7/16 Oregon Coast, pt. 3

Today was a much clearer day.... but VERY windy!

An interesting thing happened this morning -- on the way towards the shore this morning (from Crater Lake)... I almost hit a mountain lion with my car! He darted out into the road from the right side, then saw me... and quickly turned from me, running away but staying in the lane I'm driving in.... I slammed on the brakes and I just knew I was going to "rear-end" the big guy. I must have been only a few feet behind him as I'm screeching to a halt and he suddenly shifts in a parallel direction, just to the left, an instant before I would have hit him (I might have actually grazed his tail!)... he's still running in the same direction as the car is going, so now I have this great view of the mountain lion outside my driver's window. I can clearly see his tail, paws, and facial features... and that beautiful running motion is clearly implanted in my mind. By the time the car actually comes to a complete stop... he darts to the left across the road, out of sight.

THIS IS NOT MY PICTURE. But it is the same animal I almost hit.

Oregon Coast:

There must have been something good to eat in those waters!

The beautiful Bandon Beach.

A couple seals (or sea lions)... I can't tell the difference.

7/15 - 7/16 Crater Lake, OR

While Crater Lake was a beautiful place, I had a completely miserable time -- due to vicious, terrorizing, blood-sucking mosquitoes. I arrived at the Lake about an hour before sundown. As soon as I got out of the car, I was chased by a little swarm. I thought it might have been just that particular area... and I drove to a new location near the lake -- same thing happened... I was bitten all over.

Even when I went back this morning, equipped with mass amounts of bug spray... these pesky creatures still managed to "bug" the heck out of me. I asked several people about them... apparently it's really bad right now because of the higher than average snow that's still on the ground (the mosquitos like to breed in the snow banks) combined with the hot summer.

Crater Lake is the deepest lake in the U.S., about 2000 feet. It was created when an old volcano collapsed during an eruption, leaving the perimeter of the crater open to fill up with water.

In the upper left and the bottom center of this picture.... can you see those little spots? Believe it or not, those are close up of mosquitoes near the camera lens.

Looking out from the Crater.

7/15 Oregon Coast, pt. 2

The foggy, overcast day ruined many incredible picture opportunities. The fog cleared up enough at times to salvage some views.

Most of the morning was a lot like this.

Beautiful skies finally! A little lighthouse that was only in commission for about a year back in the late 1800's.

And the fog rolled in again.

Can you find the hidden lighthouse behind the fog and a couple trees? A few hundred yards away (to the left and up on a high hill), would have been a great picture opportunity of the lighthouse and area (a view I've seen in magazines and calendars), but the fog wiped out everything.

7/12 Oregon Coast, pt. 1

Today I finally made it to Oregon! I was here about 10 years ago and couldn't wait to come back.

The big Columbia River separates Washington and Oregon, and the bridge across drops you off in the middle of Astoria, Oregon. What a great town! It also happens to be a favorite spot for film locations.... including one of my favorite childhood 80's films -- The Goonies. I had to find something from the film...

And this was Mikey's house from The Goonies. The house to the left is where "Data" lived.

I had no intention of looking for this... but one block away from the Goonies house, was Astor Elementary School... which looked so familiar. It was the location for Arnold Schwarzenegger's movie, Kindergarten Cop.

This is the beautiful Cannon Beach... also featured in the movie, The Goonies.

I decided to get a room at a motel in Lincoln City, Oregon. This is the view from my room.

After watching the sunset tonight... I immediately went downstairs and let the front desk know I'll be staying a couple more days. After the amount of miles I've been putting on the past 3 weeks... I decided I need a vacation from my vacation.