.   My sister had actually said she thought the ride would be fun (she'll learn) ... so we voted to let her ride in front next to the driver.   I'm quite sure he was showing off for her!  

No pictures could really illustrate the feeling of being totally out in the middle of nowhere -- all you see is sky and sand a lot of the time.  (The driver stopped on flat places for these pictures).   

 

 

 

So just when we were getting used to sand flying in our faces and jumping over gullies, and our stomachs doing the roller coaster bit, we heard this loud bang and our vehicle ground to a stop.  Oops.  Yup, that frame is definitely broken.

(Did I mention that we had taken the last buggy ride of the day?  Other drivers and office staff were already leaving for home as our driver buckled us in at the beginning of the trip.)

But all was well --  and, hooray for cell phone service,  the boss person arrived in a rescue vehicle within half an hour.     Just as I was starting to fantasize about spending the night on the shifting whispering sands!    (The rescue vehicle was actually one of the company's larger and slower sand rail vehicles.)

Notice that the lady in the new front seat is still smiling ... and actually we all were. It was fun  -- sometimes it's good to do something completely different and unexpected.

 

 

More Autumn color and more family in future posts.   This one is linked to the following sharing opportunities -- with thanks to all of the hosts.

  

NATURE NOTES; MOSAIC MONDAY;  ALL SEASONS;  MACRO MONDAY  ; FLORAL BLISS ;  OUR WORLD on Tuesday;    GOOD  RANDOM  FUN;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;   WILD BIRD Wednesday;    Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;    SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING 

 

 

 

 

EUREKA!!

 It is hard somehow to write the name of the California City we visited last month without using explanation marks!!  Besides being the name of the County seat and largest city in Humboldt County, Eureka!! is also the motto of the State of California.  It is a Greek word meaning "I have found it" and in this State refers to the discovery of gold in 1849.

 

  

We stayed in Arcata, a smaller city right next to Eureka.  Here is another shot of some of  the  wading birds we saw on our two visits to the Marsh during our stay.  (More bird photos from the Marsh in this previous post.)  Also a couple more bird photos at the end of this post.

   

 

 This is the Carson Mansion in Oldtown Eureka.  It's probably against some rule to visit the City without taking a picture of it.  Seriously -- you see paintings and photos of it everywhere in the area -- (supposedly it is one of the most photographed structures in the country) -- but if you're there you've just gotta photograph it yourself.    William Carson was one of the many who came to the area in 1849 for the gold, but he  got rich by dealing in lumber.   He had the home built in 1884 .  (There's another slightly smaller mansion nearby built as a wedding gift for his son.)   According to Wiki,  this mansion is a mix of every style of Victorian architecture.    (Here is a link to the Wikipedia Article.  

    

The Mansion is now owned   by the Ingomar Club which was  formed in the early 1950s by a group of Eureka businessmen.  The original purpose of the club was   to save the mansion from being demolished.  It had become rundown and the City was financially unable to buy and restore it.  The Club has had it restored it to original status and also done extensive  repairs after an earthquake damaged it.    Although the building is eligible to become part of  the National Registration of Historic Places, Ingomar members have  chosen not to do so, because  they do not want  to allow public tours (which would be required with that designation).     The Club does deign to let the rest of look inside virtually -- here is a link to that tour.

 

 

 The Mosaic just below is made of pictures taken from the upper deck of the Ferry Boat Madaket during our Harbor Cruise on Humboldt Bay.  (This is the same picture as in last week's post, but I wanted to tie it into the scenery we saw from it.) 

 

Our Captain (and tour narrator)  said that the rundown building on the top left was a church at one time.  It and the home in the center picture are on the opposite shore of the Bay from the City Harbor and can be reached only by water.  The top panel shows a lighthouse on the harbor side and a distant view of the Carson Mansion.  The ferry passed by pretty scenery, but also  working examples of the area's main industries..... fishing and lumber.   

 

 

 

This is another photo icon of Eureka.  The very large statue of a Fisherman reeling in his nets was placed at the Harbor by the Fisherman's Wives Association, in honor of Humboldt Bay fishermen who have lost their lives at sea.  It is a dangerous occupation.

 

 

In fact, Humboldt Bay is one of the most dangerous harbor areas in the country because of the reefs.   We visited the Maritime Museum, which now owns the Madaket Ferry.  There were many pictures, articles, and artifacts from shipping disasters in the area.  Although safety measures are more advanced these days, the United States Coast Guard is still an important presence in the area.  

 

 

Brown Pelicans 

Here are a couple more pictures from Arcata Marsh.   

The whole Eureka-Arcata area is so rich with things to do and photographic opportunities.  We  always enjoyed visiting the area back when we   lived  in Oregon (the first time)  and are grateful that we were able to go there again this season.

 

Snowy Egret

 

 

LINKING THIS WEEK to the following:   Thank you to all of the hosts for providing these sharing opportunities.

NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY;  GOOD  RANDOM  FUN;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;    TUESDAY TREASURES ;   WILD BIRD Wednesday;  SIGNS SIGNS;  Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY;    SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING 

 

 

REDWOODS to EUREKA

 

 

Redwoods

 

This picture captures (as best as my camera can) the beauty of the magnificent California Redwood Highway.  The Coast route takes you into this scenic area shortly after crossing the Oregon-California border at Crescent City, where we spent one night.

 

 

Sea Stacks

 

Moving on down the highway, between the Redwoods and our next overnight stop at Trinidad (previous post here) we stopped to walk at part of the California Coastal National Monument on Trinidad Bay.    An explanatory sign told us that some of the rock formations we could see were once part of the ancient coastline.  They are called sea stacks and were isolated from shore by rising seas, erosion,  and geological uplift.   

   

 

The day after our stay at Trinidad (California), we arrived at our trip destination of Arcata/Eureka.   One day while we were there we took a harbor cruise on Humboldt Bay.  We traveled on the Madaket, the oldest passenger ferry operating in the United States.    It is  now a tour boat, but when first launched it ferried people, goods, and supplies to stops all along the bay.   The cruise was  a good way to learn more about the history of the area.   The ferry has been beautifully  restored.  Although obviously not authentic to the original, the Madaket now boasts what might be the world's smallest bar in its hold.  There's only one barstool, but the Captain announced that the mate would be happy to bring drinks to anyone on deck.  It was the wrong time of day for us but I'm sure it is a very popular feature for the dinner cruises    

 

 

Heermann’s Gull 

We saw many many types of gulls on this trip -- it was the Coast after all.  But this is a first sighting.  I believe (hope?) it is a Heermann's Gull.   We saw this handsome fellow as we  strolled along the lovely harbor boardwalk near where we boarded the ferry cruise.

More about the harbor and towns another day, but I wanted to end  with  pictures of a different excursion during our stay--  because this post needs a little more color!   It was cool enough on the ferry that the lap blankets the crew made available felt good, but a few days later when we drove to the beach from our RV Park, we got this beautiful sunny bright day -- the perfect Coast temperature.  We were fortunate in the wonderful weather we had on this trip.

 

LINKING this week to the following sharing opportunities.  Thank you to all of the hosts.

 

NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY;  GOOD, RANDOM, FUN;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;   WILD BIRD Wednesday;  Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  SIGNS SIGNS;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; SKYWATCH FRIDAY; SATURDAY CRITTERS; and RATHER B' BIRDING 

 

 

WINCHESTER BAY and GOLD BEACH

It's somewhere around 300 miles from where we live to Arcata California, the destination for our August  RVing adventure.   A couple of years ago, our daughter and son-in-law drove to the same place to pick up their new puppy from its mother and her  people.  They made it there and back on the same day without a problem.  It took us 4 days!  We are older and slower (and don't have a puppy).   

 

Winchester Bay and Umpqua River Lighthouse (Oregon)

And of course now that we live part of the year clear over on the other side of the country,  summer  and fall are our chance to spend some time on the beautiful Pacific Coast.  I wouldn't say we ever took it for granted, even when we owned our home here in Oregon.   But back then we knew we could go to the Coast whenever we felt like it -- now we  feel fortunate to be able to take advantage of our proximity during the months when we're in Oregon.

We got a late start on the day we left and spent the first night in Winchester Bay -- only about 60 miles from Eugene.  This is where we spent several summers RVing before we sold out to travel full time.  We feel right at home there!

 Gold Beach Oregon

 

Gold Beach isn't too far south along the Coast and we left Winchester Bay early enough to spend a whole day exploring along the way before checking into our RV Park for the night.  It was a perfect Coast Day -- blue sky, sunshine, and just the right temperature for the beach.  (It is never hot on the Oregon Coast -- often, even in summer, just the opposite.)   But the South Coast is known as the 'Banana Belt' because it is warmer and  doesn't rain so much in the winter.

 

 

....

City Street in Port Orford Oregon 

 Follow this sign to the end of the road for the view in the picture above!

 

Views from Oceanside RV Park, Gold Beach 

 

The RV Park where we stayed  had its own little beach area and beautiful views.   A fog rolled in shortly after we checked in.  It was still warm  enough for a pleasant walk while  the heavy mist gave the evening a soft mysterious look and quite an interesting setting sun. 

 

 

The fog was even heavier the next morning and there was some wind.   As we finished our  breakfast  in the RoadTrek (RV), we caught a glimpse of this tugboat and petroleum barge  in the harbor across from the Park.   The tugboat was having quite a bit of  trouble navigating its load to the dock.   After we checked out of the Park, we drove over to the beach and walked a bit in the fog as  we watched the adventure.   The barge did finally reach safe harbor.  We were surprised at all the small fishing boats that didn't seem to worry about being so close to the zig-zagging barge. 

 

 

Gold Beach was beautiful in sun or fog --  and like just about everywhere on the Oregon Coast, it would be a great place to spend several days.    But we had another destination in mind this time.    This is the view as we headed further South toward Crescent City and the  Redwoods.   California or Bust!

 

Linking this week to the following:  Thanks to all of the hosts.

NATURE NOTES; ALL SEASONS; OUR WORLD on Tuesday;   MOSAIC MONDAY;  GOOD, RANDOM, FUN;  THROUGH MY LENS; TRAVEL PHOTO SOUVENIRS;   SIGNS SIGNS;  Wednesday AROUND THE WORLD;  THANKFUL THURSDAY; and SKYWATCH FRIDAY