Multnomah Falls!!

August 25, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

We started earlier in the day visiting the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum. This was a superb museum that had a huge number of vintage airplanes and cars. It was quite impressive.

I was particularly impressed with the number of vintage cars they had on display.

I loved this impressive car. It made me want to ride in the back seat!

After seeing the airplanes and car museum, we drove the short distance to Multnomah Falls. This was such an impressive waterfall!!

I loved everything about the force and beauty of Multnomah Falls!

Lava Lands!!

August 24, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

We were told this “hill” was formed as a vent to the lava under the surface.

It is interesting to see where the lava stopped flowing and the trees started growing.

The lava flow was quite extensive across the valley!

I loved seeing the contrasting colors of the lava, plants, trees, and sky!

It was a beautiful day to visit Lava Lands!!

The bright yellow flowers were interesting!

These flowers were vibrant in contrast to the lava rock.

We had intermittent rain and bright sunshine.

I was impressed by the size of the lava basin!

The clouds created interesting shadows on the land.

The Ponderosa Pines reminded me so much of Flagstaff!

After visiting Lava Lands, we went to the High Desert Museum. I loved the colors of these delicate flowers!

I especially enjoyed watching the playful river otters!!

This was especially interesting! It is a stack of quilts that were donated to the museum. What was especially interesting is that each quilt was tagged with the history of the quilt.

This car was at the entrance to the museum and I thought it was quite entertaining!!

I loved the colors of these berries near the entrance to the museum.

Crater Lake and a Snow Storm!!

August 23, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

We went to Crater Lake today!! When we arrived, it was a “white out” snow storm on August 23rd!! Later the storm cleared and we were able to see the whole lake!! It was a beautiful experience!!

When we first arrived, we were greeted by a huge snow storm!! In the distance is supposed to be Crater Lake, but it was completely hidden by the snow!!

The snow was really coming down!! The lake was completely hidden by the storm!!

Charlene was almost hidden by the storm!!

We kept trying to see the lake, but everywhere we looked there was more snow!!

Most of the trees were hidden by the storm too!!

There was no one sitting outside the lodge!!

I went into the lodge and found this photo above the fireplace. I thought this might be the only view of Crater Lake that we may see.

However, the clouds started to lift a bit and we could see across Crater Lake!! We were cheering that we could actually see the lake after our long drive!!

We were so excited to see the deep blue waters of Crater Lake!!

It was so fun to see the mist, snow, and clouds all around Crater Lake!!

The snow next to the lodge was amazing!! This is August!!

We had boarded our bus to leave, when suddenly people started shouting that the clouds had lifted further and we had a great view of Crater Lake!! The bus driver found a place to pull over and we ran to the edge of the lake!! What a beautiful view!!

The deep blue waters were amazing along with the storm clouds!!

My friend Connie took a panorama photo using her cellular phone and inadvertently included me in her photo!!

Jet Boats!!

August 21, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

Just as we started riding in our boat, we were greeted by these amazing seals!!

We liked watching them and they seemed to like watching us!!

We crossed under this beautiful bridge!!

This beautiful bald eagle was the first I have seen in Oregon!! Very spectacular!!

There was amazing wildlife all along the river!!

This black tailed deer was curious about us as we went by!!

Look carefully and there is a cute turtle sunning himself on the river rock!!

The scenery along the river was beautiful!!

I loved all the different colors along the river!!

These jet boats cruise quickly over shallow and deep water!!

The jet boat drivers enjoy stopping quickly so that everyone is sprayed with water!!

This older harbor seal does not move too much anymore. Our boat driver says he spends most of his days sitting on this rock.

After our jet boat ride, we stopped along the road to see this amazing tunnel is southern Oregon!!

Oregon Coast and Dunes!!

August 20, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

I love looking at the beautiful Oregon coast!!

It is so beautiful to look at the rugged rocks with the soothing movement of the water!!

I loved seeing the series of waves along the beach!!

I enjoyed simply watching the water move along the rocks!!

Charlene and I really enjoyed the views of the Oregon coast!!

The rocks and water were intense at times!!

I loved this view from near the lighthouse!!

Our next adventure was to ride in dune buggies along the Oregon coast!! It was so incredibly fun!!

The scenery was wonderful to see as we zoomed through the sand!!

It was amazing to ride along the sand next to the Pacific Ocean!!

Everyone was excited to drive down this hill!!

Hold on to your hat as we roared along the beach!!

This girl thought see would go even faster and she zoomed past us!!

It was so much fun weaving our way through the sand roads!!

This was a “tree island” in the midst of the sand dunes!!

We had so much fun riding all through the dunes!!

This was an incredibly fun and wild ride!!

Crabbing in Oregon!!

August 18, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

We went on a boat ride in Newport, Oregon and we caught 6 crabs! Charlene was not too sure about holding a live crab as their claws and legs are still moving!!

I thought this was a beautiful bridge in Newport!!

As we were working our way out to the Pacific Ocean, this powerful Coast Guard boat zoomed past us. Their wake was fun to ride!!

I loved all the arches in the bridge! It was cool and windy on the boat, so we were all bundled up to stay warm!

Charlene is pointing to a tiny jellyfish we found when the boat simply running a net type filter from the back of the boat. A woman on the boat named him “Grape,” short for grape jelly!!

As we rode along in our boat, I was amazed and the dense green trees along the way. Beautiful and rugged!

These were the crabs that we caught!! On the ride out, we left two crab traps. On the way back, we picked up the traps and found all these different types of crabs. It was quite amazing to see them move around and maneuver on the table in the boat!!

This gentleman told everyone how to safely hold the live crabs. Charlene was not too comfortable with this experience!!

These flags on our boat were whipping around vigorously with the moving boat and windy day!!

After the crabs were caught, we had 8 hours before they needed to be thrown back into the water. The two biggest male crabs were kept.

These male sea lions were LOUD!! We could hear them barking from quite a long way away!!

People were gathered on this bridge to watch a group of noisy male sea lions!!

We later went to an aquarium and were amazed at the size of the megalodon shark!!

Oregon!!

August 17, 2024 / Ed Armstrong

I loved the bright color of roses in the sunlight!!

I liked the morning dew shining in the sunlight on these roses!!

I absolutely love the colors of this rose!!

This orange rose was beautiful in the light!!

I enjoyed looking at these young roses!!

I loved the delicate rose petals in this yellow rose!!

This bee was certainly enjoying the roses too!!

The Yaquina Head lighthouse was beautiful!! Charlene sure enjoyed the area!!

The Yaquina Head Lighthouse is the tallest in Oregon!!

The circular stairs going up inside the lighthouse were quite interesting!!

The storm along the Oregon coast was interesting to watch!!

Charlene found found a fun otter to play with!!

Crater Lake

May 27, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Ed and Charlene loved Crater Lake.

We learned a new phrase today: Crater Lake Blue. One glance at Crater Lake and it is very clear why people use the term Crater Lake Blue. Wow, is it gorgeous! The blue color of the lake is incredibly rich. When people first see it, you can hear them inhale as they are surprised by its beauty. Crater Lake is simply spectacular.

You can see in this photo why the “Crater Lake Blue” is now Charlene’s favorite shade of blue.

Ed remembers in grade school that one of his teachers showed a movie that discussed Crater Lake. Now all these years later, we were able to see it in person. Viewing Crater Lake is truly inspiring.

We learned all kinds of interesting facts. Crater Lake is the deepest fresh water lake in the entire United States. It started when a volcano erupted. A chasm formed in an almost perfect circle around the entire volcano. When the eruption was done, the entire mountain fell into the earth creating an immense bowl. Since the area averages 44 feet of snow every year, the bowl filled with snow and rain water. There is no other source of water for Crater Lake. Therefore, the water is pristine. Tests are run every year to determine the depth of visibility. The average is 100 feet.

Charlene with Wizard Island in the background.

There is one type of bird that is abundant around Crater Lake. It is the Clark’s Nutcracker which feeds on seeds from pine cones. Any seeds not eaten immediately are stashed and those forgotten grow into new trees.

The nutcrackers are beautiful, but noisy.

Crater Lake is definitely a place to put on everyone’s bucket list.

The sides all around the lake are very steep, just like a bowl. It is a huge bowl of the purest water in the country.

This is a panorama of 4 separate photos to fit the entire lake into one photo.

When we got back to our motorhome, we saw an egret walking carefully and slowly in the stream next to us. Beautiful! Occasionally it would stop and swiftly dip its head into the water and come up with something to gobble. We also saw a family of ducks. When we opened the door, the males flew away and the mother stayed with the ducklings which instantly swam next to her under some plants growing over the water.

This egret was right outside our motorhome door. Beautiful!

This has been a wonderful place to boondock. It will be sad to leave this place, but it will forever hold good memories for us.

Klamath Falls, Oregon

May 25, 2015 / Ed Armstrong

Here’s an excited Charlene across the spring.

Today was a travel day and we drove from Reno, Nevada, through the north east quadrant of California and into Oregon. We were in several rain storms in California, but once we reached Oregon the sky cleared up and we had beautiful blue skies.

We found a place to boondock north of Klamath Falls. We love our site. There are only two other people in the small campground and we are away from them on the other side of the campground. The extra beautiful feature is that there is a natural spring flowing right next to our campsite. It is beautiful and peaceful. We have the coach positioned so that we see trees and bushes from all our windows.

This is the view of the fresh spring just a few yards from our motorhome. Beautiful!

Charlene loved watching all the animals. To her surprise, she saw an eagle fly past our campsite. It was so unexpected, it was hard to react before it was gone. She also saw red-winged blackbirds, white cranes, swallows, and other birds. She spied a small animal which we thought at first was a river otter, then we thought was a baby beaver but are now pretty sure was a prairie dog at the water’s edge.

While sitting outside by the water, Charlene got cold even though she was wearing jeans. She went inside and put on some sneakers and a sweatshirt. Even with those she was feeling a little chilly sitting in the shade of a nearby tree. (With no sunscreen, she didn’t want to sit in the sun.) It is amazing to think that Charlene was cold on Memorial Day weekend with long pants and a sweatshirt on!

At one stop today, Charlene was waiting for Ed to finish fueling the motorhome and she saw a whole display for the Oregon Ducks. After the initial shock wore off, she said to herself, “We’re not in Arizona any more, Toto!” It’s so weird to realize we are relatively close to Eugene.

Green and gold! Where’s the Arizona red and blue?