Near Bend, Oregon is an interesting place called Lava Lands. It reminds me of growing up in Flagstaff, Arizona. There is lava rock and Ponderosa Pine trees. It is a beautiful and interesting place to visit.We were told this “hill” was formed as a vent to the lava under the surface.This lava rock is very, very sharp!!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.Lava Lands has a rugged landscape.I was impressed by the size of the lava basin!The clouds created interesting shadows on the land.The landscape was amazing!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 loved the detail with these flowers!I especially enjoyed watching the playful river otters!!I liked this eagle statue!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.
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!!I loved all the colors we could enjoy!!Crater Lake is simply amazing!!My friend Connie took a panorama photo using her cellular phone and inadvertently included me in her photo!!
Here is an absolutely wonderful group of people to travel with!!This is the base of the “Big Tree!!” It is absolutely huge!!This is the upper portion of the “Big Tree.” I cannot see the top of the tree while standing near the tree base. It is absolutely huge!!It is 286 feet high!!It is so peaceful to walk in a redwood forest. It is especially soothing!!The size of these redwood trees is amazing!!The trees are massive compared to the size of an adult!!Walks among the trees are peaceful and relaxing!!Everywhere you look there are massively huge trees!!Moss grows everywhere on the trees!!The bright green color of the ferns is refreshing!!
These redwoods are huge!! Standing in front of a large burned section show that the remainder of the tree is alive!!We drove down into northern California (near Eureka) and visited Humboldt Redwoods State Park!! This is a beautiful forest of coastal redwoods!!The coastal redwoods are taller than the redwoods near Yosemite!Our tour director (Susan) and I could barely reach the diameter of these trees!!The deep texture of the wood and bark is amazing!!The trees as so tall, I had trouble capturing their height with my camera’s wide angle lens!!I enjoyed looking at the deep bark with moss growing all over the trees!!This is more of a close-up photo of the mass growing on the trees!!This amazing root system looked like a roaring fire to me!!The texture of the trees was so interesting!!The ferns grew everywhere along with the redwoods!!Susan was dwarfed by the size of the root system!!The depth of the ridges in the bark was impressive!!The texture of the cracks and ridges in the bark was interesting!!The light making it through the redwood canopy created a spotlight on these leaves growing on a fallen redwood!!
Ferns and moss grew everywhere at the base of the redwoods!!The root systems of the fallen redwoods were so interesting to examine!!The bright green moss growing on this fallen tree was interesting!!After leaving Humboldt Redwoods State Park, we went to the zoo in Eureka. This curious black bear was fun to watch as he played in his enclosure!!He seemed to be giving us a curious stare!!The javelina were active in their enclosure too!!The zoo had a walkway that was high in their redwoods. Walking across provided a top-down view of a tree!! This was the most interesting perspective of a tree!!This “knob” of the redwood was interesting. That can be used to make beautiful bowls and furniture!!This owl was a treasure of the zoo!! He only had one eye. He seemed content to let a group of people study him!!
These jet boats were very fast and very fun to ride in!!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!!High in this tree is an eagle nest!!Look carefully and there is a cute turtle sunning himself on the river rock!!Here is another turtle nearby!!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!!
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 coast is so beautiful!!It was memorizing to watch the waves!!This was a spectacular lighthouse!!The rocks and water were intense at times!!I loved this view from near the lighthouse!!The ocean spray was fun to watch!!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!!I loved seeing the ocean and sand!!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 our companion dune buggy!!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!!
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!!It was amazing to catch live crabs!!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!!
We arrived in Portland, Oregon and had the opportunity to see some of the roses growing in the city. Portland has a well-deserved reputation for being an ideal location for roses!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!!
We had a wonderful time in San Diego visiting with John, Michelle, David, and James!! It has been at least 15 years since I have been to Sea World.Sea World is an amazing place!!It was a beautiful day to enjoy watching the animals!!Dolphins are incredible creatures!!They are so graceful!!I was amazed how fast they swim!!The dolphins work well with their trainers!!The orcas were huge and amazing to watch!!Compare the massive size of the orca to the size of the people!!The orca colors are truly amazing!!It was truly amazing to watch this massive orca jump all the way out of the water!!Orcas are massive, talented creatures!!Orcas are incredible!!I loved watching the orcas swim!!
I was excited to see Kenny Chesney in concert. I have heard his music for years, but never seen him in person. However, I was a bit unsure about an outdoor concert in Phoenix in July!!This is an outdoor venue with most seating in the open. It was a nice layout, but the weather was hot. It was 112 degrees when I first arrived at my seat.Megan Moroney started playing first. I knew her name, but could not have said what her songs were. I was quite impressed with her talent. Many people wanted to buy merchandise with Megan’s name on it!Megan is very talented and I thoroughly enjoyed her singing!!Her singing is wonderful and she related well with the audience!!Her sparkly guitar was fun to watch glitter with the lights!!As soon as Megan finished singing a huge monsoon storm moved in with lightning, wind, and later rain. Everyone was hoping the storm would quickly blow through and the concert could keep going. However, sadly, after waiting 2 hours, the concert was cancelled.Here I am waiting the the concert to resume. There were 20,000 people in attendance and everyone was patiently waiting to see Kenny Chesney. It is sort of funny because I brought this umbrella for shade from the sun (in addition to my big hat) and I ended up using it when it started pouring rain. Incidentally, I bought this umbrella years ago in Scotland. It is similar to the Armstrong plaid and it has sentimental value to me.The concert was rescheduled for the following night and I think almost all 20,000 people returned to see Kenny Chesney play and sing. It was a great concert. He is very high energy and kept everyone in the audience engaged with him.The bass guitar player was a woman from Austin, Texas. She was extremely talented!!Kenny’s songs were wonderful!!I really enjoyed seeing Kenny in person!!They played one hit song after another!!The drummer is from South Africa and I loved watching him play!!All the guitar players were fantastic!!After his last song, the band kept playing and Kenny signed items from the fans. I was sad when it ended. Two hours went by very quickly.It was fun to watch the band play as Kenny was signing items from the audience. This is a very talented group of people!!
Fiesta on Wheels 